The 3'oclock wind up

[Goodiegumdrops]

My nearly 3 week old (EBF) seems to have the worst case of wind from 3am to 6.30am and will only settle around 7am, which is just in time for the toddler to wake (usually anytime between 5.55am - 6.45am)

The baby doesn't cry but just can't settle. He is a noisy sleeper anyways but it is a more moany sound (hope that makes sense) and he fidgets. In the day, I can burp him brilliantly after every feed at night can't get anything from him. When I wind him, I have him over my shoulder and try to straighten his body so he isn't completely scrunched up and then pat. I don't have a particularly long torso and he is a big baby.

I have started using infacol now in the hope it will help. He has been farting like a trooper this morning.

We also try to cycle his legs as best we can to encourage some farts out. I feel like it is fart build up at night and burps during the day.

Does anyone have any tips that have worked for them? First son had a dairy intolerance that he is growing out of, he had terrible colic, never slept and cried majority of the time. We now believe the dairy in my diet was to blame. New baby has a completely different character - very chilled, sleeps and eats really well.

Any ideas, tips or late night reading if I can't get any sleep would be appreciated xx

I also have a fast flow of milk and he is a guzzler.

Up every hour trying to wind.

Also had a guzzler and he actually frightened himself on occasion with his farts. Infacol before every feed solved the problem for us.

Also have you tried handing him to someone else? That seems to be their way of saying 'fuck you Mum' as they burp happily for anyone else but you. I think it's the movement that frees their burps!

The legendary farts were after having introduced infacol. Prior to that it was just whimpering in pain.

Congratulations on your little boy

Wind is disrupting my baby's sleep tonight too. This is unusual for us. She's five months old and usually sleeps so well at night but I think the recent introduction of food must be upsetting he her. You'd think by now I'd be an expert at winding baby but I'm just not effective at it, especially the burp side of things!

For farts, as well as cycle legs I find it works to push baby's knees up into her chest at the same time (fairly firmly). We call it 'jumping'. We have a little game where we do 'jump, jump, jump, jump - cycle, cycle, cycle, cycle - run, run, run' and say the words as we do it. Baby has learned it now and seems to get excited in anticipation of the running bit

I had this with DC2. She was so very windy and my eldest has allergies so I was really looking out for signs with her but it was just a phase thankfully, albeit a difficult one. She was unsettled from 1-6 usually, it was the feeding I think.

I used infacol but don't think it helped but it made me feel better. Lots of tummy massage, quite firmly along with bicycling of legs helped the most. Worked on the latch too and once she was 6 weeks only feeding if I definitely thought she was hungry as it just started the cycle again.

By 8 weeks she was sleeping through

Thanks Ladies,

I feel like I am moaning but I am just so tired.
I think that it is beginning to frustrate me. I know he has fed, tried our best at winding, he is clean etc. When we move him to his moses basket the writhing starts and moaning starts.

This is the kick in the teeth - I lie him on our bed before I start the bicycle legs and he falls asleep instantly. He will sleep upright during the night (day) on someone or on his side (never in his basket and just to get him to sleep then I move him on his back). Can being on his back make thr wind worse?

He is sleeping on my chest now, which I have only done because we have been up basically every hour. We have started a 2.5ml dose of gripe water this week too. I felt it worked at first but not so much now. Infacol is our best friend but not sure if it is a placebo (for us).

I might add, he rarely poos. HV didn't seem to think this was a problem in a bf baby.

I realise there is no magic cure and it will usually resolve itself when they are older but omg, I'd love more than an hrs sleep in one stretch...made worse by the husband snoring loudly! Argh!

Thanks again xxxx hope you got some sleep x

How often does he poo? Newborns should poo 1-2 day, poo should be soft & yellow. Size of a £2 coin will count as a poo and should have 5-6 wet nappies in 24 hours ideally.

How's breastfeeding going?

I bf my now 20 month old son for 14 months, basically stopped because I was pregnant again and he was using it for comfort. I was lucky as bf came easy for me after we left the hospital. He was in the special care unit for a few days and so i was milked by several mw/lactation ladies and trying to get the right latch was tricky but in the end we did what was right for us and he thrived.

Ds2 is a bigg'n! I have read (on here) and told by a friend who was going through something similar with her daughter that newborns can go 10 days without pooing. When he does poo, it is roughly the size of a 2 pound coin. He has plenty of wet, heavy nappies. His farts smell like an old man! Not that I've smelt many old man farts...

