Toddler with trapped wind at night

[Tellytub]

Hi, I am new to mumsnet. I have a ds 18 months, who has suffered terrible tummy pain and trapped wind since birth, being unable to sleep for any length of time at night. He has seen so many docs but we are told that he will most likely grow out of it. We have had trials avoiding all sorts of foods but it seems that all food upsets him. I am constantly searching the internet on information on toddlers with abdominal pain and trapped wind and came across a message on mumsnet from Fimbles who has dd, same age as my ds, with near exact symptoms. Alas the message was posted at the end of 2003. I am desperate to find out if fimbles found a cure for her dd but unable to contact her by CAT messaging. If anyone knows or is in contact with fimbles I would be most grateful if you would let her know of my message. If anyone else has any advice to offer please help. My son has recently been started on Lactulose 10 ml twice daily and Senna 10 ml at night. Initially he passed a lot of wind and slept pain-free for 5 nights but his symptoms recurred and he has been in agony again for 2 weeks. There is also a question of silent reflux and he has been on Ranitidine syrup for quite a while but again we are not really sure if this helps. He also now seems to be in pain, holding his bottom, when passing stools which is maybe once or twice a day.

twinsplusbigsismum - I can't believe that you had that nightmare all over again. And like me you have a 4 year old who has such a limited diet. I noted the digestaid you mentioned and may try that. At the moment I have had a very good fortnight with all dairy cut out but as with your dd she is so sensitive to so many foods. Now she is better without dairy I plan to try a new food every so often, but I will then rotate that food - no more than once in 4 days - if I don't get a bad reaction. Apparently if you rotate foods like this you can reduce the chances of the body reacting to it as an allergy. Will report back later.

My DS is now 5 but has had wind problems on and off now for a long while. He's inherited some digestive/gut problems from DP and I unfortunately. We didn't give him any medicine as it's easy to keep dosing kids up. Instead we tried to help practically/physically.

• Try Gripe Water? Worked for a lot of my friends.
• A warm hot water bottle on the affected area can take their mind off it.
• Lie them on their backs, open legs slightly and lift towards chest. Then carefully move their legs around the hip area. The objective here is to 'massage' the gut by moving the legs/hips. Make it a fun game if they're not in too much pain.
• Use the flat of a warm hand to gently massage the lower gut where the colon is. Make gentle slow circular movements.
• Make sure they have regular meals, even light ones. Large meals can overload a small gut and cause excessive wind.
• Try and get them to fart as it's the obvious way to relieve wind.

Thanks Jo2007 and Chelseamorning! Twin 2 back on Gaviscon as this definately helps a lot and GP thinks is best thing. Twin 1 and daughter have appointments to see a dietician. Am giving twin 1, who suffers the most the junior digestaid at the moment, but as yet this hasn't brought about any significant change, but it isn't causing him any probs. and is totally natural, so I'm going to give it some time to see if it helps.

Have tried gripe water and infracol and Dentinox Colic Drops previously and they haven't really helped. Yes I use a lot of baby massage as you mentioned. I take on board about the size of meals and think it would be a good idea to to cut down portions and maybe feed more often. Will let you know how it goes!

Interesting about the food once in 4 days. I think I have been guilty of trying something, thinking she is ok with it and then giving it all the time or too frequently.

Hope things continue to improve as it's awful to feel so helpless.

Incidentally, have they been checked for coeliacs?

Help! My girls are 10 months and I'm exhausted. Tried all of the above it seems, massage, osteopath, fennel, garlic, biocare we are presently dairy, wheat AMD soy free. My girls have a genetic condition called PKU and so already had probably one of the most restricted diets imaginable. They are under a gastro consultant at great Ormond street, but they haven't Bern help so far. Thr first week after eliminating dairy and wheat they slept for a week! We really thought we had cracked it and started living again! Started talking about holidays and planning thongs to do with thr girls. A month later and we're back to square one - desperate and so tired. Has anyone actually had allergy testing done? There must be an answer, surely this is not our existence until they are 2.

Hi there,

Hope this may help someone.

