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trapped wind - will it pass?

Hi ladies,

I don't post here very often but would be grateful for help/ advice/ reassurance as I'm a first time mum!
My ds is nearly 8 weeks and has had really bad trapped wind since day one. He writhes and goes red in the face straining, even in his sleep. He's also colicky in the evenings and fusses and cries after feeds which i think is all linked in with his wind. I've tried everything - anti colic bottles, infacol, colief, gripe water, dentinox, swapped formulas and the GP even popped him on infant gaviscon for a week to rule out reflux (gaviscon made no difference other than make him constipated!). Me and hubbie are prepared to "ride it out" now and people have said the trapped wind will go at the 12 week point when ds tummy matures. I really want to know if this is true!? His wind is so bad I just can't see it disappearing just like that. Can anyone reassure me or tell me the truth!

Many thanks. x.
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Replies

  • evie did get a lot better after 12weeks, but now at 4months she is suffering again with trapped wind at the bottom end! she struggles to do pumps and it hurts her when she does. it isnt half as bad as the colic she used to have though. so in my experience it does get better!
  • Hi, my little boy suffered badly with trapped wind. I found infacol helped a lot but it took a good week to two weeks to take effect as it needs to build up in their system. We tried loads of different ways of burping him too and found sitting him on our knee and gently lifting his ribs up used to get the best burps up!
    We also started giving him a warm bath every evening before bed to help ease the wind in his tummy and put a small amount of malt extract into his night time bottles which seemd to help too.

    My lo is 12 weeks old now and I would say we started seeing a big improvement from 10 weeks and now he is bringing his wind up pretty much straight away after a bottle. Although he does get a bit of trapped wind occassionally. I try and make sure he is as upright as possible during a feed and keep him upright for 15 to 20 minutes after a bottle which seems to help a lot too.

    Good luck, it will get better xx
  • Thank you ladies. I just needed to know that my hv isn't fobbing me off when she said it'll pretty much be gone by 12 weeks. I just hate seeing him screaming in pain. I know its not my fault, but you can't help but feel a failure as a mummy!
    xx.
  • Hi bikerchick just to let you know iam inexactly the same position as you. my baby is 6 weks today and been like it since 3 days old. It is heartbreaking and soul deysroying . i got in to bed at 1030 last night and she woke at 1130 and was up pretty much all night i got up to feed herat 2 and she fell asleep on me till 330 every time i put her down it disturbed herand i had to hold her again. They manage tocatnap through their pain but we cant!!! my lo is screaming in between fitfull sleep downstairs now with my oh she is due for a feed too andi hate doing it knowing in an hour she will be in pain again. she is at her happiest just after her feed lying on her changing mat laughing if only she could stay like that! we have tried everythhing except coleif anddentinox.. she is ininfacol and i am reluctant to change it now. i too hope it goesat 12 weeks i need soome sleep!!!
  • Hi westbrom1 - thank goodness someone else is in the same boat as me - although I wouldn't wish what we're going through on anyone! Does your baby also fuss during a feed? Matthew is on and off the teat all the time. He's clearly hungry, but its as if the wind makes it painful for him to eat. Hes gaining weight so noone seems too concerned to be honest. Yet I go to clinic to get him weighed and everyone elses baby is cooing and settled and Matthew is screaming the place down! I long to enjoy being his mum, and don't get me wrong - deep down I love him totally, but I feel as if I'm just going through the motions at the moment. Is it your first baby too? I did hope to have 2 children but Matthew may be an only child as I'm not sure I can go through this again!
    Keep posting - we'll support each other through this.
    xx.
  • Ladies,

    At least I'm not alone either. We are having the same probs with our lo who is 4 weeks old. As well as having reflux she also has been up over the last 3 nights screaming the place down. She cluster feeds and just won't settle. Her tummy really seems to irritate her and it doesn't help with the reflux.

    she won't seem to drop off until 3or 4ish and wakes about 8. I am so tired and try to sleep during the day. Also really difficult to get her to settle in her moses basket as her reflux upsets her and she has been sleeping on my chest on and off at nights ( know this isn't good but only way she would settle).

    Any suggestions are welcome but really want to get some sleep at night. Just started on the infacol so we'll see how that goes.

