5 mo waking all through the night to fart! HELP

[February2021]

My little boy is just over 5 mo and ever since birth he’s been a notorious grunter/squirmer at night.
It keeps me up allllll night, as well as himself.
In the beginning I thought it was constipation but it’s definitely not.

He’s got such trouble with intestinal wind, it seems to really cause discomfort and pain. I’ve tried everything, and I really mean everything (that I can think of), which is why I’m here.

If you didn’t know him, you’d think he was trying to poo. That’s how he sounds through the night - straining and pushing. Somethings he squeals with it. Sometimes it leads to a cry. Sometimes it lasts hours. Sometimes it’s just a moment before you hear a fart and then he’s asleep again.

The things we’ve done/tried:

• GPs pushed to try CMPA milk (Neocate), which we did and no difference. I knew he didn’t have an allergy.
• Reflux meds (again, I knew it was more digestion/intestinal) so these didn’t help
• Infacol, gripe water, all of that lot - no help
• Oesteopath
• Paced feeding
• Wonky burping
• LOTS and tummy time
• LOTS of massage and bicycle legs
• Private tongue tie assessment and division (twice)
• Changed formula from HiPP (at birth) to SMA to Kendamil Organic to Kendamil anti-colic and back to HiPP (now on HiPP which seems better)
• Changed bottles (TT to MAM and now back to TT)
• Changed teats
• Probiotics
• Tummy sleeping

I have a 2 year old too, so my days are pretty hectic.
My 2yo never had any issues and slept through from 7 weeks so I’m in unknown territory and find myself wishing the time away. I dread night times as I know I’ll be up all night.
He’s a very happy guy this guy issue aside.

The only way to resettle him is to give him a bottle through the night, which I know he doesn’t need and am worried is causing it all to go full-circle.

This is a new ball game for me and exhaustion has changed me. My MH seems to be taking it’s toll and sometimes I can’t believe we are 5 months into this journey because I haven’t really had a chance to enjoy it being so tired all the time.

Any advice on how to help? Please.

So many people told me he’d grow out of it but 5 months later and I can’t see the end anywhere near 😩

You poor thing, we used to get this at the end of the night with our eldest, but only after 4am, nothing like you’re having it. How is his poo, is he pooing regularly? We found plenty of time to kick legs helps but it sounds like you’re doing that…sorry nothing really to add, just wanted to bump

Have you tried Colief drops?

My nearly 3yo was like this as well. I don't think he has any food allergies. He can be a bit sensitive to acidic fruits and I have to limit him. I did just feed him at night (and co-sleep) but as he was breastfed it was fairly easy for me to do that.

Sorry I don't have any advice. But he did grow out of it. His wind doesn't seem to bother him at night any more.

Is he waking and crying to the point he needs to be comforted, or just that all of his fussing is keeping you awake because he's next to you?
If the latter, I'd be tempted to move him into his own room. It's only a month or less than the recommendation and there isn't a magic switch at 6 months that suddenly makes it safe. If worried, you could buy a breathing alarm. (I moved DD a little younger as we had the opposite problem - she was an excellent sleeper but DH's snoring was disturbing her ).

This isn't what you want to hear but many babies have poor and underdeveloped digestive systems and it's just something they grow out of. While you can medicate, often the medication can create other side effects. He will eventually grow out of it. You just need to wait until he's bigger. Sorry for being so unhelpful! But I guess I just wanted to say it's really, really common, it's really hard work for you but he'll (and you'll) be fine in the end. It's just a shock when you have a non-sleeper for your second child after an easier first born.

notanatural2018 what did you do for that when wind accumulated at end of night ,mine is same and I am lost after 4am he is horrendous

@February2021 I could have written this post myself ! I'm soooo tired and it's actually making me and my partner bloody miserable !

My baby is 5.5 months and I'm hoping weaning may help and looking to move her into her room next month. She's so noisy! She will go to bed 7-8pm then I dreamfeed her around 10-11pm then she generally goes into 6ish - I wouldn't mind any of that if I felt like I actually got sleep in between! It's exhausting

My DR won't even try that milk, we are on aptamil pepti 1 and I don't even think that's helped

X

I think the problem is for a lot of us our babies went through this and grew out of it leaving us with no useful information about what actually helped.

At 5 months could he go into his own room? My little boy was the same, grunting all night until one day I just decided enough was enough and we moved the cot into his own room across the hall. He only really disturbed us when he woke crying and everyone was getting a lot more sleep. He did grow out of the grunting too eventually.

This actually sounds like it's not wind but he's just ready to get up at that time. After 4am they are in a much lighter sleep state and so if they have had enough sleep, their body will keep trying to wake them up which means they are unsettled.

If baby is a similar age (4/5 months) you might find this video helpful:

www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=501948893812542