Help a gassy baby (and me!) to sleep

[Amberellaella]

Hi all, looking for some advice please!

I have an almost-three week old and the past couple of nights neither of us has got much sleep due to him being really uncomfortable whenever I lay him down. It seems like it might be gas - his tummy goes hard and he pulls his legs right up, fusses, does little ‘burps’ (just puffs of air really).

He’s EBF and feeding very frequently I.e every 1.5 hours or less.

I’ve been burping him, and generally get one good belch out and lots of little puffs. Tried infacol this afternoon and I think it might have made more burps come but it’s hard to say for sure. I feel like I can’t possibly use it for every feed though given that it’s ~20 per day!

Have been trying bicycle legs and tummy massage but both seem to distress him so not sure if I’m able to do enough to be useful.

He’s fine laid on me on his tummy or his side. He’s fine in the vibrating swing. The Baby Bjorn bouncer (not motorised) seems to help getting him to poo. I hold him upright for about 20 mins post-feed, but sometimes it’s less as I’m falling asleep!

I haven’t tried a warm bath or a dummy. I will try these tomorrow.

Anyone got any other suggestions? I’m desperate for some sleep!

Thanks @FTMinLondon. Do you know if Fennel Tea is ‘allowed’ for a breastfed newborn? I’m seeing advice online suggesting it should only be given to babies 4 months plus.

Good question - I remember reading that online too actually (and conflicting advice - it’s such a minefield!). I think I did wait until four months for my first but started at about three or fours weeks old (!) with my five month old. I figured it’s such a small amount and I had read that you can give some brands of gripe water from three or four weeks (again, lots of conflicting advice!), plus he seemed to be in such pain from the gas that I just wanted to give him some relief. I haven’t seen any rationale for waiting but I could easily have missed something. I’d do what you feel comfortable with. Sorry I can’t be much help there! I forgot to say, I just made it normal ‘drinking tea’ strength - I didn’t make it especially weak or strong.

With my second dc , the midwife advised me to wind them before a feed too. I don't know if it worked, but they suffered less wind than dd1.

Sorry OP, my husband says we only waited until eight/nine weeks with our first, which makes more sense to me now as baby wasn’t that gassy at four months (my brain is shot since having kids). Good luck!

I think it's OK to raise it a bit by putting a book or two under the moses basket, put nothing inside it. At least that's what I think we did after being told by HV?

Look at wonky winding.

If you can afford to see a lactation consultant then do. Ideally you need someone properly trained to check a) latch and b) for tongue tie.

How deep is the latch? Is your baby’s mouth covering the nipple only or a fair bit of breast in there too? Does he feel “suctioned” on and it would be difficult to pull him off when feeding? Or can you detach him quite easily? Do your nipples look squashed or red/white after a feed? Any noises like clicking while feeding?