Never ending trapped wind

[BiscuitBeast]

My poor 3 week old DS is suffering with terrible trapped wind at night. He's lying next to me in his moses basket right now grunting and groaning and throwing his knees up to his chest. He will carry on like this for hours. I cycle his legs periodically throughout the night which does release some but the poor thing seems to have an endless uncomfortable amount.

I wind him after feeds which always usually results in him burping/possetimg.

I've tried Infacol but I'm not happy about the E numbers it contains and would really like to try gripe water but the packet says only at 4 weeks. I realise this is only a week away but dis has been like this for over a week now already. It makes for very long nights as he is up hourly/2 hourly writhing around and can only manage tiny feeds as his tummy is too full. Fortunately he keeps his crying to a minimum but he's clearly incredibly uncomfortable.

DS is ebf and I'm always concerned his latch is poor causing him to take down too much air. It feels correct but he makes some strange sounds occasionally.

Has anyone used gripe water under 4 weeks? Anyone's HV/GP/midwife advised its safe or not safe to use earlier?

Thanks in advance.

V. Tired mum

We were the same, counting down until gripe water week! Have you tried Dentinox? It will make him smell like a gherkin and he probably won't be keen to take it but it was the only thing that worked on DD. Also Google the 'Tiger in a Tree' hold - we held her like that for hours, it was the only thing that vaguely calmed her.

We did ask our HV about gripe water and starting early, but she said to wait. Also try gentle clockwise massage of his tummy to get things moving, as apparently that is the way the gut works (so never go anti clockwise). We also found that feet rubbing helped with calming as well

Gripe water works for some but really isn't a magic fix for most - same goes for dietary changes, teas and other remedies! Hard as it sounds now, most of my friends and I have found that time isthe only real solution - in the meantime, pedalling the legs can help and the tiger in a tree hold is definitely great, DS also liked being on his tummy over our laps, facing away to our left or right side.
It isn't much consolation right now, but this stage passes much more quickly than it feels at the time!

Hiya - I just wanted to reassure you that it's just a phase that almost all babies go through. My DD was exactly the same - EBF but seemed to be in such distress post-feed and particularly in the evenings. I searched for a solution, convinced myself it was reflux, or too much air being taken, or my milk file was too fast... But in the end she just grew out of it.

Someone told me that baby's digestive systems are totally new and have to get up to speed - it just takes a few weeks for their systems to work efficiently and although it's uncomfortable and distressing, they get there in the end! Every baby in my NCT class had this issue to some degree and all got over it by about 6-8 weeks.

I'm not saying there definitely isn't an issue - but it does sound very similar to my experience and wanted to reassure you that it's very common.

I would possibly get your latch checked and also get your DS checked for tongue tie. What colour are his pooey nappies? Do you get milk dripping from the side of his mouth that's underneath when he's feeding?

Thank you for your responses everyone. The grunting/groaning and knee thrusting has settled somewhat. for now.

I try and keep the fact that his digestive system is still so immature and needs time to function properly but I can't help but obsess that it's something I'm doing wrong that's causing all this wind.

DS has his tongue-tie snipped just over a week ago and I've not noticed any real change in his latch. There is no dribble underneath and his poo is a mustard colour and runny.

I'm utterly shattered from being up hourly but I shall try and visit a bf group for some support in that area.

As for the gripe water I shall wait till next Monday and just wait this out as best I can and hope it is just a phase that will soon pass .

I had this - it was awful. what i found helped were the following:- warm bath when desperate released trapped bubbles, a grape seed cushion/cherry stone cushion warmed in microwave for 30 secs and put on tummy, cumin oil for a baby stomach massage, thats about it. All of these helped in different ways. I found Infacol completely useless, it stopped her crying for a second due to a different taste in mouth and that was it! Also, have you tried using a dummy for suckling as this helped calm mine. Finally mine is on formula since my milk never came in and we found making it up with fennel tea worked miracles, if yours is EBF then you might not want to go down this route though with tea etc, but I live in Germany and all doctors here advise this for colicky babies - but you must make up your own mind there - virtual hugs since it is awful.

final thought - we bought a chair with a vibrate function, and we found the vibrate function worked wonders to calm her and also release trapped wind - you can use from birth - we got the fisher price one.

I've not heard that about fennel tea, but you could certainly try drinking it yourself. It is supposed to be good for milk production so it wouldn't hurt.

Yes Infacol is total rubbish, a placebo for parents perhaps?! Gawd knows what Gripe water will be like...

I haven't heard of your suggestions before Tea so I shall look into them thank you.

I thought perhaps I'd try a warm lavender bath before bed tonight with accompanying tummy rub. Followed by expressed feed, winding then bed down in his moses. I think he has so much air in his tummy he can only manage tiny and hourly feeds in the night so if I can get him to have a large feed at around 7/8 he may sleep for a large chunk before the wind takes hold??

Thank you again for your words of wisdom peeps

If you haven't noticed any change in his latch since his tie was snipped then it would be worth getting it checked, I think - he may have got into a habit of feeding a certain way and still be doing it, regardless of the fact that he could now latch better if he knew how. When DS2's tie was snipped at 6wks it changed quite a bit.

Right, a visit to a bf group for some more guidance is in order then. That sounds like my first port of call. Thanks.