The hv told my friend to give her daughter cooled, boiled water and that did the trick. I'm going to get him weighed on Thursday so will ask the hv for more information.

Xx

Lots of breastfed babies can and do go up to 14 days without a poo but this is only seen as being ok from 6 weeks onwards. A new baby that's not pooing would raise questions about feeding and I would seek RL support that is not from your poorly informed HV!

Very young babies should not be given water for lots of reasons but it can interfere with feeding and effect electrolyte balance in the body. Breastmilk is actually natural a laxative and your milk is mostly water (although not quite 3 weeks in).

Are you still being seen by the midwives? Or is there a breastfeeding support group close by?

A windy baby and not a lot of poo suggests a problem with the latch. Has he been checked for tongue tie?

He will be 5 wks on Friday. I'm concerned it could be the latch now. I never had an issue with the first and I bf him for such a long time.

He was checked for tongue tie at the hospital and he hasn't got it.

Excuse inaccurate vocab and explanation but I am sleep deprived. Not that this should matter (as it was the same last time) but I have huge breasts. So he is unable to take a big mouthful of bottom boob - according to guidelines (not looking to get into a bf latch war). There is a local nct (i'm not, but that doesn't matter) bf group that is run by volunteers which i can go to. I also don't want to get to the point where I am getting overly anxious about feeding him which reduces my supply. As I said early, I know I have a fast flow.

I'll speak to the experts and see what they say and report back. It would be nice to know if anyone else is in the same boat.

Xxx

I was advised to go into a hot shower to let breasts let down before feeding when they were too full for ds.

How do you feel about formula feeding?

The only reaon I'm not 100% keen on formula is it how we eventually found out ds1 was dairy intollerant - he couldn't have anything with dairy in it. He reacted badly to the formula - instant rash on face that went up to his eyes, explosive nappies and tunmy ache. Now 20 months, we have been using the dairy ladder and he can have it in small doses but still not tried actual milk yet. So I am afraid new baby will have the same reaction.

I have a haakaa breast pump which i have been using. It also helps with the let down. This is just so frustrating. I just want him to have a relaxing night. It is definitely a build up of gas during the day as he isn't like this is in the day.

Thank you all for taking the time to reply x

Do you eat dairy yourself? I believe it can come through in the milk if their is an intolerance. Try eliminating dairy from your own diet completely for a week and if that fails try formula. Your breasts clearly feel he needs feeding otherwise they wouldn't be so full (unless you have naturally big breasts and that's a problem?) If it's the size of your breasts, try the experts on breastfeeding. La Leche League?

Is it that your breast is too full so baby can't latch?

breastfeeding is a labour of love. It's certainly not something I would ever do again.

I have naturally big boobs and now they are even bigger much to husbands delight!

I eliminated dairy with ds1. It takes about 6 weeks for all traces of dairy to leave your system. Baby isn't displaying other signs of an allergy/intolerance i.e. vomiting, rash, diarreahoa (sp!) Yet.

And you are right it is a labour of love. I wore it as a badge of honour with ds1.but I just feel so tired and drained this time round. I want to get to 12 weeks.

I would go to the NCT group for advice.
Also, not sure why you need to use pump to help let down if you also have a fast flow, so maybe try not using pump? If you leave it to nature, at the start of the feed the baby gets foremilk, which is watery, followed at end of feed by hindmilk, which is more calorific.
Using a pump may interfere with this causing wind, which, ime, is usually a bottle fed thing. (I guess babies are not designed to get rich milk on empty stomach, their stomach is designed to get liquidy foremilk first, which prevents trapped air, i.e. wind.)
Not a trained bf counsellor but 2 years of bf with 2 children, no pumps and no wind, and nct bf counsellor advice was invaluable.

It can be tricky with big norks and a small bub, especially if you can't get a good view of them. I would definitely seek RL support so someone with knowledge can look. As them again about tongue tie as they are often missed.

A fast let down is tricky. I had the same and it was time really that helped until she got bigger. Would be better to hand express that first bit into a muslin rather than express with a pump as it may increase your supply, making the let down faster.

Otherwise it's feeding in laid back positions, to slow the flow but you may need help with that initially. The let down may be causing gulping and pulling off = wind.

All these will get better in a few weeks. Hang on in there

Ds was basically being almost smothered by my let down. It settled down after a few days but basically him almost choking to death. Poor little mite. Hot showers worked to release the worst of it. Then he was fine to latch on and I didn't even have spectacularly large boobage.