I came on here a couple of weeks back exasperated that my 8 month old baby girl had been waking in pain more or less every 2 hours since birth. My husband and I were convinced she was uncomfortable with tummy and wind pain. Health visitor and doctor seemed to suggest she just wanted the attention and it had become a habit which we found frustrating because we felt this wasn't the case at all and knew she was in pain.

Was prescribed Gaviscon for her at 6months. First night I used it she slept until 4am so I assumed the problem had been silent reflux. The weeks passed and I didn't feel there was a significant improvement when using the Gaviscon so stopped using it. Tried soya milk but felt it didn't make any difference other than her stools were very loose.

In the end decided to try changing things in her routine. About 5 days ago I started giving her dinner between 4-4.30pm. I'm also making sure she does not have milk after 6pm, preferably around 5.30pm. Hoping it is not just coincidence but out of the 5 nights she has slept for 4 of them right through from around 7pm until after 5.30am! Can't quite believe it and don't want to get too excited but it seems to be working. I also let her play on her playmat after her milk for about 45mins to an hour.

Will post again if this doesn't continue to help but hoping we have made progress. Actually feeling rather stupid that I didn't try this before. Could possibly have saved 8months of very little sleep! Realise it won't help everyone but hope it helps someone and hope it continues to help us!!

Meant to say that the one night she didn't sleep so well I had given her broccoli at dinner time so wondered if that had made her uncomfortable with wind. Definitely think certain vegetables make her worse - broccoli, onions, leeks. I just think we have an extremely windy baby!!

Very much sympathise with everyone who has posted. It's so hard when you are sleep deprived and just want to help your baby. Also frustrating when other people don't believe you and think your baby is just craving the attention in the night. I honestly believe babies will sleep if they are comfortable. Seems to have been the case with both of mine.

Hi Again! Interested by your message Leigh1976. Will give it a try! My 3 children have seen the dietician now and we are awaiting letters with some things suggested to try re some changes to my daughters diet mainly her fibre intake initially, and a different milk for the boys. We'll see!

My 4 year old Daughter has been going through a better spell. I've got her back on the Junior Digestaid and Twin 1 is better than he was. Usually going down around 12-1am. Twin 2 usually settles around 10.30-11.30. Dietician says they all have suffered with imature digestive system, which we thought from homeopaths we had seen. I am pretty sure that Twin 1 also can't take any fish as well as the cows milk protein. Am also giving him the digestaids now and at least I haven't been up all night for some time and am now getting a much better block of sleep! My boys have just turned one!

Hi there, my son is 14 months old and what a long 14 months it has been. Somedays I just feel like breaking down. It all started when we bought Taylor home from hospital he was colicky and refluxy. I went to the doctors, the first one ignored my pleas, the second one put him on reflux medicine, we saw no difference so took him off it and used preventative methods like tilting his cot and giving him a dummy and sitting him up after feeds. Things were better he was sleeping a tiny bit better but every now and then he would have bad weeks gurgling tummy, screaming until he farted. I again went to mulitple doctors and was told babies cry, its behavioural, he wants u. We tried co-sleeping (didnt work), leaving him to cry (didnt work and couldnt do it for any longer than an hour and a half anyway) I tried infacol (nothing) infants friend made him scream like he was being murdered. I went to a dietician and cut out so many things from my diet but noticed no difference and didnt pick up on any key foods that made him worse. By 10 months i had been to sleep school but taylor was teething for the first time so it made it especially hard, we did get rid of the dummy, learnt to put him down asleep and cut out one feed from the night but keeping him in his cot was a nightmare it did help a little on the nights he wasnt too bad he would sleep in his cot all night (even if it meant i got in there with him at some point) but the sleep school lady said i needed to get a bed in his room and put my arm in the cot to reassure him but not to pick him up ever unless it to put him in my second bed and then back to his cot. I couldnt do this because my arm wouldnt fit through the cot slats and anyway as im sure u all know no matter how much shooshing or patting or saying go back to sleep would matter when he gets wind. once it was time to put him on cows milk nothing changed but i decided to try him on a lactose free milk which seemed to help, spinach has been a big no no and so has anything else high in iron, apart from that im none the wiser and I just cant take it anymore. He is teething again and things have gone back to really bad but I will give him paracetomol and he will still scream and scream and scream. Last night was especially bad and he was farting all night. The last doctor I saw said when they are teething they get lots of tummy bugs but he shows no other signs of these and he cant have tummy bugs this often.

