PLEASE HELP ME. 2 wk old screaming all day with wind. Bfing but don;t think I can carry on.

[nickytwotimes]

DH has taken him out in the car to try to settle him.
I have tried all sorts but he is totally inconsolable and screams for most of the time.

I don't want to stop feeding him but I can't take any more. I have had latch checked by dec ent councellor and is fine. No pain, good gain in weight.

I am utterly desperate. I cannot listen to him screaming anymore. I have spent the last 3 dAYs in tears. I waNT TO RUN away. I hve older ds who I gave up feeding at 10 day. Wanted to make it work this time but I can;t carry on like this

Nicky, it's Ok, we will sort you out pet

First of all are you winding him during the feeds? I found this solved a lot of ds' problems, just a natural break-off mid feed and sit up for about a minute, till he burped. Then back on.

Yes, I am widning him. Hard/impossible to get anything out him though. Also using Infacol. He is quite farty.

Okay. Next thing is, there may be something you are eating or drinking that doesn't agree with him.

Do you have any caffeine, or fizzy drinks?
There are various things such as dairy as well which you can worry about later, if nothing else works - but hopefully there will be something simpler.

Aw, nicky.....

Firstly, what makes you think it is wind? I often come on here and diss the notion of wind, 'cos how can anyone tell?

There are zillions of reasons why a young baby would scream as badly as you describe.

Sometimes, it's because the baby is upset because he just wants to be close to mummy all the time. Sometimes, it's related to the mother's own distress (which can be a vicious circle, I know). Sometimes, it's because of birth issues -forceps, say, still giving the baby a headache.

Anyway, loads of things....who have you talked to about it?

Also when you do wind him, don't be afraid to pat his back pretty firmly, not tap tap tap but a really solid pat, as though you were clapping. It won't hurt him.

This was me 13 weeks ago! DS was just the same.

So I feel your pain.

Infacol helped a bit, but not that much to be honest. I found the best thing was to wind as much as possible (we'd only get the odd burp then a couple of hours of terrible windiness and crying each evening. And bouts of it during the day).

The only thing that helped was the passing of time. It did get better for us around the 10 week mark. But that must sound awful to you now. So here are some other things that worked for us:

'Tiger in the tree' - holding him along one arm, ace down, gently squeezing his tummy. Will google in a mo for a visual representation!

Feeding for as long as possible on one breast at each feed and only offering the second breast if he really wanted it. Have no idea if the foremilk/ hindmilk thing is true, but this did seem to help.

It WILL get better. But I really feel for you.

I do have caffeine, yes. Maybe 3 cups if instant a day. Is decaf a better option or better just to ditch altogether?
Don't know if I can function without coffee/chocolate!

Chocolate has less

Ditch the coffee and see if it helps at all. Decaf will be fine.

Have added pic to profile of my dad holding DS in the best position to alleviate windiness!

Yeah, I know logically it will get better with time, but seems like a marathon atm!
tiktok, I guessed it was wind because I can hear his tummy gurgling and he pulls his legs up, etc. ALso he seems a little better after burp/farting. Had a good birth - no instruments or anything - very quick though! I am cuddling him all day and night. Spoke to mw and hv about it - utterly useless. Also bfing counsellors who were a lot more use wrt things to try with him.

Thanks everyone for replies so far.

don't know if this knowledge will help you but babies are often even windier with bottles as they tend to take more air in, so in a way breast is better for less wind (just trying to help with your motivation to carry on- I know how grim it is). Also how is your diet- if you eat windy things like baked beans, onions etc that can make baby windy.

I found infacol to be useless but gripe water after a feed much better (but I mainly had to use it after a bottle feed not breast- hence my point above). Or you could try something called colief which is an enzyme which helps to break down lactose to make it easier to digest- didn't work so much for us but some people swear by it.

Their digestive systems are very immature and so for 6weeks or so there is often this screaming after food thing but it does get easier.

Do you know the tiger in the tree pose? (Google it_ holding bub that way can help with wind).

Breastfeeding is really really hard for first 6-12 weeks and really well done on getting to two weeks, I had absolute hell with bfeeding and only way i got through it was take it a week (sometimes even a day!) at a time- every day I would say right I am just feeding til Sunday then I am giving up- had enough, then Sunday would come and I would say okay one more week then that's it! I honestly couldn't see past a week but by doing this I am still breastfeeding my 18week old daughter and it is an absolute doddle now (and no windy screaming any more).

