Is this wind and what do I do??

[Spod]

my dd is 3 weeks old... she has been having restless nights... she sleeps with me, starts off okay as she goes to bed feeding (breast)but during the night wakes a lot: grunting, kicking, generally agitated.... I try feeding but mostly thats not what she wants (she will take a short feed sometimes). I wonder if she's just full of wind/belly ache?? she will cry a little and it does seems to be out of wind....looks in pain...she does spend most of the evening feeding....seems to feed more in the 4 hours before bed than any other time during the day (when she sleeps more). Have tried infacol before feeds but that hasnt helped. Any suggestions on what to do?? have tried massaging tummy, cycling legs etc... should I be trying to get her to feed more in day instead? any advice would be great (i needs sleep!!)

sorry sounds like wind to me. I had this Its a vicious cycle they cry - you feed them they get full tot he gunnells and uncomfy - they cry - you feed them etc. Try and comfort an other way..?

Spod - I am currently working as a postnatal doula to another baby (5 weeks old on Monday) who was a planned section... very similar to yours actually.... he had a cranio-osteopath appointment last week and it took 3 or 4 days after that for the baby to be significantly better - also hard tummy !
A section remains a fairly harsh way for a baby to come into this world... some are not always "really' ready (the one I work with - at 39 weeks clearly wasn't ready - according to his mum) and the CO found something quite "screwed" (this is NOT the word she used but what i can remember visualising as I heard this) in his intestine area.
Hope this helps.

P.S. The mother was in tears one morning from "all that wind and crying" throughout the night" and considering bottle feeding (which I believe would not solve the wind problem anyway).... she is MUCH happier now.

Pupuce - I was just looking at this thread and noticed your comments about your "baby" being not quite ready etc. My son was a windy baby and has always suffered from severe constipation (he has had sodium picosulphate (picolax) a few times and the first time he didn't poo for 36 hours and that was also on a cocktail of lactulose and senna)- he was born at 37 weeks by elective cs. Am interested in remedying this. Can you explain what the CO said/does?

Jampot - I am afraid I am no CO expert and would not do it justice. I can only report what I noticed fron working with many newborns.... I have seen the CO work and I can say that it is very gentle but how it works I am not sure. Many mums swear by it.

If you were interested, I would suggest finding a CO specialised in babies. They often recommend 2 or more visista and "they" say for every birth.... personnally I don't agree with that (but that my PERSONAL opinion). I think cesarean babies do have a rough birth and it is often not discussed/explained - even if the section was planned and done with Mozart in the background. Some babies are hailed out with forceps too. Babies born with ventouse or forceps also have rough births....

that does sound interesting... but is there anything i can try without seeing a co? until last few days baby has been very contented... was a large baby born at 39 weeks albeit by c section... has fed like a trooper since birth, nappies etc are full and fine....no constipation etc...what exactly does a co do anyway? and how do i find one?

Here is more info on cranial osteopathy for babies and where you can find one

Also read this

Very interested to hear that wind problems are associated with early babies. My ds was two weeks early (born naturally) and suffered terrible digestive problems especially at night. I found that spacing out the feeds helped quite alot. In other words I would try and comfort him in other ways in the early evening and feed him sevenish and then ten. This seemed to help him. The best thing was that by eight weeks he was over the worst. Hang in there!

I have used it for two of mine. One was a colic- aholic who screamed from 4 - 9 every pm and the other wouldnt settle like yours.

It is imperceptible touching of the skull and spine I thought it was a real con initially but, after getting him worse for a few days, it was repeated and cured him.

for ds3 it was not so miraculous and gave up after she was ill for one appointment and life ticked on. I am not sure if it works or the baby just grows out of it... certainly my second stage for the baby where it worked was 3 minutes and I wondered if it was a bit of a shock!

thanks for the info pupuce... i'll give spacing out the feeds a try and then consider co... as i dobt that its very easy to get hold of one in my area anyway

do you mind saying what area that is ?
Do try spacing feed but if she has a hard tummy..... hmmm....

i live near milton keynes.... i think the wind problem is easing a little. i think some of the restlessness was due to a cold that became apparent yesterday and was making her irritable.... she farts like a trouper and has done sine week one! i find it difficult to imagine that theres more wind trapped in there to be honest... she only seems to have a hard tummy after a feed and before a good session of farting! Would she be screaming a lot if wind... cos she isnt? think maybe it was just a bad few nights?? we'll see

ok i spoke too soon.... we're back to grunting, kicking, restlessness at night!! but i dont think its wind as she manages to burp and fart pretty well and her belly aint really hard. Sometimes she wants a feed but not often as she has a HUGE feed before we go to bed. Maybe I'm expecting too much but it seems like she dont sleep enough for a 4 week old! last night went like this (we have a late routine in this house):
change and bed at 1.30 & finish off a big feed by 2.00. sleep till 4.00 & feed for a short while, burp etc. Sleep and awake again at 6, small feed change. Awake at 7. Awake at 8. Awake at 9, feed and change and wind till 10.15, Sleep till 10.50, wake, short feed. Wake till 12... sleeping till now... 1.15... will wake shortly ... will have bath, go for walk etc she'll sleep during walk and wake on return for huge feed.Is this normal?? Worried as shes not having long sleeps, only short ones??