I have wasted so much money on doctors my partner and I are struglling financially and with another one on the way I cant get into his cot and I cant even hold him when he gets really bad because of how he kicks. My partner and I are constantly arguing, he works so hard and has to get up early so when taylor is crying from 11 - 2 and then has to share our bed some nights u can imagine how tired and frustrated he is.

Hello, posted about 9 months ago and just looked back at this thread. I have has very similar experiences to Leigh1976 - it just took me a lot longer to work out. My dd is now sleeping through and has very few wind problems as long as she does not eat or drink for about an hour before bed and we avoid everything containing onions and onion powder. She is also better if I limit garlic, beans, lentils etc and other things that often cause wind. I have tried gradually reintroducing onions but after a couple of days she gets windy and restless again.
Hope this may help someone!

Rhiankadi - I think most of us on here have had the frustration of not being understood by the Gp's etc & it is the last thing you need. The best support I can give is that you will find things that help over time - I am still having trouble with my DD nearly 4.5 yrs but overall it is loads better. But at your stage I felt just like you that I couldn't take any more. Have got allergy testing booked for July but I have had good nights since I excluded dairy - but still not solved as diet so limited and gets crying spells in the day all due to the masses of trapped wind. It is so hard. Best wishes

Hi, I was amazed to come across this chat forum and read soooo many similar stories of what I've been experiencing with my son for the last 17 months.

In a nutshell, waking frequently at night to pass trapped wind and it's very clear he's uncomfortable, in pain and would much rather be sleeping, which to me erases the belief that they are waking for attention/habit. As someone posted above, I believe that if they are comfortable they'll sleep all the night through.

Izaac started off as a very windy breast fed bub, so I frequently did 'bicycle' legs to help pass wind in the bad hours of the evening, as well as modifying my diet to reduce wind causing foods and acidic foods. So my breast feeding diet had no broccoli, cauliflower, capsicum, tomato, onion or garlic. I also worked hard to get lots of burps up during feeds to help less air to get there in the first place.

Things were ok until we started solids. Izaac would have very painful episodes during the night and he'd wake with the very audible pain cry and wouldn't settle until the wind had passed. Through trial and error, modified his diet until things were more manageable, but Izaac still wasn't sleeping through the night.

Foods eliminated are: corn, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, onion, garlic, cheese. I'm still wary of tomatoes and capsicum and citris so haven't really tried these with Izaac.

I was told along the way that he'd get better once he was crawling and moving more. This didn't change anything. I am thinking it could be linked to teeth as there has been one week where I did nothing different with his diet and routine and he slept soundly for 5 days until 4 or 5 or even 7am!! Unfortunately this didn't continue. He was 15 months when he did this. Now at 17 months, I've just had one of the worst weeks ever. Izaac would previously self settle and put himself to sleep at night without a fuss (waking later with issues and ending up in bed with me as too exhausted after midnight to keep trying to resettle) but this week he's been screaming and obviously uncomfortable before he even gets to the cot and the only way he's gone down is to be held and he eventually relaxes enough to pass an excessive amount of wind the falls asleep quickly on me and I transfer him to the cot while he's drifting off. He then wakes a couple of hours later to repeat the whole episode and the wakes again and due to my exhaustion comes to bed with me again after midnight. As Rhiankadi posted above, hubby not happy about this arrangement and has been sleeping in the spare room since Izaac's been in the bed with me from 11 months onward (when I no longer had the energy and mental resolve to continue to lean over the cot or sit up holding him in a chair and comforting until wind had passed).

I don't have any magic answers and am still searching. I'm going to look into lactose intolerance, but don't believe it's this, as the issue is in the evening and the only dairy is a cup of milk and a small yoghurt in the morning. His belly is very large after his dinner whereas he's not bloated after his breakfast or lunch. I'm really hoping it settles down with teeth stopping soon, but not sure what else to try.

