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Original poster

Waking to fart - help please.

31 replies

Emalina · 28/02/2010 08:44

My DS is 9 weeks old. He started going longer at night last week, so now 1 night feed not two BUT since then is waking at night with trapped intestinal wind.

Have had one or two nights when he didn't wake except to feed. He starts with grunting and I can hear him moving about. He is in a swaddle, so can't really pull his legs up, but if I don't swaddle him he wakes any way by waving his arms around.

Sometimes I can get him back off very quickly - hand on tummy, does big farts, dummy in and back to sleep.

Other times it takes longer to shift the farts, he gets distressed, and it takes an hour to get him back to sleep.

Last night it was 3 times. Dr said to try Infacol, so I have bought some, but on reading the info it doesn't seem designed for intestinal wind.

Does anyone else have this problem and has medication helped? (if Infacol doesn't work I might try Colief, but it is very expensive)

(I know the methods to help release the wind (bicycling legs etc) but would it would be better if there was something that would help him pass wind without waking up!! He used to pass wind easily in his sleep...

OP posts:
CoteDAzur · 28/02/2010 08:45

Wind him better after feeds so he doesn't have to pass gas so badly?

Original poster
Emalina · 28/02/2010 08:47

I forgot to say DS is exclusively breast fed.

OP posts:
Zedbed · 28/02/2010 11:41

My son (who is now 10 months), had terrible wind, and he too used to wake up because of it.We went to the doctors (lots!) and we got colief on prescription...it did help as it helps pre digest the milk. As it turned out though, he couldn't tolerate milk full stop, so was put on "nutramigen" which meant all that tummy and wind pain stopped. I know you're breast feeding, but it may well be worth trying colief first and seeing what happens..and as I mentioned before, you can get it on the NHS. Good luck!

Newbeginning1 · 28/02/2010 13:16

Emalina - is your DS also constipated? My DS is also 9 weeks and i'm having the same issue but with him he also seems to be constipated and i'm changing my diet to have more fibre etc to help it all through (TMI i know)

Fleegle · 28/02/2010 13:22

Is there any way to try less swaddling, so he can wriggle more and shift the wind himself?

I don't think colief would particularly help. I wonder if feeding would help make him more comfortable and settle him quicker?

IWillNotNeverEatATomato · 28/02/2010 14:00

After a feed put him onto his front and let him wriggle like this for a minute or two,
it brings up a massive burp in my DS and then he will sleep much better

being on their front also helps with passing farts, so you could roll him onto his front while still asleep, we will then fart and you can roll him onto his back again

I have suffered with two extremely windy farty babies and the more time they have spent on their tummy's the happier they have been

debka · 28/02/2010 15:49

My DD was BF and was quite windy- HV recommended Billogical Nurturing hold for BFing, basically it's as upright as possible- you slouch in a comfy chair and they latch on sort of lying on their tummy along your body. Really helped my DD being in the more upright position, she didn't get half as much wind. Bit like Tomato is saying, lots of time on the tummy.

lolalotta · 01/03/2010 15:41

My little one seems to pass her wind when she is feeding at night, I have read somewhere that the sucking action helps with this, I am not sure why! So maybe try a quick feed to settle him off, until he grows out of it? My health visitor told me that they are only constipated if there poo is like hard pellets. Good Luck!

PureAsTheColdDrivenSnow · 01/03/2010 15:45

infacol may well help him bring up wind after a feed, so may follow that there is less wind out the other end

wrigglerstea · 01/03/2010 20:34

Farty type wind is produced by digestion rather than swallowed, so extra windin is unfortunately not terribly helpful. I think trying to help him fart before he wakes might be the way to go!

BertieBotts · 02/03/2010 00:23

DS had this for a short period - I used to feed him lying on my side, then hold onto his body and roll onto my back so that he was face down on my chest, and I'd rub his back - this would make him fart and then he'd be happy to go back to sleep. As I say it only lasted for a short time. Are you co-sleeping at all? If not co-sleeping I would recommend Tiger in the Tree baby yoga hold. You hold their body along your forearm with their arms and legs dangling down - their head is in the crook of your elbow and the heel of your hand is right on their stomach. Gently rock him like this from side to side while rubbing his back or just holding a hand on his back. Should be soothing enough to help him go back to sleep as well as shifting the wind!

Bumperlicious · 02/03/2010 07:46

'Farty type wind is produced by digestion rather than swallowed, so extra windin is unfortunately not terribly helpful.' I agree, DD seemed to have a terrible gut, a couple of visits to an osteopath helped.

ches · 04/03/2010 03:57

Does he fart or poo? My DS used to poo during first breast at night feeds, I'd change him and then he'd fall asleep during second breast. BF babies make fantastically noisy, gassy poos. I think that the humour of the poos is nature's way of helping you survive the sleep deprivation of a newborn. I'm not sure about in caveman days because I would quickly have stopped feeding a baby that pooed on me with such force before nappies were invented.

Original poster
Emalina · 04/03/2010 05:31

Hi all - Ches, no he is farting - he has stopped pooing at night. Thanks for all advice - Debka am now feeding in that position, it helps shift a bit of wind, but unfortunately he's still waking at night with farts.

All my interventions actually seem to disturb him more, so I tonight I just left the room and he resettled himself within 20 mins, but made a lot of noise, and 5 mins later was awake and crying.

