my newborn has very painful trapped wind, is it due to oversuppliy? fast let down? or tandem...

[bluebell]

ds now 5weeks old has been struggling with very bad trapped wind since the first week. he seems to be in alot of pain with it. i always try to wind him upright after feeds and he'll most often burp, but it dosn't relieve him because he then he has really bad trapped wind down below and needs to fart but it dosn't come and takes ages to come out - i can't then lie him down as he's in pain with it and i have to hold him upright and rock or bounce him and this takes ages and this is happening all day after each feed but is worse at night when i feed in bed as we cosleep and from 2am until 8am and neither of us can sleep. he dosn't settle until he's either farted lots or poo'd. then i feed him again and it starts all over again, its getting to point where its upsetting to feed him because i know that he's going to be in pain again. he also desperately wants to comfort suck but when i latch him on he then gets tons of milk again and he dosn't want it as he's full and so he gets frustrated and bobs around and then trys to suck his thumb (i think he sucked thumbs in the womb because he sucked it on the first day and has a few times since, but now he can't do it as he can't seem to find it anymore)
i eat a very healthy TF diet so i'm not sure its something i'm eating or what. i don't eat sugar, no gluten and rarely any grains, don't eat the veges that are wind forming, i was eating raw dairy and i've now cut that out except a bit of butter for cooking and its seems to have a helped a little bit but he's still struggling i'm now eating stews for nearly every meal as i can't cut anything else out! its limiting me with food as it is, and i'm also feeling scared to eat anything myself in case it makes it worse and i know i need to eat. - i'm wondering if it is to do with the amount of milk flowing so fast. he is gulping it down and it just seems to be like a fountain that he can't cope with sometimes he pulls off coughing and spluttering. his latch is good, but he sometime have milk trickling out the side as its so fast. couuld this be to do with tandem feeding my 6 yr old? she still nurses about 3 times a day and during my pregnancy there wasn't any suppliy problems, she has told me that the milk is really fast and there is loads - which she's pleased about! sometimes i've asked her to nurse until after the let down and then i put ds on and he seems better but i can't do that everytime because we might be out in public and she dosn't nurse in public - also she dosn't want to have that many feeds anymore! during my pregnancy i didn't have any change in milk suppliy and dd had no complaints of it drying up, i'm now overflowing it seems. i've phoned la leche league and they suggested to feed him up right but i can't latch him on like that it hurts my nipples and my back and neck and i couldn't do that when i'm out. any one have any ideas? or is the colic just something we are going to have to wait until it passes? there must be a solution?

[newmum35]

In order to determine whether this is caused from something in your diet or, just swallowing air like you said, couldn't you just pump for a few days and give him everything by bottle? I know its not good to do when establishing breastfeeding but it seems he is already established pretty good... there seems to be a lot of suffering involved so in this case I think it would be worth it to find out for sure one way or the other. Even if you did it half a day it might give you the answer you need.

[heavensearth]

My little guy was the same way! we actually held him almost 24 hours a day for the first 6 weeks just to keep him comfortable.

Our pediatrician suggested to me to avoid dairy and green veggies, which did help a bit but the thing that helped the most was giving my son a probiotic (our pediatrician recommended it). We noticed a difference in two days!!!

The one we used was http://www.biogaia.com/ it was expensive but worth every penny!

Good luck mama

eta: I forgot to mention that feeding my son in the football hold with his head really elevated also helped..

[Megan73]

It really sounds like you've identified the problem - oversupply and fast letdown - combined with a newborn's immature digestive tract.
Check out Kellymom.com for ideas and hang in there, mama. It will get better as your little one gets older, better able to cope with the fast letdown and his digestive system matures. I really don't think it's anything that you're eating. So-called gas producing vegetables give YOU gas because they contain carbohydrates that are difficult to digest - they don't give baby gas. I just takes awhile for their tiny digestive tracts to get moving smoothly.

[Maine Mama Doula]

Hun, your supply is great right now and it will adjust to meet the needs of both your little ones. Don't fret, this will get better! Suggestions: pump a little off the top (pump to let down, no more than an ounce) or let your other one nurse like you did before. A small hand pump could be used pretty indiscreetly when you're out and about until your supply adjusts or your LO can handle the flow. If cutting out dairy helps, then maybe cut out some more, but I often find that what you eat is rarely the problem as long as he has normal BMs and plenty of wet diapers.

[Angelorum]

nak

my little guy had a lot of trouble with gas and pooping. he would fuss and grunt forever until it finally passed. I cut out all dairy for a week. I was in denial about how much of a difference it made (I love my dairy), dh said he noticed a big difference. After that week, I ate one piece of toast with a little butter and sure enough the next day he was fussing and grunting again. So I'd try cutting out all sources of dairy, even the little bit of butter for cooking. It can take a few days to fully get out of your system, so even if you don't notice a difference right away, give it a while.

the other thing that helped him when he was gassy was some tummy massage my lac consultant showed me. I'd either stroke my fingers down over his belly over and over (elbows out, hand circling around each other, like a paddle wheel) or I'd rub in a sort of half circle starting on his right side and up and over and down his left side. The massage sometimes helped him pass the gas quicker.

HTH

[ashleyhaugh]

yeah one of my ds's big reactions to dairy is painful gas. he just turned 2, but there are still times when he accidently gets something with minimul dairy (like a little too much soy cheese) and he has gas so bad he is up for hours in the middle of the night screaming

[Heba]

A couple of other things you might consider:

- massaging as pp mentioned, using chamomile essential oil (diluted appropriately). In my experience it's great for trapped wind!

- "laid back" feeding positions (mostly to try at home, I guess!) - I see a couple of different positions have been mentioned, and experimenting till you find something which works for you may be worth it. Check out baby-led attachment (www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/bla.html) and biological nurturing (http://www.biologicalnurturing.com/Pages/howtodoit.html). Some mums with fast let-down find that with baby on top, gravity works in their favour and helps the babe to cope better with the let-down.

Good luck, and hope things get better for you both!

[moonlight mom]

Do you have any instructions on how to use the chamomile essential oil?