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.

[Twoboysbothwindy]

Peekaboo77 I know this is an old post but your story is helping me have hope... I'm convinced this kid has something. He was on penicillin for an ear infection and we thought we had a massive breakthrough. He slept for 6 straight hours! Off the penicillin, back to every 45 mins to an hour wakes with trapped wind.

Hoping the paed can help when I give this info

[Wrigglepud]

Hello! Made an account to give people hope.. if you’ve read to the end of this thread (like I did) then you’re probably at the point of desperation (like I was). A commenter further up the thread mentioned a low fodmap diet. I tried it for myself (as still breastfeeding) & babe (10mo) and she has gone from waking what felt like constantly to now waking 1-3 times a night without me changing anything else. Still do all the ‘wrong’ things like feed to sleep.. seems she was waking purely out of tummy discomfort, poor love. Word of warning though.. paediatrician said low fodmap diets can cause nutritional deficiencies so really important to reintroduce as many foods as possible once past the truly low fodmap stage. Honestly such an improvement though. I was driving myself mad trying to find her trigger foods before this.

[Twoboysbothwindy]

Thanks @Wrigglepud!

Initially low FODMAP worked great for us but we've been unable to reintroduce any food without it causing a major reaction. We keep trying though! I hope your story can help someone else. All their tummies are so different!

[Wrigglepud]

Ah no, we’ve not got to the reintroducing stage yet so hope we don’t have the same issues.

Yes totally agree, they’re all so different..

[Twoboysbothwindy]

Fingers crossed for you! Hopefully not!

When we realised there was a constipation a d wind issue I thought....ah ok, annoying but we've done this before. Oh no...the second fella has completely different triggers and needs!

Having said all that, I think the more of us that share our stories, the better for other mums and hopefully those of us in the thick of it.

My older guy grew much better by 18 months but that's another 6 months away from now and it's not guaranteed!

[Pinkbox27]

Hi there nit sure if you will see this message but I came across your post from 2009 where you wrote about your then toddlers gassyness at night. I would be grateful if you could let me know whether you managed to find the cause or solve the issue As I am having the same issues with my toddler and have found no answers. Many thanks for your reply x

[Sandell]

Hi there, know this post goes back a long long time now but want to reiterate all the previous messages about how much this has helped me feel less alone.

We have struggled with out boy's wind since he was 2 weeks old (now 16months) all the usual diagnosis were thrown at us in the first year (dairy intolerance/reflux etc) but nothing seemed to be helping.

Exactly the same symptoms as many of you, when he was little it would effect him in the day but now almost solely at night. How often we're told 'oh but he seems fine' when you have to sit up with him in pain night after night.

We finally got to see a paediatrician just before he turned 1 and his immediate thought was fructose/fructan intolerance, it was the first explanation that made sense and we have started to see an improvement since trialing how to manage it.
For us this includes:
Most fruit reserved for morning/lunchtime
Cutting out certain foods (wheat, peas, onions and garlic especially bad for us)
Massage at hip points before bed
Warm water or watered down milk to help him pass wind at night

With this in place we're down to 1 or 2 wakes a night which is more manageable than it used to be.

I've seen some other useful posts on mumsnet directly related to fructose/fructan intolerance - had never heard about it before our gastro paediatrician appointment though.

Have been told he should grow out of it but the stress of his broken sleep and limited diet have made me second guess myself constantly. (we're still off dairy for now and haven't even dared tried pulses!)

Thanks to this post we're going to try talking to a local homeopath and kinesiologist (if they don't cost the earth!) and see how that goes- fingers crossed.

Good luck to everyone going through this xx

[Tan8]

Just seen this post after several sleepless nights of my 1 year old suffering with trapped wind.
She is usually such a happy little girl but seeing her so upset with trapped wind is awful especially as other people have said around teething. We have tried infacol, gripe water, coileaf. Infacol she became immune to gripe water made her constipated coileaf is just not working anymore. Standing up rocking her from side to side sometimes helps but the best way we have found is letting her crawl around and play and honestly the amount of wind that comes out is shocking. She eats very healthily and on oat milk still just the same issues. I've ordered some fennel drops to help and going to try fizzy water during the day. Feels like shes nocturnal bless her although I'm sure shes loving playing at night!

[tavileh]

Was reading through this thread for a while, going through the same thing with my now 16 month old. We did all of the allergy testing, exclusion diets etc, but all came back negative and the paed told us it would stop eventually. Given she was waking up hourly, that didn't work for me, so I looked into other options!

I was recommended an Osteopath, so thought we'd give it a try. I didn't expect much from it, we tried Osteo when she was tiny and it made no difference. This time, oh my, it worked!! 3 days after the first session, she slept through the night!

He said she has a lot of tension in her abdomen which could be causing the problem, he stretched it out (lots of crying), and it seems to have made a huge difference. It currently seems to wear off after about a week and a half, we're having our third session this week, but even when it starts to get worse again it is still hugely better than before!

Wanted to share for any others who might be going through the same thing!