Painful wind and digestion that just isn’t improving in 6MO

[Johno85]

I’ll try and keep this as brief as I can. Any similar experiences and-or advice would be really appreciated.

Son was born via forceps after 24 hour labour and being back to back. Had a missed tongue tie which was snipped at 5 weeks. It’s taken him a long time to get the hang of breast feeding and I’ve even seen a lactation consultant privately.

He also has silent reflux. We started on ranitidine but moved onto omeprazole which definitely helps. Have tried weaning without success so far. Saw Mr Basude in Bristol privately in Sept as the Nhs wait was months. At this point the main issues were:

Irregular bowels
Very smelly (foul) wind and poo
Ongoing silen reflux symptoms
Ongoing inconsolable crying
Awful sleep

I had tried dairy free for 2 months and have since tried gluten free with little change. Mr Basude felt that he may have a food intolerance but advised to restart diary given the minimal improvement. He didn’t feel the need to see us again and said things would improve with time.

Lo is now 6months. He still suffers with awful trapped wind, of which wakes him 4-5 Times at night and from his naps. His wind is still disgusting and this hasn’t really changed since we’ve started weaning onto
Solids. He just seems to have a really sluggish digestive system. He continues to arch his back and pull up his legs. In total things we have tried include:

*use of a sling
*tummy time
*all the colic aids including infacol, gripe water etc
*cranial osteopath
*warm baths
*baby massage
*co-sleeping
*leg bicycling etc
*multivitamins
*food elimination of dairy and gluten

We are under the dietician who will follow us up in February but hasn’t suggested anything new. We are currently waiting for an appointment with the paediatric doctor at the same hospital. We are just about to start trying baby probiotic drops.

I really don’t know what else we can try now. Surely this is something that should be improving now he’s older, sitting well and moving much more. It seems that as he doesn’t have an obvious acute allergy response and he looks well in himself no one is concerned about him. He is on 25th centile (born on 50th), stool sample was negative, no temp, no rashes. He does have an umbilical hernia but apparently this is quite common in babies.

As a Mum it’s awful to see him in so much pain/discomfort and all three of us are tired from the restless days and nights. My lo can flip from being very happy and bouncy (he literally never stops loving) to screaming and writhing around.

Again, any advice would be really appreciated.

When you tried dairy free, did you also try soya free at the same time? Everywhere you look gives different numbers for how many CMPI/A babies also have issues with soya, but there do seem to be a fair few.

He could well have dairy intolerance AND intolerance to other foods. Gluten, egg and nuts would be the most likely culprits, but it could be everything and anything. My DD is intolerant to loads of foods, including foods it is highly unusual to be intolerant of, like carrots, grapes, dates and the majority of fruits and vegetables. If that's the case for your DS, then cutting out dairy alone won't work.

The only way of finding out is to do an elimination diet. We did this at 8 months with DD, after weaning became a disaster. She just went back onto dairy-free formula for a fortnight to calm the symptoms down, and then we gradually reintroduced foods.

The other possibility is something structural in the digestive system, like a hiatus hernia. Paediatric gastro-enterologists can do diagnostic procedures like endoscopy to check.

Was the tongue tie dealt with properly?

Might be worth a visit to somebody who really knows their stuff because often ties are not properly revised.

Do you sleep him on an incline?

Also cut out caffeine for you - I know it’s hard when they aren’t sleep but that always made a massive difference in mine

Hi nocool. Yep I was soya free while dairy free. Since weaning onto solids his had diary directly and no worse off it would seem.

shoving he won’t take a bottle so it’s all on me when it comes to milk. We saw a gastro paed specialist and he didn’t seem to think there was anything structural.

mawbroon I felt that the tongue tie was eventually very well dealt with. I even had him followed up to check it hadn’t reattached.

He slept on an incline in a chicco next to me cot for the first 5 months. When he sleeps in bed with us he sleeps on his back or side with no issues.

rainbow I’ve been on decaf since I got pregnant and have a proper coffee maybe once a day. I did try cutting that out completely as well and didn’t make a difference.

Thanks everyone I appreciate any suggestions