Wind, Sick and No More Infacol, Wonderful Mummies, Please Help,

[sushipaws]

Hello Lovely Mums, I have been reading this site since my DD was born and have found all your help amazing. Now I need to ask a question that I can't find anywhere on Mumsnet.

My DD is 17 weeks old and has always been a champion vomiter. It used to be up to 20ml per big puke and up to 5ml per wee puke, she would have about 3 big pukes and lots of little pukes every day. My health visitor told me it was ok as long as she was gaining weight and it wasn't bothering her. However her weight began to sit below the average and although she was having growth spurts she wasn't gaining weight in the same way as the chart indicate.

I might add at this point, she is breast fed and had 2 large poo's each day.

A child nurse told me to start giving her infacol on every feed, which after about a week had the most amazing effect, no more pukes, woo hoo. Her weight gain didn't really change she is still sitting just below the average and has some very random growth spurts.

After a month I started to wean her off it and reduced it to half a squirt every second feed.

Then all of a sudden she started farting heaps and having lots of small green poo's, with lots of mucus in them. At least half of her poo's are green. I thought it might be because she wasn't getting enough back milk so I've been trying to encourage her to feed for longer on the same side, but it had no effect.

My health visitor told me to stop the infacol and recommended a homeopathic alternative - Colocynthis, as appaerntly Infacol can have this effect on babies.

It's now been 3 days since we stopped the infacol and the vomiting is back and she is having trouble getting rid of her wind.

I know the Colocythis hasn't had time to work but I've been reading up on it and I don't think it's really what we need. It's purely for Colic and my DD doesn't have colic, she vomits because she can't get her wind up.

Please help, I need some advice, we are back to going through 10 bibs and at least 3 outfits a day, my poor wee girl, I feel so bad for her, oh and my poor washing machine is on it's last legs.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

Do you try winding her mid-feed?

Diffrent feeding positions may have her take in less air.

I'm a big believer in the effectiveness of strong fennel tea, a teaspoonful 2-3 times a day for the baby, a cupful 2-3 times a day for the mummy.

When she started farting etc, had you had a lot of caffeine around then (chocolate counts as well). I found ds2 once did something similar when I had had a chocolate orgy.

Could the farts and mucusy poos have been a little tummy bug? Have you tried the Infacol again?

Alternatively, could she have reflux? My dd was a frequent vomiter, loads of laundry like yours', but once she started solids the vomiting ease off a lot. Ds2 also tends to vomit, but much less now that he's on solids.

When my los were windy, I used something called "Windsalbe" by Tamany. It's a german creme but the basic ingredients are vaseline and cumin oil. It worked miracles. Maybe you can order it from Germany somewhere or find an equivalent here, Weleda might have some...I'll have a look too!

what you do with said creme is massage it round their bellybutton and it makes them fart lots and get rid of the wind that way.

It could have been a tummy bug when she was having dodgy poo's, as you said you were using it for a month before this happened?

Also, are you bottlefeeding? If so, try and get your hands on Habermann feeders. Different type of bottles, not cheap but again, really made a difference for us!

The green mucousy poos sound like a tummy bug to me.

Also I wouldn't worry about her weight being below average. The more important thing is that the trend is hte same as the lines which she is near and she doesn't start to fall down from one line to another over a period of time.

my health visitor gave me some good advice,
my ds2 is 2 weeks old and suffers with wind, HV said to rub tummy in a clockwise direction as the bowel goes in that direction, in intervals through the day to help bring up wind, really works for us

Doing bicycle legs on my lo used to help with wind (and he loved it). Also have lo on their back and you hold their ankles. Bring their knees up and towards their tummy - they should automatically bend their knees. Hold for 5 secs, then gently straighten the legs and gently bounce them down. And repeat.

The last exercise would always make ds fart, which we both thought was hilarious!

Wow, you ladies are quick. Thanks so much for all the advice.

Going to answer some of your questions here too -

I do wind her mid feed, and most of the time she gives me a big old mans burp. I do a mixture of lying down and sitting up feeds. I'll try the fennel tea, it can only help
I don't normally drink tea or coffee and I wish I ate that much chocolate but rarely do. Yes I thought about the poo being green from a tummy bug but the HV said it should have gone in less than a week if it was. I'm going to stay off the infacol for at least a week to give the other remedies a try.

I do the clockwise tummy rub and that usually bring on a fart which my DD finds v funny I also do the Hammertime dance with her and that works as well, she also giggles madly at me singing though.

She won't take any bottles at all, have tried lots of times, but only with avent and tommy tippy so maybe I'll try some new ones.

Phew, so it's tummy rubs, leg games, fennel tea for us, we'll keep you posted.

Thanks