    Let us know how you both get on.
  • hi bikerchick iknow what you mean yes daisy is my first and probly my last!!!!!!!! Now daisy is normally a good feeder but last week or so she is struggling to drink her milk and you can see her doubled up in pain. i make up 6 oz and sometimes she takes the lotother times she only manages 2 or 3 oz people have told me to wind her half way through feed i have tried this and she wont take the rest of milk then cus if you cant get a burp she is too windy to finesh feed and it takes good half hour to wind her that she is sleepy then too only not sleepy enough to feed!! god its like a vicious circle. last two nights have really got me down though as i put her down at 1030 on thursday and she didnt wake till 5 it was heaven but its so cruel as when you barely get an hour here and there the following nights its not good. daisy has been miserable all day again with v little sleep. i just dread going up to bed for the night. i do all thee night feeds on my own as hubby has to drive a lot and that is worseas sometimes i dont know whether to feed her or not as it isnt a hunger cry but its been over four hours since feed im sure youknow what i mean. well ive feddaisy at 530 bathed her at 730 and hubby is feeding her now fingers crossed let me know how your night went i have baby clinic in morning got to be ther for 9.15 ha ha ill probably start getting ready after four 0 clock feed!!!!
    lolstephen i can only sympathise as i dont think my lo has reflux hv is adamant she hasnt becouse she doesnt sick up, and daisy doesnt scream for hours she just gripes moans and does a pathetic cry and then it comes and goes every few minutes she goes red and proper crys drawing her knees up thenshe relaxes for few mins. i have started putting daisy in bed or on it should i say with her blanket round her.so i can lay her on her side and rub her back when she gets her pain. as like you i was falling aslleep onsettte with her on my chesti figured this was more dangerous than having her in the bed although you only half sleep when you have her in bed as i am frightened we are going to squash her. i figure she would cry if i lay on an arm or something where i couldreally hurt her if i dropped her.

    i dont know if its anything you two would considerand its not really working yet but i take daisy to the chiropractor. she specializes incollic inbabies and i saw her while i was pregnant as i had severe spd. she had some treatment on tuesday night and she was a dream baby on wednesday and thursday but by friday afternoon she was back to square one again. i am taking her again on tuesday so will let you know how i get on. good luck ladies sweet dreams hopefullyx
  • am back again thought i might be inbed by now daisy was last fed at 8 and still wont settle i said to hubby that i would give her till 10 and then i was going to feed her again otherwise potentially i could be feeding her again at 12, so thats what we are doing,i have just infacoled her and oh is feeding her again. i didint know what to do butshe was just fighting the sleep and looking at meand laughing!!! it is difficult i said the same thing to my friend this morniong i really want toenjoy her but i cant i feel like a failure too as i cant get her to sleep like othermums can. it is such a shame to wish theior lives away but i cant wait till 12 weeks. mind you i said that about 4 weeks thinking that gripe water would save my sanity but it didnt!!!!
  • hi westbrom1 - how did your night go with Daisy in the end? I had a massive fluke with Matthew - he slept from 11.30-5.45. However the previous couple of nights were hideous so I think he was knackered. The infant gaviscon had also made him constipated, and he had a massive clearout yesterday which has helped settle him!
    Yep, I feel a complete failure too. After a night feed I'm usually rocking Matthew for a couple of hours to get him back to sleep. Other mums have said "Ooo, you're creating a rod for your own back." Whats the alternative?!? I've got a baby in pain, surely I'm a worse mother if I let him scream for hours?! Although rocking him is back breaking, we're gonna carry on as it soothes him, and when he has settled at 12 weeks ish, we can teach him to settle himself to sleep.
    I also took Matthew to a cranial osteopath. Had 3 sessions and saw no noticable difference. I really hope it works for you - some mums I know swear by it.
    Hang in there hun.x.
  • i could of written your post for you! i am feeling exactly the same. i will try anything to get her to sleep so i can get some
    my hv reckons you cant spoil a newborn and that some babies needmore reassurance than others. if i am makinga rod for my own back theni will deal with that rod later when baby is getting moresleep andi canget some snatching the odd hour is doing no one any good. hv was useless today she just said some babies dont needmuch sleep. she did however get me a prescription for colocynthesis powder which i used few weeks ago and she did seem more settled but idontknow whether it was that i will try it tomoro. Glad you had a better night with mathew lets hope it wasnt a fluke, i had a night just like that last thursday and was gutted whenthe friday night couldnt have been more different. daisy was big nightmare again last night i am absolutely knackered today and have cried three times!! i ended up taking daisy shoppingand she slept for three hours the little blighter if onlyshe couild be like that at home, mind you if i stopped pushing the pram she would wake up and start grizzling! i cheered myself up by buying her some new clothes. she melts my heart when she smiles at me which is the only thing keeping me sane at the moment. well good luck for tomoro babe im just running bath for me and daisy and then seehow we gox
  • Hi hun,
    I see from your other thread that you got some of this colycynthesis (sp?) powder and Daisy has done a good burp for you. Hope it works! Thats gotta be the only thing I haven't tried yet.
    Had a good day yesterday with Matthew, feeding well and some decent burps. He just seemed really settled and smiling. However he has been up and crying since around 4am today, so the old Matthew is back! I don't know how much wind a babe can have, but he has burped and trumped for England all day yet continues to writhe and strain with trapped wind! I had a good ole cry - best to let it out I think, and I also put Matthew down in his cot and left him to cry while I walked round the garden for 20 mins - just couldn't take the crying anymore.Do you have any family support so you can get a break? My family lives on the other side of the country, so I'm on my own while hubbie at work.