Hopefully someone unravels this mystery soon!!

Hi, was searching the net for some info on dealing with trapped wind for my little girl who is 3 and half. Reading this log I can't believe how similar the symptoms are to my babe. She started with colic from about a week old. She was given gaviscon from about. Month old after several trips to the gp and health visitor, she could never settle at night and was up every hour with tummy ache, she could never bring her wind up. To cut along story short she was diagnosed with silent reflux and prescribed ranitidine at 10 months. This seemed to have some impact but not a lot. Drs just didn't seem to listen. At 15 months she was sent for a camera and checked for coeliac disease. After a horrible day in hospital the consultant suggested she may have a milk allergy. fter cutting milk out for a while she improved slightly. A few months later she had a tiny taste of peanut butter and had a huge allergic reaction, so was then sent for allergy tests. We are lucky in our area as we have a paed who specialises in allergy testing in children. She was then diagnosed with allergy to milk, soya, wheat and peanut. After eliminating everything from her diet she has massively improved. She is on ranitidine as required for the reflux, dairy causes reflux but have re introduced dairy as she is tested every 6 months and she apparently outgrown the milk and soya allergy,. She is also on merbentyl which is fantastic for her wind. A few weeks ago we stopped the merbentyl as she has no wheat now and her diet is really well controlled but she has started to really suffer again with the trapped wind, have e started the merbentyl but she is still really suffering, she seems to have spasms as can be fine then screaming in pain until she passes the wind,. Has anyone found out anymore about the irriatable bowel in children? I staring to think it is more than allergies as she is having no wheat at all now in her diet but is really suffering since stopping the merbentyl medicine. I do feel better from reading all your posts tho that she is not alone I was starting to think it was something really serious with her. Thanks everyone
Xx

In reply to Karenpreecey re the allergy testing was a god send for us. Since finding the allergies and eliminating the foods she has been better. Just seems to be more to it now, I would definitely go for it. My ill girl loves having it done!!! She calls the drops magic rain!!! Sounds strange I know but it really doesnt bother her and you get the answers the same day. X

My daughter suffered terrible trapped wind, after what has been a very long 19 months, with many hospital admissions for severe stomach distension, she was given a special cause of antibiotic that made things lots better. Have a google of SIBO, it made my daughter quite ill

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO)

I have to add, I dont think this is all that is wrong with Daughter, as they also think she adhesions do to her operation 19 months ago. They think this adhesions are causing her to have sub-acute bowel obstructions, as they tighten and let go there grip.

This on-going slowing down of her intestines, on they think a daily bases, is causing the bacteria in her colon to track back into her small bowel, where there should be none or very little bacteria. SIBO makes people feel quite ill and tired, it comes across in my 5 year old in her behaviour, it makes her not the happy hild she should be.

Not saying this is what any of your children have, but its worth looking into as its very easy to put right

Hi there,

Regarding my previous post dated April 22 2012 I'm sorry to say that our change in routine has not continued to help our daughter! It seemed to work for about a fortnight and now we are back to having her waken every couple of hours in pain.

I have been strict with myself and kept a food diary with details of what she ate, when she ate, how much she ate and Im honestly struggling to find any pattern whatsoever.

We are exhausted once again and feel quite deflated when we read that some of you still seem to be having problems when your children are 2-3 years old.

Will continue to check this thread to see if anybody finds a solution. Best wishes to everyone and hope things settle for you eventually. X

Just a quick update on my last post. I've been pursuing medical angles and have quite a few things to follow up but the one we're trying at the moment is a laxative, Parachoc, as an X-ray of Izaac showed a whole back log right through the colon and intestines which will probably take at least a month to clear. Even though he has always passed bowel motions 3 or 4 times a day, it appears some just isn't moving through and he needs to be cleaned out for his bowel to start again. No immediate changes with night waking, however doesn't seem to have as much pain when passing the wind, and that's after 5 days on laxatives. Can only hope that it improves. Will give an update in another month or so.