I will try Colief, but don't think it can be a lactose digestion problem as night before last he went all night withought waking to fart, only waking for his feed at 3am and then at 6am.

The last time he did that was one night last week, but woke at 04:30 with wind.

I try telling myself THIS TOO WILL PASS but I'm getting less sleep than ever. He's now wide awake, has been since 04.40 and it's now 05:30!

OP posts:
BellaBalloon · 04/03/2010 10:15

i have had this too and now bring ds into bed with me. we are both sleeping so much better. that anfd pulling hislegs back as if i'm getting him to do a backwards roly poly.

ps sorry but bfing while typing with left hand!

oh and i think drinking fennel tea and giving him gripe water might also be helping...best thing though is bringing him into my bed and letting him sleep tummy to tummy. that has made a huge difference

lazzaroo · 07/03/2010 17:26

I too have this problem with my 3 month old. Her trapped wind wakes her. I try to help her out before it gets to the point of disturbing her completely but more often than not I look at her and she is wide eyed, smiling and farting at 3am!! She doesn't settle easily so I usually rsort to alittle feed to help her get back to sleep. I have to think carefully about this as it inevitably gives her more wind and it's a continual cycle!! Often I end up reacvhing her out of her basket and putting her in bed next to me. She is much less 'flappy' lying with her head raised on my pillows (although we have her basket raised etc etc). It's a habit I always said I'd never get into but at 3am all that goes out of the window!!!

every jmorning when she wakes up for the day (usually about 6 or 7am) we have a good 30 mins naked time where she farts to her hearts content! Such a shame she finds it so difficult.

P.s I found cutting down on my dairy intake helped.

iloveholidays · 07/03/2010 20:42

I too had this problem with my DD, who is now 11 months. She still occasionally wakes with wind (although only just realised it was still wind whilst sharing a room with her over Christmas!).

I would try experimenting with what you are eating. Are any nights worse/better than others and what had you eating during that day? I found tomatoes horrendous, but I know dairy is also bad. I still won't give her cheese for teatime as she really suffers with wind in the evening.

Its annoying, but a food diary might help..

Good luck and hope things improve.

maledetta · 12/03/2010 16:06

I think Infacol really helped my 5-week old. Generally, he is no longer waking distressed, doing lots of tiny farts; instead he is letting out some impressive rip-roarers that don't seem to hurt at all. Still amazed that one so small can do farts that big without the Moses basket ricocheting across the room!

BTW, my health visitor told me that vegetarian mums often have windy babies (I'm a veggie..)!

asfish · 03/02/2014 09:06

We have had this with our 7 month old for the last 5 months, its such a shame and its really starting to make my wife upset and angry as aside for this he is a great little boy. He has been in his own bed and room for a month with no issue, he wolfs down all and any solid food we give him and he settles himself to sleep with no issue only to be woken by trapped wind or lately he wakes needing a poo.

We get no issues with teething either he just sits there chewing away on one toy or another.

I’m lucky that we have private medicine so at the start a paediatrician diagnosed Acid Reflux and increased the dose of his ranitidine 200%. This is worth pushing back to your GP on if you baby is taking this as DR’s tend to be keep the doses low and work up whereas a paediatrician will start at high\max and work down. At the time of this diagnoses he had not gained ant weight to speak of for 2 months so we were also advised to supplement with a bottles. For this issue at least it worked well and he has caught up weight wise.

Then we were left with wind which continues to date. In the day thanks to the Acid Reflux treatment he is ok and manageable. We put him down at 8pm with a little routine including a story, then he wakes up 12am on a good night. Sometimes giving him a bottle will get the farts out and he will go down for another 4 hours.

Most of the time he is up every few hours trying to squeeze them out. My wife feeds him which he likes for comfort and it also appears that putting some food in one end helps get it out of the other end. He also often falls asleep whilst breast feeding.

Now he is on solids he has started to wake at 3am, he is not upset just awake and straining. We were told to try laxative by a 2nd paediatrician which didn’t really work, she then had his bowls X-rayed and this was normal. She has referred him to a surgeon as there may be a slight chance he might have hirschsprungs on a small part of his bowl.

Its more likely that we just have to wait this out, we have of course tried Infacol, Colief, gripe water etc but none of it works> If anybody has any other things worth trying please let me know!

Also any routine advice would be great as you can imagine you end up just doing random things each night as you are so tired etc

Catherine0317 · 17/05/2017 05:40

To restart this zombie thread..i hope.. m asfish - how did this end ? Thanks!!! We are experiencing the same thing

Elland · 17/05/2017 08:07

Catherine I was just wondering the same, my 5mo had just started doing this!

Catherine0317 · 17/05/2017 09:20

I have a four month old. He was always a very windy baby but this time time waking started about 2 weeks ago! From my research winding matters v little as it's intestinal gas from the digestive system. I contemplated early weaning as he is nearly 19 weeks but am afraid it will make matters worse...

Elland · 17/05/2017 14:09

We've just started weaning, DS is nearly 21 weeks and the doctor recommended it but he also has reflux, I don't know if it's connected to the gas issue but she seems to think it might be.

Catherine0317 · 17/05/2017 15:18

Did your gas start after weaning? Bringing his toes up to his mouth works with him. There is a good baby centre video about different exercises to relieve trapped wind.

Elland · 19/05/2017 14:14

No it was not before, the doctor advised that we started weaning to try and help his reflux. I'll have a look for the video, thanks.