Written by Alison of Zip Zap Waltham Forest and East Village.
I’ve had many conversations about this at class so here goes… this is the full story about our very windy baby.
The first two weeks of baby A were bliss. She took to breastfeeding with ease (unlike her sister) and was doing the normal newborn thing with a 3 hr cycle of sleep, feed, nappy change etc. We thought we had it sussed, BUT THEN CAME THE WIND.
She stopped sleeping at night, waking every 45 minutes on bad nights. Was clearly uncomfortable, pulling up her legs, red faced, hating being on her back. She slept best in the day when on the move in the buggy or sling.
As the huge sleep deprivation started to kick in I gathered a list from friends, and strangers, of all the things I could do to help her, and us. And I started at the top.
Infacol- we started giving this first when A’s wind started, then used Colief which worked for a while, but we found Colic Calm to work the best. You could only find this online.
Tongue tie- this was spotted in Homerton but as she was feeding ‘okay’ (the latch was shallow though) and she was gaining weight there wasn’t any hope the NHS would look in to it so we went private. We used Regina, email: rightsofpassagemidwifery@gmail.com She was recommended by friends and was excellent. She did an assessment, agreed A was tongue tied, not massively, but she was, and it could possibly help the wind situation.
The latch was immediately better.
Feeding position - I attended a free breastfeeding support clinic run by Henry and it was suggested that due to my flow being very fast I was perhaps over feeding A, which I didn’t think could happen with a exclusively BF baby but, we learn every day don’t we? The lady suggested I feed as much as possible in koala position so A could control the flow of milk more herself. I honestly can’t say if it helped but it felt good to know she was in control of how much she was drinking.
Cranial Osteopathy- this really helped. A suffered a lot with constipation and she had pelvic tension too that was treated. The osteopath also recommended a probiotic (Bio Giai) for her gut health (especially important if a c section delivery) and for me to come off foods that could be causing discomfort.
I kept a food diary to see when A had a reaction. I was already off dairy but by the time she was 5.5 months I was off soya, gluten, fish and eggs too*. I used Victoria Park Osteopaths. I would have used https://rebeccadaviesost.com but she had a huge waiting list (I had used her previously for myself after baby #1 and she’s amazing.)
Other options:
Mama & baby donation based Osteopath: https:// www.occ.uk.com
The School of Osteopathy just ask for a donation too. http://kuulondon.com/portfolio/giulia-volpe/
All these are recommendations from the brilliant @cherbrighton or the mums in her postnatal yoga group.
I paid £60 a session but for me it was worth it- A always slept well after her sessions and did a poop. She once went ten days without pooping so the constipation was severe.
Baby massage- I did a five week course with Leanne @kinship before she moved out of London. Similar to seeing the osteopath, these sessions usually lead to A sleeping and pooping a little better. Even if it was only one night, I took it!
Lastly, going back to food - A’s wind and constipation seemed to be finally improving at 5.5 months. Then I started to wean her and it all went horribly wrong. I’d had multiple conversations with the GP about A about her wind and constipation already so when I rang and said it was all back again he put us on a weaning plan. The main allergens I was off had to be very slowly introduced to A, and introduced one by one. We got there in the end and now she eats everything, but I’m still not 100% convinced she’s not at least intolerant to dairy. More on that another time!
I hope if you have a windy baby, this may help you in some way. Please ask for help if you need it, and trust your gut - one of the most important lessons I’ve learned during this motherhood journey is that if I think something is wrong with my little one, it usually is.
With positive vibes, Alison