    lolstephen - hows it going hun? any improvement on the Infacol yet?

    xx.
  • Ladies, I feel for you, I really do. Evie is 4 wks tomorrow and struggles to get her wind up so occassionally gets trapped wind though no where near as badly as your LO's. I'm sure you've tried it but I find that laying her on the floor with something warm (flannel/hand) on her tummy at the same time as cycling her legs round really helps her and usually results in a few good trumps. Have you tried baby massage at all? Don't know if it'd help the wind but it might just help settle babies a bit.
    Good luck, I really hope your little ones feel better soon.

    Zoe & Evie
    xx
  • hi babe im fed up!! got the powder got a great burp yet she is still as miserable!! i am so confused as to whether it is wind now. the chiropractor swears collic isnt allways digestive relative and everything she says makes sense. my pelvis was very twisted and seperated when i carried her and therefore daisy is quite twisted too she follows the shape of how she was lying. so chiropractor thinks she is uncomfortable i n any other position other than her birth position. last two times i have took her she has been better for few days then ends up worse thn what she was before. so i have booked to take her again on saturday its costing a fortune cus im having to go too but i will try anything. maybee the c powder is something you could try babe i fed her again at 4 and she did another burp, not that it made much diference but like i say i dont know whats wrong with her. i dont know about you but i dread feeding time now first i infacol then i do powder then i feed then i wind for 1/2 hour then i do nappy then i try to settle her and before i know it its feed time again!!! you did the right thing going in garden, its hard when you are on your own. i have both our families here but i am reluctant to let go particuarlly to the parents i know this sounds bad and i know they raised us but times change and i worry about the bottles and safety etc. sometimes me and my oh fall out cus he leaves her on the settee or on the table etc. and i worry about what the mums would do. i never thought i would be like this. my mum offered to take her for a walk in the pram today, and i thought no what if you fell over and the pram rolled into the road!!! i know im being totally over protective but at the moment i cant help it. hi zoe thanks for the advice kind of tried everything but will enquire about baby massage course now i can drive again. good luck for later with mathew and evie got to dash i can hear crying!
  • Gosh, we're so similar! I also frequently doubt the wind diagnosis if you like because he burps and trumps and still writhes and screams, but what else can it be? I've ruled out reflux cos the gaviscon did nothing and he doesn't projectile vomit and he happily lies flat which apparently reflux babies find painful. I've ruled out lactose intolerence cos he doesn't have diarrhoea or vomitting and his poo is the colour it should be. I'm super hygienic when making up my bottles. So it can only be wind!!! I also dread feeding times. I feel like this evil mummy cos I know after the feed he's likely to be in pain. We go back to the GP on 10th to review the gaviscon (which I've stopped) so I'll see what she says. Matthew will be nearly 10 weeks by then so I hope we'll be on the home straight by then! My GP is ace and very supportive. Her baby had bad colic so she knows what I'm going through. She said it will pass, and it usually happens around 12 weeks and it'll be like someone flicked a switch. I bloomin' hope so! She said that our babes won't remember this pain, and its the parents who are traumatised by the whole thing. I stupidly worried about this, and that it'd affect our bonding, and that Matthew wouldn't love me because I couldn't help his pain. Spot the sleep deprived mother verging on paranoia!
    Hope your night is ok-ish! I don't know how you feel about this, but are you on MSN or anything? So if we're both tearing our hair out at 3 in the morning we could support each other? I won't be offended if you say no. Just a thought, thats all.
    Take care hun.xx.
  • Hi ladies, am really sorry to hear about your lo's. My ds Jack has had the same and we both felt terrible for weeks. I did everything you both have done and only about now is he settling.
    My friend told me about baby massage but I didnt have a class near me but i found a web site called videojug.com through typing baby massage into google.
    It shows u step by step. I found it really beneficial just b4 he went to bed.
    Hope this helps x
  • Hi guys,

