Qu re. windy/gassy bfing babies

[pixxi]

My new little man gets a lot of wind despite giving him infacol religiously. When he has a bad flare up, his tummy feels hard and you can hear it gurgling like a drain and he gets very distressed. Nothing seems to help (bicycling legs, tummy massage, tiger in the tree hold etc) but when he's in these moments he will manically root to be on the boob. I know he's doing it for comfort but obviously he takes in additional milk too which (surely?) will only make things worse.

So I'm interested to know what you do in this situation - do you let baby feed or suffer their crying/discomfort until the phase passes? I've been automatically letting him nurse through it since it seems to be what he wants, and at least soothes him in the short term even if it might prolong the issue overall, but I'm doubting my instinct on this...

 

[_Meep_]

There is nothing wrong with allowing him to nurse if he feels it helps. However, it's important to get to the root of the issue so you can work out how best to help him.

First, look at your milk supply and flow. Do you seem to be producing a lot of milk at the moment? Are you regularly engorged or very full, leaking a lot, and spraying milk when you have a let down? If so, it may just be a case of waiting it out until your supply regulates and calms down. Or, you might be producing so much that he is taking in a lot of lactose-rich, watery milk from the beginning of the feed, which could be irritating his system a bit. A symptom of this 'oversupply' issue might be explosive, green or greenish poop.

If you feel he is gulping a lot, and quickly, to cope with your flow of milk, I would suggest winding him every few minutes throughout the feed, as he could be swallowing lots of air which then gets trapped as more milk piles on top.

If neither of these options seems to be an issue, then maybe you should look at HOW he nurses. Does he seem to make clicking noises with his tongue as he sucks? This is a sign that he is repeatedly losing suction due to a latch that isn't quite right, and could possibly indicate a tongue tie.

Finally, if the discomfort is accompanied by spitting up or gulpy/swallowing noises, he could in fact be dealing with classic or silent reflux. Some reflux babies like to nurse through the discomfort as the action of sucking and the warm milk can be soothing. My LO used to get silent reflux flare-ups and during an episode her stomach would get a little swollen and fizz and pop like a can of Coke. She did grow out of it though.