Getting wind up (bottle feeding) - help!

[mrsmusic]

My dd was 4 weeks last Thursday and was feeding fab (3.5-4oz every 3-4 hours), with a bit of difficulty getting wind up at times but it not causing any problems. For the past 3/4 days we are now seriously struggling to get all her wind up - sometimes she'll bring a bit up but she seems so full of it that she's not even managing half her bottle. It's making her pretty uncomfortable to say the least - she was such a contented baby before, never heard her have a proper scream until now and her face when she's screaming says it all
She was having infacol for a couple of weeks but it seems to have stopped working so we stopped using it a couple of days ago. She's on SMA gold and using Tommee Tippee anti-colic teats. We seem to be spending forever trying to get her to bring up the wind, using every position, and it's so frustrating as I can hear and feel it inside her and she looks like she's trying so hard to bing it up too! Massaging her tummy and leg circling do soothe her a bit. Also we're making sure we're feeding her semi-upright and keepinh her like that a while after her feed. Got some gripe water to try her with so that's next. Has anyone any other advice - anything much appreciated! x

you can hear and feel it inside her? That's amazing, I never did that with any of mine

I have to say that one technique that did work with mine was laying them down flat for a few mins and then picking them up

also laying them tummy down across your legs and doing a kind of back patting technique - with force

Is she screaming after a feed?

Thanks for replying, yes we've tried both those. Sometimes the screaming's straight after the feed, and she's going stiff. Sometimes it's a couple of hours later.

Sometimes it can be the formula. DS1 started out on SMA as that's what the hospital used but swapped to Cow&Gate which made things better almost at once. If you can afford it Aptimil is also meant to be very good. If infacol isn't having much of an effect, have you tried Dentinox from the chemist/supermarket which goes into the milk? And for ds (who was also very sicky)we used to wind him after every ounce. Oh, and putting them in a sling afterwards helped as the warmth eases wind pain and the movement helped it up.

Hope you dc feels better soon xx

what I'm about to suggest might seem to be against any advice you find on the internet, but it worked a treat for my dd.

We had the same problem and the MW suggested that I give her warm chamomile tea (warm water would do the job but they're not supposed to have water at this age). Just an ounce two or three times a day before her milk will help her bring wind "down" rather than "up". Just make sure she doesn't have too much as she might get full on it and not drink much milk.

I was very wary and decided not to try it, until a few nights later when, in the darkest hour, I had a screaming baby who was obviously in pain and I thought "how bad can it be?". It worked and I only had to do it for a month or two.

Good luck with it all, I hope you all feel better soon xxx

Er - they are not supposed to have water, but tea is fine? I find that quite difficult to believe. I think warm (ie cooled boiled) water would be better than tea tbh. I think formula fed babies can have cooled boiled water from birth anyway.

If you haven't tried switching formulas I would definitely try that first. Good luck!

For getting the wind up directly after a feed, try walking up and down stairs with baby on your shoulder. Also try what we used to call "stirring the baby" - hold them upright under the arms and move them round in a circle, keeping them upright all the time, then burp as usual.

BertieBotts -babies younger than 6 months are in danger of water intoxocation, which is no laughing matter. Whether the baby is BF or FF is irrelevant.

You can find in organic produce shops tea for young babies, which suposedly relieves wind and calms them, but that's basically a powder with god knows how much sugar in. I chose somenice home-grown chamomile from my mums garden, , it breaks down the ions in the water.

Breaks down the ions in water????

Do you have any evidence for this?

And chamomile tea is just as capable of causing water intoxication if you overdo it for a small baby.