That sounds so hard. Why are you thinking of giving up breastfeeding given that it seems to be working well in other respects? There's no guarantee that switching to bottle will stop crying, is there? Plus as tiktok says, being close to mum helps littlies such a lot - my ds had poor digestion (you could hear and feel him gurgling, poor mite) for the first 12 weeks, and fed 1 hour on, 1 hour off during the day. I realised that it was miles better than him crying for hours on end (he didn't cry much at all at that age), and meant I could catch up on lots of tv. Sky+ is your friend.

Just a thought if you're tired, maybe try a cup of tea instead, as it has less caffeine, but still some. Big thumbs up to chocolate and s.

Definitely answer tiktok's questions, as she is very expert at this.

Yes, bottles make them even more windy, but with ds1 I found that by ffing I could use the colief which worked fantastically for him and also share the burden! However, really don't want to stop feeding this one as it is my last chance to make a go of it.

Oh, actually other thing he does whne distressed is try to latch on but then fuss like mad and is unable to do it, then scream even more. Or while latched on staqrts squirming like mad then pulling on my nipple like a bird pulling a worm out the ground. ouch.

You can use colief with bfeeding- express some milk onto a spoon and add the 4drops and give it before the feed. (is easier than putting into a bottle 30mins before giving the feed!)

Nicky, the trying to latch on but pulling away is DEFFO wind related. He has a big lot of it in his tummy, and he can't fit any more milk in while it's there, so I would suggest some firm winding very frequently during a feed. It might be he cannot burp a big amount of air, so little and often might work better for him.

Try colocynth granules from a pharmacy who does herbalist remedies. It was the only thing that worked for breastfed ds.

Will try it Thankdeka. A couple of bfing pals haven't had much luck with it so I'd kind of written it off - will give it a go though thanks.

That squirming does sound like wind, DD has a tendency to do that when I feed her in public and don't latch her well and then flash my nip to everyone .

Have you got a decent bfeeding pillow to feed on? I swear by the my breastfriend feeding pillow- makes it incredibly easy to latch and you can be hands free and is a comfy surface for them to feed from (this pillow is why am still bfeeding- mainly because it was expensive and I didn't want to waste the money !! but also because it is the dogs bollocks at making feeding so much more comfy and easy.

Hi,
Sorry I'm not able to tell you whether it's wind or something else but here's a couple of things that I do to settle my fractious 7 week old. Swaddle - I've got a special swaddle blanket but a soft sheet or jersey blanket work just as well. I wrap my DD2 in it quite tightly with her arms in and put her over my shoulder and pat her back firmly- flailing arms seem to work them up even more don't they?
Also maybe a sling??
I've heard that too much fore milk can make a baby windy- so swopping breasts too early during a feed and the baby not getting the hind milk too. I'm not sure if there's any truth in this? Maybe TikTok can help with that.
Is your DH around in the evenings and this weekend? Maybe after you have fed the baby he could take him to another room out of earshot and try winding him, so you don't have to listen to the screams....I know how difficult it can be.
Also if you stop BF and switch to bottle it's not necessarily going to get any better - some babies are unsettled regardless of how they are fed. Just a thought...

Funnily enough Mum came home with the granules today! They ar homeopathic though, aren;t they...[sceptical] however, I am so desperate I would try dancing round a fauiry ring at midnight!

Dh is back with ds.
Thanks for advice so far. Will be back later on.

Thak you so much.

Hi nicky just to say infacol was no good for my DD but I switched to gripe water and she produced great big fantastic burps from that moment on!

I got a syringe and bottle adaptor thing for 50p from the chemists (you stick it in the top of the bottle and there's a hole in it for the syringe so you can tip the bottle and suck up as much as you neeed) and that was def the easiest way to administer it.

I found this out after DD's colic had waned but according to this if you feed them sitting up facing you it helps with wind. Worth a try.

I think all the squirming and pulling you describe is wind related, that is what DD does (she is congested due to epic birth so always swallows air while feeding - i just sit her up at the first sign and get a good burp, after which she's happy to latch on again).

Good luck and remember TTSP (this too shall pass)

Ooh i got a bit carried away there with the e's in neeed!!

When you wind him, make sure to try putting him right up high against your shoulder, so that your body helps push the wind up.
I also found with DD that rubbing her tummy helped to bring up wind when it was tight and windy. As one poster mentioned, dont be afraid to be firm.

I also second the trial and error method of cutting out various foods and drinks. Sometimes the littlest thing can make all the difference!

I totally get what you're saying about wanting to succeed this time around; with DD I made it to 8 weeks before I had to stop, and I'm determined to try again next time. Good luck!