OK, embarrassing but really bad wind. What would you give up first?

[alittleteapot]

Bit embarrassing but I've had really bad wind since I had DD a year ago. It's horrible and I feel I can no longer blame it on a "pregnancy thing" and have to try and fix it. Any thoughts?

I'm thinking to start with of giving up all sugar (including fruit) and wheat, and see where that gets me.

I'm still breastfeeding and have wondered if it's to do with not drinking enough so will try and up my water too...

Thanks for any advice.

More fibre and lots more fluid - you need to get everything moving through your digestive tract.

Exercise will also help you, although if you're suffering from bad wind I'd avoid anything like yoga or pilates!

Thanks. I think the fluids could be quite key. I don't drink nearly enough. It's tricky because my pelvic floor is a bit trashed so it's easy to avoid drinking alot if out and about. But really it's just because I'm busy with DD and apart from the odd cuppa I forget to drink.

Thanks Hoochie. Did you give up oats? They've got a bit of gluten haven't they and I do eat porridge every morning. What else is gluten that I wouldn't have thought of? Will google...

Definitely wheat. Also (most depressingly in my case) chocolate

i was going to add try a gluten free diet but it has been said alrready.

Chocolate! No!!! That's my little evening treat! {shock]

Avoiding fluid is a potential problem - as well as constipation you could be at risk from contracting cystitis.

Make it your practice to have a glass of water in front of you at all times, and as soon as it is empty go and re-fill it.

Before giving up gluten altogether, try just wheat.

I saw a kinesiologist for IBS years ago, and was advised to give up wheat, dairy, potatoes, alchohol, tomatoes, beef, pork - the list goes on.

Although I have no idea whether kinesiology is mumbo-jumbo, I can now eat pretty much anything without ill effects.

I'm not saying you need to be this extreme, but if giving up wheat/ dairy doesn't work, it might be worth a try.

just realised, that means no pasta, right? this could be challenging...

yes, i know becausei'mworthit, you're absolutely right. have already drunk an extra glass of water thanks to you and will make sure my bottle is always filled when out with the buggy.

You could try wholewheat pasta and see if that makes a difference.

My sister had this (and I had in the past but never pinpointed it) and in her case it was down to candida and so giving up the yeasty, sugary and processed wheat made a huge difference.

I can no longer eat white bread since having DS just over a year ago. Brown bread and going easy on the pasta/rice/noodles or having wholewheat/brown versions where possible and I'm fine.

the wind could well be linked to your pregnancy even after all this time. gas is produced by incomplete digestion of your food. this can be because of high candida levels or a lack of enzymatic activity in your gut or sluggish bowels due to stretching or compression . what happens is that the food is not broken down enough to be digested and so sits in your bowel and putrefies, giving off a gas that comes out one way or the other. you don't mention where the wind comes out of but if mainly burping, then more likely to be sluggish muscles, if farting mainly, then more likely to be bug deficiency and candida overgrowth but as always, it can be a combo of any and all these reasons.
first thing to try is to increase fibre and bug ingestion, the best thing for this I think is maxicol www.ibs-irritablebowelsyndrome.co.uk/
cutting down on sugary/starchy foods will also be of great help for now as sugar and starch feeds the unfriendly bugs/candida which in turn produce endotoxins that help kill off even more friendly bugs. you will need around a month on this to have a good effect as there is probably a lot of compaction in your intestines, but overall, if after a month things are improving, then around 3 months of this will go a long long way of treating the problem (can't say cure as not allowed too!!)

Thanks Misi, that makes sense. You sound like you might be a professional? I did have to take antibiotics alot during pg as chronic bladder infections. (it's not burping by the way!)

I live on a pretty healthy diet but it does consist of a heavy reliance on pasta and potatoes, plus a bit of chocolate to unwind at the end of the day. I'd really welcome some suggestions of things it would be good to have instead.

anti B's would go a long way of explaining a friendly bug deficiency too, as there can be up to 300 trillion bugs in your gut, even given perfect conditions of growth, it would still take time to recolonise, but as you do have much starchy food and the chocolate of course, perfect conditions are well off!!

every time you feed a candida, it gives off an endotoxin that helps to kill off its competitors in this case the friendlies.

I would go for the maxicol I posted the link to, this contains not only the friendlies, but fibre and FOS, fructoligsaccharides which is a pre biotic, what the friendlies eat and live on, (they do not live on the food we eat, they just break it down).

as you are starting from a position well back from the starting line, gut health wise, you would need to eat especially healthily, cut down drastically on the sugar and starch (simple carbs) and increase the fibres, veg, fruit ( but not too much as some fruit in your situation will help feed the candida so keep away from bananas that sort of thing) lentils and oats are good, oats being a complex carb so are not utilised like the simple carbs of wheat etc.

www.candidadiet.com/treatment/treatment_diet.shtml

this is a relatively good site to look at, this is the dietry page. I could give what I would usually prescribe to clients as an anti candida diet but I don't know you so it is difficult to tailor a diet specifically, so I would suggest you have a look at this and maybe google 'candida' 'candida overgrowth' 'candida diets' and 100's of pages will come up, then it is a matter of working out what you can and want to eat from the myriad of suitable foods. I would not suggest a yeast cleanse program at this point as it is something that should be done under supervision as killing the candida/yeast off too quickly can cause die off syndrome where your body is flooded with the toxins that dead yeast give off, if after a couple of months there is improvement but is still a big problem, then I would suggest going to see a nutritionally qualified herbalist (like me but not me) but thats another post if needed

hope that helps somewhat, here if any more questions though

thanks so much for detailed answer. quick q before bed: is maxicol ok for bfing, and also if ttc/pg?

yes maxicol excellent for breast feeding. my ex used it all the time whilst feeding as it help her with the constipation that feeding gave her, also ok for TTC and I am sure its ok for being PG too (not allowed by law to say it is ok for being PG!!)

Thanks everyone. Back to my OP, now need to decide whether to give up starch and sugar or gluten as well ie go for all your suggestions at once or one at a time. Thinking I'll do all at once and then start re-introducing things if all goes well.

alittleteapot, thats what the link to the candida diet is for, for you to decide what to eat and what is suitable to eat. stick to a plan and don't go off stopping this or that for a while, the candida diet is specific. a gluten intolerance is very different to candida. the symptoms are different and noticable.
do you have any of the following?

chronic diarrhea
weight loss
anaemia
weakness
fatigue
tiredness
psychological problems such as depression, bone pain
ulcers in the mouth or a blistering,
itchy skin rash mostly on the elbows and knees
Coeliac disease/gluten intolerance may also be the cause for some women having difficulty getting pregnant. Recurrent miscarriage (spontaneous loss of a pregnancy) may also be attributed to coeliac disease.

if this is not you, do the candida diet first

Oh thanks Misi. No none of those things. Well, weight loss and tiredness but that's because I walk about 2 hours a day to get DD to sleep! Nothing untoward...

ok, have checked out website and will start now. will let you know. fingers crossed!
thanks again everyone.