How hard is too hard?

[TheRhythmlessMan]

When I'm winding my DD (7mo) I really struggle to get her to burp and I worry I'm pounding her back too hard. She doesn't cry when I do this so I'm assuming she would if I were hurting her(?). If I I just lightly tap her back nothing comes out.

She's developed a faint rash on her back and i can only assume this is from (what feels like constantly) patting/rubbing her.

I just worry about what I read about "do not ever shake your baby" and that patting her on the back so much might be doing damage. Can it?

At 7 months you may not even need to burp your baby any more. Please talk to your health visitor.

U dnt wind a 7month old. She should be burping herself self.

But she doesn't. I can hear her swallow air but doesn't bring it up and is uncomfortable. I'll give HV a call. I wondered if it's to do with starting on solids. Trapped wind etc.

What does she do that makes you think she's uncomfortable? If you feel she's struggling you should just keep her upright for a wee bit after her bottle and just let her try herself. if you keep winding her she won't ever do it herself. Maybe your actually putting her off burping if your patting her back, just imagine if you are trying to get a burp out and someone keeps touching you, it stops you from burping. Does that make sense? What number of teat is she on? X

Thank you. Makes sense.
Until about a fortnight ago she burped on her own when I sat her up after a feed and relaxed her. But then we started solids and she's become all squirmy again. Like we're back with a three month old. No teat- just breastfeeding and small amounts of food.

I can hear the air in her tummy gurgling around after a feed when I pick her up and walk around with her. But as you say maybe I'm interfering too much. Recently when she does burp they're small burps. I've tried sitting her upright in high chair or in cot but burps are minimal.

Right now I have her on my lap and I'm about to put her into the cot. Last night she was asleep in the cot for about 45 mins then was very upset. A small burp came out but she was still upset so I kept patting her. Her body goes all rigid and she straightens her legs stiff, arching back etc- seems in pain :(
I gave her Infacol (have been giving every evening lately even though I hate it but I figured it's better to have than than to be pounded endlessly by her mother) and she eventually calmed down. A few times a night she still does the rigid body thing.

Some times infacol can make things worse as it turn all the air bubbles into bigger bigger which some baby struggles with more. What about ur milk supply? Is it still flowing easily? Is she maybe sucking to hard/fast? Maybe at 7 months she's want more milk faster? Is she getting some water with her solids?

I'm having a similar issue since weaning, especially at night. I just walk with her upright against me and bounce a bit. Also rub her tummy in circles.

I'm wondering if it is a lactose thing.

Well tonight has been our best night for a while in that she hasn't screamed her head off since putting her down earlier. Just nursing her now.

Interesting, because I haven't given her any actual food today apart from a rice puff (How horrible am I!) but this has proved that the upsets recently are likely to be from whatever she's eating.

Could be lactose- I fried something in butter last week that may still be working through her system.

Should I be giving water? I thought s long as she has enough of my milk (or formula if using) that's enough for hydration.

Yeah you should start give her some water with her solids. What solids is she getting? Maybe she's just needing a bit more time to get used to the solids. U should just try her with a couple of spoonfuls of porridge in the morning keep that up for a week or so and slowly work your way up to more. Obviously wait until you think she's dealing with the wee bits before adding more. And water will help her burp and help things go through her digestive system

Oh ok. Thank you so much. You've been really helpful @loveskaka

She's not interested in the spoon at all (turns her head away) so I gave her some broccoli and cauliflower florets, she's had some Organix puffs and she had some plain omelette (cooked in a smidgen of butter/oil) last week (wondering if that was the culprit for an intolerance).

I'll introduce some cooled boiled water in a bottle whenever she eats and see if she takes it. As you say, might help loosen things up in her gut.

Also what's going through my mind is that perhaps her crying and 'new body language' is an expression of separation anxiety, which I read can happen at this stage. Eight months old next week.

Also the other night, which was our worst night of all this, she had chopped cooked spinach, and some grated cooked carrot we're talking tiny tiny amounts and they pretty much come out the 'other end' in the same form that they went in. So I can't imagine her digestion is very happy if she's passing literally solid bits of food.

Is there a way of giving baby porridge apart from spoon? Can you put it in a sippy cup/bottle if it's completely runny? Or does it clog up the teats?

Ah. Just read that porridge in a bottle can be a choking risk!

I let DD use her hands to play with porridge and puree. Some of it gets in her mouth.

Just start on one meal a day as PP said, feed her milk just before (counter-intuitive, I know!) and stick with veg and fruit for now while she's getting used to it still. Sticks pf apple (microwave for two minutes in a bowl of water so they're soft enough), banana, homemade sweet potato fingers (parboil then roast), chunks of carrot etc. It's normal for it to come out as it went in during the very early days of weaning.

Yeah dnt give her it in a bottle, just try sticking to the porridge in the morning and get that sorted. Keep trying her with the spoon but give her a spoon to play and just go through the motion every morning with the porridge and one morning she will get the hang off it. It can take a wee while of practice for them to get it so she's might go the next week and just moan but as long as ur "practicing it. Like another poster said even let her play with it and u can sneak the spoon in and if she isn't picking it up or screwing her face when she's eating it herself then she for sure Doesn't like it. show her u "eating" the porridge. Do u make it with her own milk? Do u express? It's really tasteless with water so even buy the jars of ready make porridge until you start using cows milk. if u can't express enough milk. Or you could add some puréed fruit. Yeah they do start to get separation anxiety at this age because they are more aware of who you are and like to be close but you need to try recognise when she's genuinely upset and when she's jus 'acting up' there's a fine line though as u need to attend to her enough to make her feel secure and that you will be there if she needs u and upset but let her moan and have wee silly cries enough that she knows your not going to give into her when she's just acting up.

Am hoping at least some of that made sense lol

Our DD still gets terrible wind sometimes :( try rubbing her tummy and cycling her legs, that should get things moving a bit better that patting now she's bigger.

She can just eat porridge with her hands if she's not interested in a spoon, or you can make porridge fingers (equal amounts of oats and milk, press into a dish and bake for about 15 minutes, it's nice with a banana mashed in as well).

I never winded any of mine. Pointless exercise . Upright is enough.

Disagree @yearofthemum, but then we do have different children.