Ok, how can this just be wind, its getting far worse. Please HELP!!!

[CrapBag]

DH went back to work today after 4 weeks off. He done the night shift last night although he was suppose to bring DD up to me after a certain time but because she was so bad, he didn't and she was up nearly all night.

When I say up, I don't actually mean awake. She has always been noisy but since yesterday she seems even worse and DH said last night was the worse she has been.

She is constantly making straining noises. I'm pretty sure she isn't constipated, she goes in the afternoon and it is soft. I have never known a baby to have so much wind. No matter how much you wind her (and she always brings it up pretty easily) she will always have more.

She is FF on Hipp Organic, we started on Infacol on Friday but we think she has been a bit worse since then. Could be a coincidence though. She is also taking over an hour to have 2-3oz at times which is getting annoying. She has some, drops off, we put her down then she decides she wants some more. She is very 'gulpy' when she does feed as well, obviously we have the smallest size teats so the hole isn't too big. She is gaining good weight etc. We did wonder if it was reflux but she hasn't been sick that much. A few times she has brought up quite a bit but apart from that she isn't really bringing anything up.

Any ideas? We are at our wits end. We only have a 2 bed house and DS is in the other room so we have no where else to put her except with us.

Hi Crapbag! This sounds a lot like my DD! She's 9 weeks now and is sometimes a very noisy sleeper! I don't think you mentioned how old your DD is?

My DD has suffered with what we now know to be silent reflux from when she was about 2-3 weeks. I'm not saying your DD has the same because there are lots of other symptoms that would go hand in hand with silent reflux. Like...

Crying and back arching after feeds (45mins for us)
Gulping and whooping noises after feed
White tongue
etc etc

We tried a few things including Infacol and Baby Gaviscon but neither really helped. Then we finally got some better meds from the doctor. These helped but she was still a bit wriggly after feeds (although she didn't cry.) A friend with a reflux baby suggested using Colief too. So we gave it a go. Colief is basically an enzyme that you add to the bottles and it breaks down the lactose in the milk so that it's easier for the baby to digest. She was great after we used the Colief and the meds from the doctor.

Anyway you could try investigating the reflux route but the point I was going to make is that all this aside my DD still makes the grunting straining noises sometimes. I think that it's fairly common for babies to be getting used to the feelings of wind and digestion and so they often strain and grunt in response to these feelings. They don't always need a poo or have painful wind it's just a reflex to the sensation. We worried a lot about these straining noises but looking back she wasn't in distress really. It was more us!

Of course this doesn't help because she'll be half asleep and you'll be kept awake by the noise. My DD was doing this all last night and I didn't get much sleep at all. Kept trying to wind her as this does sometimes help but she didn't produce anything so I had to just leave her to grunt away!! Very frustrating!

I know it's not recommended but we're thinking of moving her into her own room soon. Because really she is asleep, (all be it a disturbed sleep) so if she wakes up with painful wind we can go to her and burp her and if she doesn't wake up and isn't too bothered by it we can get some sleep in peace. I feel a bit funny about moving her out of our room so early but quite a few of my friends did the same. Some even earlier than 9 weeks. Due to practicalities or because their babies were noisy sleepers too.

I think that if she is displaying definite signs of reflux then go to your GP and list them. There are loads of threads on MN about reflux symptoms. If she doesn't seem refluxy and she is pooing/weeing ok then I would try to look at it as a temporary thing that should pass when she is more used to her bodily functions! Keep winding her thoroughly but remember there's a limit to how much you can do sometimes. You're probably doing the best thing by taking it in turns with your husband to do the night shift so you can both get some sleep. Just until things improve. And as people keep telling me, they WILL improve!

Sounds exactly like my DS. Having never spent a night apart before, my poor DH had to move into the spare room so he could get a decent night of sleep before work. You probably don't want to hear it, but we tried everything and nothing worked. You say you've tried Infacol but you could also try gripe water, colief, or Dentinox. You might be lucky and they might work.

She might also be more comfy on her tummy. This was the case with my DS. He slept on my chest for the first 8 weeks, at which point he began improving (think it's to do with their little digestive systems maturing) and i moved him into his moses basket with relative ease at that stage. Depends on your thoughts on co-sleeping i guess, but i have to say this saved our sanity and meant we all got some sleep. But if you choose to do this then of course follow all the guidance on how to do it safely.

Take heart, it will improve. My DS is now 15 weeks and is much, much quieter at night - although he now farts loudly and freely in his sleep! He still has his off nights but they're much easier to cope with now.

Good luck.

Second the reflux thing - doesn't need to be vomiting. Sometimes, they swallow it back down which makes it worse as it burns once on the way up and once on the way down. It could also be cow's milk protein intolerance. Does your DD have anything like eczema or skin rashes, bum rash?

I think if I were you I would have a trip to the GP and explain she's in obvious discomfort. Don't let them fob you off with 'she's gaining weight' or 'some babies don't sleep very much' etc.

Thanks.

Silent reflux has crossed my mind. DS had reflux but was just quite sicky, I didn't bother with the gaviscon for him.

I have taken DD to the doctors this afternoon and has given me some gaviscon and advised me try a different milk. He said the infacol would have started working by now so I'm not bothering with that anymore.

She has been quite sick a few times, but not that much. I'm pretty sure she is being sick and swallowing it though as I rush over when I hear her and she is either swallowing or there is nothing there but I know I heard her being sick. She doesn't really cry much, but usually does as soon as you lay her down. When she is very wriggly she is arching her back and bringing her knees up. Her moses basket shakes with the amount she wriggles, it does tend to be worse at night too.

Definitely gulping and whooping noises (never thought of it until I read it here), I often miss symptoms until someone else describes theirs. She is 4 weeks btw.

My DS had problems with wind/colic. We tried everything - Infacol, gaviscon, dentinox, colief etc. Then we found Biogaia probiotic drops. They aren't very well known about but he had these for a couple of days and was instantly better. They are kind of like yakult but can be used by newborns. Quite expensive at about £20 for a month or so's supply, but really worth a try if you don't get anywhere with anything else. I think you can get them on prescription but we didn't ask about this.

Thanks. DH thinks the gaviscon is working, he is on nights at the moment which is when she is worse, but now she has a cough and cold which makes it hard to tell.

my ds was the same, are the teats your using fast enough? i changed to a size 2 teat as he was taking in ao much air trying to get milk quicker, he is on the same milk too, when i took him docs they tried making me change his milk to Aptimel (sp?) it made things 1o times worse as the hipp is so gentle on their tummy, they gave me gaviscon and i used gripe water once he was a month old which helped

I thought it was a bit too early to change to a bigger teat? She gulps like mad, wouldn't a bigger teat make that worse?

Trying Cow and Gate now. Just going to be difficult to tell whats working while she has this cold.