    Sorry I haven't had time to log on recently. Things seem to be much the same with the colic but we are getting on better with sleeping now. She managed to sleep 1 til 7 last night so fingers crossed she can do the same tonight and she did so in her own bed. Had to put her on her side with towels supporting her but she must have been comfy.

    Got a number for an osteopath today so will try calling tommorrow to see. Someone said that colic is due to a difficult birth? I had 50 hours labour and Ella was posterior so that could explain it. she was also delivered via ventose cap and had a rather large lump on her head until this week.

    Don't think that the infacol has properly kicked in yet so will hope to see a difference in a few days.
  • Hi all
    Sorry you are all having a rough time at the mo.
    We went through 3 months of what we believed to be colic and tried everything, I spent hours trawling the web for cures, we also saw a cranial osteopath who in a way found the cure, after seeing her for several sessions and seeing improvements in some things but not the colic she suggested a change of formula and after several trys and scanning the web again we tried soya, which i must say we shouldn't have as lo is under 6 months and it is not nutritious enough (or so hv told us), however the colic improved and this then got our hv to listen and get us on Nutramigen formula which is hypoalergenic and contains no lactose or cows milk protein, it was like having a different baby, the screaming stopped and the pain left her.
    I'm sure this will not be the cause for most but do ask your hv about lactose intolerance as the symptoms can be very similar to colic, they can include stomach cramps, vomiting, wheezing and others. We found lo was worse at night but also when hv asked us to try switching back from soya to normal formula before they prescribed nutramigen we found that she could tolerate 1 or 2 bottles in a day but anymore seemed to cause a build up of pain and then about 3 hours of screaming in the evening.

    Just thought it may be worth looking into as we had to virtually stumble upon the cause ourselves.

    Good luck!
  • hi guys,

    lolstephen - there is the theory that having a difficult labour can cause 'molding' to the babies skull and put pressure on the various nerves at the back of the skull including the digestive nerve - hence digestive problems and colic. I also had a ventouse delivery and was pushing for 2 hours. The osteopathy made no noticable difference to Matthew, but I know it has helped others so its definately worth looking into. Its not cheap at around ??40 a session, but if it helps your baby its worth it I think!
    sillymoo - I'd kinda ruled out lactose intolerance as he doesn't vomit as such, the occassional dribble or 'wet' burp and thats it. Also he has good spells. Take monday for example, took his feeds lovely, 6-7oz each time, good burps and smiling and cooing! Yesterday he fussed at every feed, bringing his knees up and then going rigid and red in face. My question (I have a tendency to ramble - sorry!) if he was lactose intolerant wouldn't he vomit every feed and fuss every feed? What do you think? Grateful for your help hun!
    xx.
  • Hi, are you sure he isn't getting a bit constipated? Have you tried putting them to sleep with their head slightly raised - either propping up the moses basket at one end or putting a towel under the mattress of the cot? We found this helped Brendan loads in the early weeks and he would sleep for longer.

    Must say I started Bren on SMA Gold and that seemed to make him worse, I moved him onto Hipp Organic and that did make an improvement.

    Hang on in there ladies it does get better honestly! xx

  • Hi,

    Had a hell of a night again last night - up til 3am this time. Really taking its toll now. Been searching the internet and looking for possible diagnosis and will try cutting out dairy to see it that helps. Also ordered some lactase drops to see if that helps. I completely breast feed so just don't understand where this wind is coming from!!!!

    Have the hv today so will see if she can help at all - doubt it as she seems as helpful as a chocolate fireguard so far!!

    How you guys getting on? I have the osteopath on friday morning so hope my ??50 does something.

    Laura
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