The other avenue we're pursuing is a sleep apnea query, as it does exist in my family and he does snore on occasion, so the theory is he's potentially waking from sleep apnea, crying out with fright and the wind is happening as a coincidence. Given the pain element with the cry, I'd be more inclined to think it's the bowel backlog issue, however if the night waking continues without pain and wind, then I'll be pursuing this more readily. Either way, I'll give an update and hope that it helps someone somewhere.

Just an update to say my now 4yrs 7m dd has been referred to the allergy clinic of the hospital who advised she has type 2 (delayed response allergies). They have done a blood test to test for 150 type 1 allergies (the anaphalytic shock type) just in case but have advised there is no test for type 2 - except to eat the food. The good news was that she should grow out of them and that it is important to keep re-trying foods after a 6 months break but to allow a good time ? not sure how long yet to wait and note any adverse response. Also said unusual for a breast-fed normal birth like she had to have this problem. Have had some vitamin deficiency tests done at the same time with a referral to a dietician to help guide food re-tries.
Was also advised that allergies can create a 'fake' constipation set-up due to the pockets of wind slowing down the system - but the answer is not laxatives as the problem is not constipation but the allergy causing restriction.

I have reported earlier that taking all dairy our had a huge beneficial effect on sleep and just be aware of lots of hidden dairy by-products - whey, casein etc. Will keep everyone posted. Best wishes to all.

I found this thread months and months ago when I was at my wits end with DD. Waking screaming throughout the night and writhing in agony before breaking wind and settling.

She is 2 next week, still BF and I have followed a dairy free diet since she was 6 weeks old.

After very little GP/dietician involvement we trialled her on Gaviscon before bed- what a difference! She still wakes for comfort but that is a long standing habit, no longer in pain she settles far more easily.

It's so heartbreaking to read all these posts- so many children and parents suffer because those in the medical profession dismiss symptoms tied into reflux, or GERD, wind and food intolerances - the dots are not being properly joined by the medical profession, and it is such an exhausting and emotionally draining thing to deal with. People who haven't had a reflux/ food intolerant child have no idea how hard it is! I often think, god if a little non life threatening thing like this is so awful, imagine how bad it must be to have a child with a really serious condition. It doesn't bear thinking about.
Anyway, my story....
My second daughter spent her nights screaming in agony from a few weeks old, with terrible wind (it smelt really rotten), green slimy stools, tired from not being able to sleep. I assumed it was colic for while but it was so distressing I did some internet research (The health visitors had just said 'oh poor you' when I told them my baby cried every night, and I thought - rightly it seems - the gp would just say the same)and cut dairy out of my diet. It made a huge difference so I went to my gp and asked to be referred to a specialist. They diagnosed reflux and suspected cows milk protein intolerance, so I kept on with the dairy free diet for a while in order to continue to BF. When she was weaned it was onto cow & gate pepti jnr, which took her a while to take as it's not very nice - but at 22 months old now she loves it. She also had gaviscon to help with the acid production.
Like others who have posted here, I always found her hard to wind. She used to have trouble getting the farts out, and would cry in the night, but that seems better now. I would get her to tuck her knees underneath her and rock her side to side, and gripe water helped too (and it's nice and natural).
Still she often, after having her bottle of milk, has a huge bubble at the top of her stomach, so you can hear the milk and air all sloshing around, but to get that air out is really hard. i find it hard to understand that the esophagus will let acid back up but not wind, perhaps it's because the muscles spasm? anyway, often when I give her gaviscon it helps the wind to come up (because it relaxes the muscles that contract when the acid comes up I guess), combined with vigorous back rubbing and rocking side to side, so I wonder if that might help some of you. I am definitely going to take the bottles away and try the nuby cup as I am sure that will help. She does have a dummy, and I constantly change my mind about whether it makes it better or worse. Teething without doubt makes it much worse.
Most days now she is fine, but she is still not symptom free. Even a few weeks ago she was writhing in agony on our bed, and I said to my OH 'this is probably what they called being possessed in medieval times', she was screaming like a demon, you couldn't touch her, and we felt so helpless.
So even though she is dairy free it seems to me there are still other causes of reflux, and I may look into some of the ideas above such as getting her allergy tested to see if other foods are doing it, or seeing a kinesiologist.
When I saw another specialist more recently they suggested that some babies have reflux because things trigger it, while others have it as a physical condition that can be triggered by foods, but is an inherent physiological condition. I think this might be what my dd has, as she gets reflux even if she cries too much (makes it hard to give her time out or leave her to cry, so she is becoming a bit of a handful!)
This specialist was good at explaining that you can't increase their tolerance by exposing them to dairy, you can only test for improvement by giving them foods. It should be a measured amount such as 2 teaspoons and you would give it once a day for 2 days then stop. If they react badly there's no point trying again for 6 months. There is a tolerance ladder which ideally they should progress up which goes like this
stage 1 - cakes biscuits and pastries using milk powder or butter
stage 2 - a small amount of milk or cheese cooked in the oven for half an hour
Stage 3 - home made custard, cheese on toast, rice pudding
stage 4 - plain cheese, yoghurt, ice cream, progressing to small amount of heated cows milk (50ml)
Stage 5 - unheated cows milk (50ml to start)

