Winding a newborn - any special tips?

[Katebuckle]

My baby girl simply refuses to wind properly, despite many different positions that have been tried. She is 2 weeks old and gets into a real state. I have tried a homoeopathic remedy but this doesn't seem to make any difference. Any tips?

Katebuckle - I was had trouble winding our son, although my husband never had a problem. I used to bouncy him Gently on my knee. Other than that I used to just keep trying. It all died down after a while.

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Katebuckle - how are you feeding her? I don't know a great deal about bottles but sitting her up more and a slower flowing bottle I believe can help. Also you can get ones with different shapes teats. If breastfed you can continue feeding through hiccoups for example - it does seem to work. At around 3 weeks you can give gripe water which helps. Generally though all babies just grow out of it.

kate, have you tried walking her around laid along your arm? (head at elbow end, legs dangling.) mine used to find this quite comfortable and it presses gently on the tummy which might do the trick..it is also a useful way to carry them about as they are balanced and you have one arm and both hands free.

i like joe's response - my husband used to pride himself on his winding ability (it was quite violent but usually worked!)

Katebuckle,
I remember having this problem with my daughter, I know it feels like all you ever do is sit trying to get wind up!!. However, several of the midwives in the hospital, plus my HV told me that it really isn't that important, and that we're the only country that worrys about it! I think that keeping the baby upright is best, walking round with baby over your shoulder. We also tried Infacol, which sometimes produced a huge burp, but sometimes did nothing. If she's not getting particularly upset about it, I would accept that whatever hasn't come up after ten minutes probably isn't going to!

hi hatebuckel my tip was i used to put my son in the baby carrer cling and then tap his back it used to work a treat and my so liked being close and would fall a sleep the problem i had was trying to get him out of it after but i think the movment of me walking around and him being up right seemed to work hope it works and try to relax

If she is bottle fed, stop half way through to get the wind up. My Aunt used to recommend putting the baby over your shoulder and then you should raise and lower your heels quite firmly!

Is she in a state because she's in pain from the wind or from your efforts at winding? If she's not in pain from the wind don't worry.

If it doesn't seemt to be upsetting her, don't worry about it. But if it is you couls try this interesting technique! When my son was born, a midwife suggested I try putting him in vary warm water when he was windy/colicky if nothing else worked. The idea was to strip him off and immerse him in very warm water (about 38 degrees Celsius) up to his neck. Hold him upright with his legs pushed up in a squatting position.

I know this sounds very strange, but our little boy was very unsettled and windy up until about 6 weeks of age and, in desperation, we tried this techinique several times with 100% success!

At 3 o'clock one morning (he was about 3 weeks old) we filled up a clean nappy bucket with warm water, stripped him off and plunged him in. The second he was in the water he brought up his wind and stopped screaming. It worked so suddenly that my Mum who was staying with us rushed out of her bedroom to check whether we had drowned him!!

I found lying my son down, undoing his nappy and let him kick a little, then picking him up gently helped bring up his wind. He sometimes took ages though. When he was really little it was nearly time for another feed before we got the wind up. Not helped either by a HV who told me breast-fed babies shouldnt get wind as there is no air in the breast, as if babies stop breathing when they're feeding..Good luck.

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rhiannon, do you mean the mum's heels or the baby's???

Janh, no keep the baby still over your shoulder and the Mum's heels go up and down!

My 3 1/2 week old daughter is extraordinarily windy. She gets quite uncomfortable at times and farts an unbelievable amount. I try and wind her after every breastfeed but this produces an enormous belch probably only half the time. I just wondered whether there was something in my diet that could be having an impact or if I just should be more persistent with the winding?.

Bells2 - Ah, bless your tiny girl! I think the foods that make adults windy can have the same sort of effect on breastfed babies (ie. cabbage, onions, beans etc.) Mine were a bit windy as newborns, but I didn't fancy working my way through the (vast) amount of food I was eating to work out the culprits (caring mother that I am!), so instead I gave mine a drop of Infacol prior to each feed and it worked a treat!

I agree, onions, beans and curries had an effect on my ds. We used a massage technique to help his flatulence, I'll try to describe it. Lie baby on their back, place both of their feet, soles together, in one of your hands and then lift the feet in the air (like a nappy change) and circle them in a clockwise direction so that the baby's bottom lifts up off the floor and down again.
Just tried it on my son whilst working out how to describe it and it definately had an effect
HTH

Hi there Bells, sorry to hear your little one is windy. Our ds was hugely windy & colicy and we found that laying him on his tummy on our laps and rhythmically rubbing his back helped alot.

I couldnt eat brussels as this upset ds. We attended massage classes when he was really little and you can massage the wind away. You do circles on their tummy in a clockwise direction then as you leave the left hand side of their tummy you follow for half a circle with your left hand on the left hand side of their tummy. Ill try and explain it better if it doesnt make sense.

Hi Bells, how can one so small be so full of air?!! Know exactly what you mean though, dd was constantly griping. I know this sounds a bit of a weird one but I read in a baby book to put half an onion (yes, I know they are usually the cause of wind but bear with me!) in a container and cover it with boiling water and leave to infuse for an hour. Once its cool enough give to baby with a spoon or in a dropper after a feed. I tried with dd, not sure of the facts behind it but I thought it wasn't going to do any harm and it seemed to help her bring some wind up. Another thing my HV told me was to drink peppermint and camomile tea when b/feeding as it helps sooth tummies.
Good luck

Many thanks for the suggestions - the rubbing on the back helps a lot.

I gave my little one Infacol before a feed and then Gripe Water after, it really help for them to bring up the wind.

Also a gentle massage on the stomach, in circular motions and try bringing her knees up to her chest holding for a few seconds then relaxing again.

Hope you get it sorted :)

Slightly unorthodox methods, but i used to hold them up over my shoulder and smack their bums (obviously with nappy on so it doesn't actually hurt!!) the quick up and down used to force the air out quite easily most of the time. Another way was just to pick them up under their armpits and dangle for a couple of seconds, that forced it out too.