Newborn wind advice

[Thirstysomething]

Hello, is there a newborn forum anywhere?
Can't find one, so:
Please can anyone help me with some winding advice? I am on baby no 4, so should really know this, but I am finding ds really hard to wind.
And then he keeps us up all night crying with tummy pain poor darling (and poor us!)
Any tips??
Thank you thank you

Hold baby upright facing you, face into your shoulder. Hug, very strongly in bonecrushing manner, release, repeat. Rock gently back and forth from your waist.
Works every time though occasionally there is a little puke when nothing else does.

What else have you tried?

DS was v tricky. I'd recommend standard sitting on knee back rubbing, then up onto shoulder (v high so tummy is squashed into your shoulder), then flat across your knees face down rubbing back (again squashing tummy), followed by then never will fail you hula technique - sit on knee and move then round as if they're doing the hula.

On the exceptional time this fails, just repeat!

Is it definitely wind? Could it be silent reflux?

Have been doing HPSauces first three - but now going to try the Hula and the bonecrusher!

Yes, have been wondering about reflux, but he is fine during the day and sleeps like a ... Baby
It is only at night that he is so unsettled and hates being put down on his back. Exhausted!!!!!!!

Having the same issue with 2wk old (2nd, so I should remember too...). Lots of fist punching, red faced-ness and growling, so I assume it actually is wind and not just baby crabbiness. Have started with infacol tonight (although would prefer not to dose with meds in principle....just feeling sorry for the poor cross looking thing). Will give new winding holds a crack right now...

Hula is good!!! Still took a long time though - I am not going to get much sleep at this rate! Bone crusher at next feed - thanks heaps.

BusyCee, I am assuming ours is wind because it is a bit early for colic, but if your baby has colic and the Infacol doesn't do it, try Colief - worked miracles for us last time!

Thanks Thirty. Have just delivered feed #2 with infacol and have been rewarded with an adult sized belch and now sleep. Will look into the colief, though, as it could be colic too... Has forgotten how bloody furious small babies can be....!

Love a good belch...

I smile every time I see a bottle of Infacol. It saved my sanity! Wonderful stuff.

Hey all - how long should winding take? I have a three week old baby who, I think, gets a bit windy. Sometime the over the shoulder or on the knee thing works and we get a nice big belch ... But not always. Then we get red faced, rolli eyes, kicking legs type pains. Do I just persevere until he brings up something?

(Doesn't help that he absolutely hates being winded and wriggles about the whole time)

Can take a while. DD is 3 months and has always self winded just with sitting up within a minute. DS used to take 20 mins sometimes but yes it's worth persevering. No way you'll wind a screaming baby though so if he hates being winded try for another technique, as above or even up on shoulder and then walk up and down the stairs briskly. My son used to love this when fractious and windy.

Thanks for the replies - will keep trying the different techniques until we find something he likes that works !

He seems to have a LOT of wind for such a small mite...

Check out the 5 S's of colic, even if it's too early for colic, it can help relieve your LO. I think happiest baby.com had them listed. That and the Infacol really helped when DD got colic. She was windy from the word go.

At my wits end tonight. Winded after the midnight feed, got a few large burps. Put him down but he was restless and drawing his legs to his chest. Started screaming and has been screaming and sleeping on my chest since.

Screaming like ... Ear piercing, pain, shriek. And going all stiff and kicking legs.

How early is too early for colic ?

Morning! Sorry you had a bad night. They reckon colic starts at 6 weeks, and lasts til about twelve. However, from the first night my DD was very windy, to the point where we had to go against SIDS advice for her to sleep, which obvs I wouldn't recommend. Try laying him on his side when he's on you, facing your tummy. Tap his back in a heartbeat rhythm, doing loud shushes in time.

Remember, this will pass. It was only thing that got me through!

don't forget infacol can take a couplr of days to build up to working correctly.
our ds was a ball of screams from day one and really hard to wind whilst dd was easy. in thw the end we took him to a cranial osteopath at 5 weeks old, three sessions later winds with ease.

Thanks good I will try your tips. Up until about a week ago he has been the most chilled out little thing, he has suddenly found his lungs !! Haven't gone for infacol yet, waiting to see if its just a phase, though after my singular hour of sleep...

Daft question and slightly off topic ... Coinciding with this fussiness we switched the brand of formula he was on on advice ... Could this be making him more windy than he was? Upsetting his tummy? A shock to the system?

I feel so clueless, I didn't even think it might upset him but now I think of it it seems so obvious. Poor little mite with a daft first time mum

I tried three brands of formula before I found one that helped. It could be that. We were on cow and gate, then SMA til 6 months. Switched her formula to growing up, SMA didn't work. She wouldn't drink it, she was miserable. tried Aptamil. nope. tried Hipp organic. eureka!

Is he feeding OK?

All my babies have been hard to wind and all if then have had colic to a varying degree.
Dd1 was always unsettled 6-9pm, dd2 was 9-11pm, ds was (no joke) awake every night from 11pm to 5am between 3 and 9 weeks old.... I have never been so close to insanity! Ds2 is now 5 days old and looking like following in his brothers footsteps ...
Nothing would settle them except being held upright while I swayed, or feeding - which used to bring on more colic'y symptoms but was the only way I could get any rest - the amount of times I woke up bent double over the baby - so dangerous.
I thought colic usually started at about 3 weeks or so?
And usually goes on for about 3 months.
As far as I can gather, they don't really know what 'colic' is, or whether it even really exists. It is just a term used for a baby who won't settle and who looks uncomfortable, usually seeming to be in tummy pain because they bring their knees up to their chest and go red and scream. Being upright seems to help, which also points to tummy pain.
One theory is that it is trapped wind - colic drops and infacol are medicines which try to alleviate trapped wind.
Personally we tried wind-relieving medicine till we were blue in the face and none worked. Then, at 9 weeks with Ds1, some genius on MN suggested we tried Colief.
Colief is nothing to do with trapped wind, but goes on the theory that colicky babies havent developed enough and can't digest the lactose in milk and turn it into lactase (I think!?) as your body is supposed to. So Colief does it for you. It is a real faff, but it was a miracle - that night DS slept through !
We wondered if it was just that he was old enough to stop having colic naturally, so a few days later we tried a day without the Colief - and that night was hell again. We tried dropping the Colief again at 12 weeks and he was fine. He slept through the night from 8pm to 7am - total miracle child. Anyway - promise I am not a rep for Colief or anything, I think it is hideously expensive and a nightmare faff, but it worked amazingly, so well worth a try if infacol etc aren't working.

The midwife has just left and she pointed our one other factor in windy babies at night, which is that we are all more relaxed during the day so tend not to wind them so thoroughly, they then get a ball of trapped wind which hurts at night. So it is worth making sure they are winded properly during the day. The more I think about this, the more I think that could be our problem at the moment!!!

So much great advice on this thread, I will do trial and error and see how we get on - I'll report back ! Someone in RL mentioned coilef and my mum said the same thing about winding in the day thirty - she told me to make sure I am winding properly in the day or I will pay for it at night !

Fussiness just kicking off again I think ... So we will have to see how it goes tonight. Have winded like a crazy person today.

good he seems to be feeding fine. I have noticed more than posseting on the changed formula brand (aptimil) more like sicky, which he didn't do on the cow and gate. I really think it doesn't agree with him.

I guess it's all trial and error - such a shame for the sudden change after him being such a good little thing in the early days. Serves me right for thinking this parenting lark was easy ...

I hope it all works out and that both of get some more rest! We found out through lots of projectile sick that she preferred her formula to be cool rather than warm!