We haven't made it past stage 1 yet, and I'm not even sure I should allow her those things sometimes as she still has acid attacks, but it's so hard to keep so many 'treat' foods away from a toddler, especially when they have an older sibling.
I am constantly told that most of them grow out of it by the age of 2, but we're 2 months off from that and no sign of the reflux or dairy intolerance going! However, living with it is much better than it used to be, most days she is fine and she sleeps through more and more nights all the time.
I want to thank everyone who has posted because it gives you new ideas to try, I hope my post will help someone.
For all those who are still in the nightmare stage, it may not go away in a hurry, but you do get better at managing it as you find out what works for your little one, and the sleep does gradually improve!

I find it comforting but also devastating that other parents and babies are going through the same thing and there are no clear answers as to what is causing all this discomfort. I am at my wits end, not having slept for more than 4 hour stretch for months. I am back at work this month and I don't know how on earth I am going to cope.
My DD is almost a year old and she was diagnosed with silent reflux at 4 months old. She was EBF at that point and I stopped eating dairy (which made a little difference. It seems that she has been much worse since weaning on to solids. I tried reintroducing dairy but dairy or no dairy seems to make no difference to what I can only describe as masses of trapped gas, especially at night. I still BF her and she sucks for comfort 24/7 and I am exhausted. She struggles so much with passing bottom wind, cries, wriggles and her whole body goes rigid. It can take 3-4 hours for an 'attack' to pass and for her to fall asleep. The only way I can get her to sleep afterwards is to cosleep and let her suck. she doesn't take a dummy.
I am fed up, angry and sad that she suffers so much but we were told she will 'grow out of it' at 'some point'. We are now pursuing a private route, having no support from NHS.
I will not let her cry to sleep (as HV suggested!) because this is not behavioural, she is suffering and her tummy hurts.

Sorry for ranting, but having such a high need baby is also putting a strain on my relationship with my DH. We haven't been out anywhere since she was born. We have no time to ourselves at all, evenings are spent trying to settle her down-we take turns.

I just want to cry, in fact, that's what I am doing writing this.

I am starting to have a life again! I hope it lasts! Mine are all under dietician at hospital and twins under pediatrician - waste of time so far. My GP is good, twin 1, who has suffered the most til now is due to see a pediatric gastrologist (excuse any spelling mistakes) at the Chelsea and Westminster, who has been recommended by a friend and we are currently seeing another homeopath, but the biggest change has come about following an INSTINCT I had and am very frustrated I didn't act on sooner. I had twins on goats milk, as all the homeopaths I had seen said they were fine with it. I tried my daughter (4.5yrs) and she did not react well. I SWITCHED the boys to RICE DREAM with Calcium instead morning and evening and instead of 1am being a good night for twin 1, 11pm is now a bad night! Things not perfect, but a whole lot better. All are on very restricted diets. Boys - no wheat/gluten, dairy, soya, potato, spinach, banana, apple, grapes, fish, orange, kidney beans or baked beans, goats milk, sweet potato, sweetcorn. Daughter - no wheat/gluten, dairy, soya, potato, apple, goats milk, onion, pineapple, banana, peaches and pear and she won't eat vegetables, except processed peas and those I hide in bolognese ie. garlic, herbs, carrots and courgettes. She eats passata, instead of tinned tomatoes, as I have found the skins and seeds give her wind. I am currently keeping a diary of foods, bowel movements, wind, sleep and getting up and going to bed times and am really finding this is helping me to form patterns. I am introducing and trialing new foods and hope diets will expand as I go on. At the moment I am feeling so much more positive and in control, but know how hard it can be! All children are off any medications and they stay asleep all night one they are settled 98 nights out of a hundred I would say and get up between 7 and 9. Sorry I go on a bit!! Just want to give lots on info in hope it might help someone! By the way, how do you get allergy testing, other than via homeopaths, as I'm losing a bit of faith in this method, as every time we go the results change! I'm trusting my feelings and hunches at the moment using diary results.

