Talk to me about wind...

[Genehuntssexyhands]

I had another thread about a grey tinge around three and a half week Ds’s mouth which has been checked out by a doctor.

I think he has quite a lot of wind. He’s combo fed and some days he cries and is immediately squirmy and writhing after most feeds (sometimes not, sometimes he will fall asleep peacefully).

Cycling his legs brings up a bit of wind, and infacol seems to help a bit.

But I’m wondering how to tell the difference between wind and silent reflux? He does spit up a bit, and sometimes he coughs on his formula but I think that’s because he guzzles it, he’s better when we stop and start him on it and I’ve switched to slow flow teats which seem to help.

It’s the writhing and squirming and crying that bothers me, it seems extreme to me for wind but DH thinks it is wind and that it can be really painful for them.

We are still getting a fair amount of nappies - yesterday we had a few dirty ones in quick succession and they looked a bit “upset tummy” to me, although it’s hard to tell at this age. I almost called 111 but my midwife came over and said he wasn’t showing any signs of dehydration, he’s gaining weight etc and she thinks it was just slightly mucusy breast fed nappies (as the formula top ups come after in the evening).

He’s my first so I have no point of reference - and I’m a very anxious first time mum as you can probably see from my other threads 🙈.

Does this sound like wind to you? Or more like something like silent reflux? He gets so red in the face and squirmy it looks like he’s in pain :( but he does pass wind and then generally does go to sleep although we had a bad afternoon today where he kept crying and tensing and squirming and then seemed to settle down this evening.

I'm not saying it's this but it's something to consider as I'd never really heard of it until we started looking into it as possibility. My 4 month old has cmpa so is allergic to the proteins in cows milk. These will be present in formula and in your breastmilk if you consume cows milk. His symptoms are being extremely upset in pain with wind and struggling to get it up, mucousy nappies which are often green, rash and hives on skin, sickness, arching his back. It might be worth looking up symptoms of cmpa (as they vary from baby to baby) but we are in better control of his (unfortunately multiple) allergies, i have adjusted my diet and he doesn't struggle with these things except when doing an allergy 'challenge ' of reintroducing a potential allergen to determine if he is reacting to it after a period of removing it from my diet.

That’s interesting as I have a sensitivity to milk and usually have lacto free but during pregnancy it eased off so I’ve gone back to normal milk.

I’ll try cutting it out again and see if he improves after breast feeding.

He does arch his back, I wasn’t sure if that could be a symptom of wind too.

How do you go about working out if it this? Process of elimination? As I’m formula topping up maybe I could try a different type of formula.

My baby seems to be in pain from wind so I’ve just started on probiotics for babies. Only started yesterday so can’t give a personal recommendation yet but I’ve been reading about them and it might be worth a try.

Currently struggling to settle our baby as he's extra windy tonight. He uses infacol but it just takes a while to get all the wind up (5 weeks). He's mixed fed.

Have you spoken to anybody about your anxiety? I'm quite stressy about my perfect first born too but his wind doesn't bother me - I know as he gets bigger, he should find it easier to bring it all up!

Can they be given to newborns @Imtootired ? Does your baby do the red face/straining/arched back etc? It’s not every feed but it’s a lot of them.
I hate seeing him like it :(

@3rdtimelucky2019 thanks, yes I’m having counselling. It’s all based around a previous second trimester loss so is kind of logical in an irrational anxious way! I just hate seeing him squirming and writhing and going all red after feeds, feel so helpless!he looks like he’s in pain and I just want to make it better for him.

He does do a fair few farts after winding but I don’t think we are getting it all up. He does settle though - he just has a bit of a cry and red faced squirm after a feed but I managed to soothe him and he’s sleeping now.

If anyone has any tips for easing wind I would really appreciate it, I feel like I’m rubbish at this stuff :(

He also strains/grunts when farting and pooing so I don’t know if it’s uncomfortable for him or that’s just normal for younger babies

Many young babies strain and grunt when they poo. They don't have the muscular coordination to poo so they use all sorts of muscles - relevant and irrelevant to try and get it out.

I agree you could try a cow milk protein free diet. That isn't lactose free as I'm sure you know. You would also need milk protein free formula if you are combi feeding. See your GP for a prescription as it's pricey in the UK. Our boy has a very mild intolerance. He had silent reflux but also mildly so we were lucky. You could really hear it though - gurgling away - and that didn't actually cause him any grief except on two bad occasions.

He did have rotten wind which made him cry and shout and all sorts. If a good burp or fart and things like tummy rubs and bicycle kicks help then it's more likely to be wind than reflux.

If the upset he has is better with a slower bottle flow maybe you have a particularly fast let down? That can cause lots of wind. Try expressing a bit first before feeding him to slow it down

Yes it can be given to newborns and I read about it on a hospital website and it said it’s the only thing proven to work but obviously won’t work in all cases. Yes my baby is a happy little guy but sometimes cries in pain and then farts and arches his back so it must be wind pain. He’s eight weeks

I put in on a plastic baby spoon and put it in his mouth

Thanks for all the advice and tips.
I’m going to try and the cows milk
Protein free diet.
What probiotics did you get @Imtootired ?

My DS has silent reflux. To start with I thought it was trapped wind because he wouldn’t burp. It was all linked to his reflux.

Reflux is often linked to CMPA but not always. Sometimes their body just isn’t mature enough so the valve from their stomach isn’t doing it’s job (I don’t know the medical term). If it’s that it usually clears eventually which is why it’s usually called colic (a catch all term to cover these problems so doctors don’t treat it!). My son was on omeprazole and reflux milk but was fine on this combo so it wasn’t CMPA although we did try special milk. DS is now 6 months and has just stopped medication.

We also used probiotics. Optibac which we ordered through amazon for ease. Can’t say if it helped or not as it was at the same time as reflux milk and omeprazole but we have also stopped that too now.

I’d say try your diet first and give it up to two weeks and see if it’s getting better. If not go to the doctor and ask for medication.

Hope you and little one are ok! It’s not easy.

Thank you. It’s really hard to see him so uncomfortable when he was so content before.
He really tenses during feeding sometimes and lets out a little squawk so it really seems like discomfort or pain :(
I will do the elimination and go from there

The ones I have are biogaia but I’m in Aus so you might have a different brand in uk. Ask at the chemist for bacillus reuteri

Thanks

Yes I still can’t say if they work for me or not, my little guy had quite a lot of farts tonight but hopefully it will pass. Apparently it’s common because their digestive system is still maturing.

Ended up at the hospital today due to DS’s breathing and it transpires that he has silent reflux (causing the heavy breathing and a lot of his other symptoms) as well as wind, we have started with meds and he’s already improved, so just wanted to update Incase anyone comes to the thread looking for info.

For the wind I’ve found the tiger in the tree hold soothes him but only when he’s not reflux-y and the cycling of the legs gets the most wind up.