Very windy 2 week old - help!!!

[puddytats]

Did not have this problem with ds so need advice!!

Am bottlefeeding dd (farleys), she is a good feeder however suffers from very painful wind which she refuses to bring up and we end up with screams which are very distressing.

Does anyone have any tips on winding - am using infacol but that is a bit hit and miss as to whether it works. Have tried over the shoulder, bouncing, patting, stretching and rubbing and am beginning to get desperate so any advice would be good!!

You could try a different formula or a different teat. A good way to get up 'reluctant' wind is to change the baby's nappy after you've tried winding. The change in position (lying down then picking up) plus the movements of the legs, can often cause the wind to be released when you pick her up again. Alternatively, just give her a second or two upright, a second or two on her right side, then again on her left side, then upright again.

Are you sure she's taking wind in? It could be that she is generating the wind (hence suggestion to change formula). If so, then give her fennel tea: make up a bottle-full in the evening, leaving the bag in, then when you make up the day's bottles either make one with the fennel tea, or divide the tea between all the bottles. Fennel is brilliant for reducing the amount of wind the bowels generate. You must get a good make though, Dr Stuart Botanicals is good, Twinings is rubbish - too weak.

Another thing, do you demand-feed or schedule? I think demand-feeding can sometimes cause problems because the baby may be ravenous and gulp too much too quickly. Spacing out several smaller feeds might be a hassle, but might help her. At this age the gut fauna are being generated and that can cause a lot of wind, no matter what you do. It may be a matter of helping her through this phase, rather than of 'curing' it.

I do a bit of both, ifshe has not eaten in 3 hours i will feed her otherwise i feed her when she asks for it.

I asked my midwife about changing formula and she did not think it was such a good idea.

Does she ever 'ask' for feeding after less than 2-2.5 hours? My instinct would be, in that case, to comfort her in some other way (cuddles, dummy, nappy-change, winding etc) and not feed her at less than 2.5-hour intervals if at all possible. My ds happily went 4h between bottlefeeds. I've mix-fed one and breastfed another, and with both it seemed to me that feeding too closely made them more uncomfortable. Stretching the gap so that they went more than 2.5h between feeds always seemed to help. Like I said, ds went 4h between bottles or combined feeds, but 3-3.5 between breastfeeds.

Those I know with this problem found Colief worked much better than Infacol, so tat might be worth a try. Otherwise I'd be inclined to maybe try another formula did your mw say why she didn't think it was a good idea? And have you asked anyone else, e.g. health visitor I managed to get completely contradictory advice from various health visitors and midwives on a whole range of subjects.

Our 2 week old had terrible wind causing a lot of pain. We started using BFree bottles from Boots (aka Dr Brown feeding system) and it cured his wind from the first feed! They're more expensive but I can't believe what a difference these bottles have made.

Thank you for swift replies. Am trying to even feeds out but when she yells and yells it goes straight through you!

Will consider the different bottles but you are right they are very expensive!