Hi. This is a very simplistic reply in comparison to the very detailed replies of others but in case it might help others I shall write it anyway!

My son has never been a very good sleeper,but at around 5months old he started to wake in the night screaming & writhing in pain. He'd be awake & distressed for hours at a time every night until eventually he would do some enormous farts & then gratefully pass out. As would I once he was safely back in his cot. My gp really wasn't interested,the paediatrician couldn't come up with any solutions or suggestions - I felt as though they thought I was making it up. HV wasn't any better.

Eventually I saw a locum gp who prescribed a half dose of paediatric plain movicol. After much experimenting to find the best time of day to give this,I discovered that if he drank it with breakfast he didn't wake with the pain at night. It has resulted in his poo being loose but that is a small con to the massive pro of vastly improved sleep.

We started the movicol at about 9 or 10 months of age,gave it daily until about a month ago (he is 18.5 months now). In the last 3 months i have also been taking him to an osteopath,who has worked on various issues to do with right shoulder,hips,mid back & diaphragm. I stopped movicol because he was teething with 3 molars & his nappies were unbearable & thought I'd see what effect that had on the state of his poos. Basically hasn't changed much but I'm leased to report that the night time wind problems haven't recurred. Now,having added the osteopathy into the equation I can't be sure if her work on his diaphragm is responsible or if he has at 18 months outgrown it.

We are going to hospital on Monday for a blood test to rule out Coeliac disease & check his iron levels. He goes to bed very late (still resists going to sleep,always has) but having read the no cry sleep solution book for toddlers,at least he doesn't scream & shout for hours before he sleeps,just messes about,he does however often sleep for 10 - 11 hours at night now. On the odd occasion that he sleeps badly I wonder how the hell I survived 15 months of next to no sleep! Amazing what your body will adapt to...

Ok,that was quite long & rambly. But if it helps one person to get a quicker solution,I will be happy!! Don't stop fighting for your little ones. You know them,you are their voice. As frustrating as it is to be knocked back & patted down time & again keep getting back up & pushing for help to find answers.

Twinsplusbigsismum, so pleased to hear that you are getting your life back. I struggle with one with this problem and you must be doing a fabulous job to survive with 3. With my DD also being 4 (5 in December and starting school Sept) it is helpful to know that someone else is still having trouble as others seem to grow out of it. You mention so many foods you exclude - like for me, but without potatoes and wheat I would be interested to know what the main foods are your DD eats as I do not give meat as I have always been told how hard this is to digest and I myself am vegetarian - but give her fish fingers and would give her meat if I thought she would cope with it but wouldn't know what to try. Re your query about allergy testing I wondred if you had seen my earlier post where the hospital allergy clinic had said they can't test type 2 allergies other than by her trying the foods and waiting for the reaction - not much help there then! I am also amazed that your DD copes with garlic and herbs - that is good to hear. What are you doing re school lunches as at the moment I have said my DD will have to come home as there is nothing I could send her with. As always all help greatly appreciated and it is so good that everyone is continuing to record progress on here - we can write the book later!

Also to add that I still use a homeopath but not for allergy testing but Classical homeopathy - maybe worth people knowing there are different approaches with this treatment. Society of homeopaths website gives more info.