Trapped Wind & Colic, the DL

For all new mums the terms Trapped wind and Colic are scary. For me, I was stressed to the max.

I briefly touched on this in my post about baby poo but I thought I would do a blog post on this on my experience.

Colic

definition
is the term used used when your otherwise healthy baby cries excessively and can’t be soothed.
Crying is described as ‘excessive’ if it totals 3 hours a day and happens more than 3 days a week for at least 1 week

Signs of Colic are

has frequent bouts of intense and inconsolable crying
pulls legs up to tummy, clenches fists and arches back when crying
cries most often in the late afternoon or evening
face gets red and flushed when cries
tummy is rumbly or has wind

Trapped Wind

definition
Wind in babies is caused by trapped air bubbles in their stomachs that they are unable to expel themselves and therefore need someone’s help in doing so. A baby’s digestive system needs to mature as they get used to coping with milk.

Bottle or Breast?

It is thought that bottle fed babies can take down too much air sucking on the teat of the bottle while babies feeding from the breast are better able to control the flow of milk and therefore trap less air however both can occur.

Wind is very common in babies as some can suffer for months whereas some have no issue

Understanding the difference

This was one thing I was always confused about, does my baby has colic? does my baby have trapped wind? People can mistake colic for trapped wind and vice versa.

My experience

I had heard of many stories about colic. I had not heard much about trapped wind. One of my nephews had suffered really bad colic, poor little baby and knowing how hard it was on both my nephew and my cousin I could not help but worry.

I think I only started wondering if my baby had colic when she was around 6 weeks, the colour of her poo had green tinges in an I showed this to my midwife who asked if a) I was making her formula correctly b) if I was burping her properly as she could have trapped wind. I remember thinking huhhhh trapped wind, what the bleeding eff it legit sounds bad when you hear about it the first time. Then there was one day she did not poo, all night she was tossing and turning because she was so uncomfortable and when she did poo the next morning it was really hard for her I was in tears!

I did some research about trapped wind and I realised that is what my baby has! I also noticed that at the time the formula milk I was feeding her (I was combination feeding her FYI) was in the news with many parents complaining about Aptamil. I was feeding Soraiya this and was completely unaware that the different packaging bought for the formula milk meant the ingredients were different so ofcourse it makes sense that this would not settle well with my baby. My daughter was bad at burping always so that also didn’t help.

Now back to the her not pooing for that one day. I thought that meant she was constipated but I was told otherwise. I went to the GP and my GP asked me how her poo was, was it tight? did she strain? I explained to her that her poo was not tight the normal consistency and then my GP explained that my daughter is not constipated. She advised me that my daughter has is colic (I knew it wasn’t but that is what GP’s tend to tell you) and she advised that I perhaps make a change the baby formula I am feeding her which me and my husband already decided to do when my GP heard I was feeding Soraiya Aptamil even she was like are they not in the news right now? LOL

The changes we made (we as in me and my husband but mostly me, men are useless if I am honest LOL)

So to help with Soraiya’s trapped wind I made the following changes

Changed her formula from Aptamil to Cow & Gate FYI I wanted to feed her Cow & Gate from the very beginning as that is what my parents fed me but Noooooo, my husband wanted to feed her Aptamil and that is why
Switched from the standard Tommee Tippee bottles she was using to the MAM anti-colic ones. Can I just say how amazing these bottles are! I won’t go into to much detail but honestly if you are looking for an anti colic bottle this is your bottle!

The formula as per GP’s recommendation we gave her the Comfort type as this type of formula is pre-digested so this did help her to ease her discomfort as the formula is designed to travel easily through a baby’s digestive system. Her poo’s were regular from 0 to about 2 a day. The downsides were that
a) no one told me that it would be so thick! I did not know until day 3 that I would need to change the teat flow from slow to medium.
b) makes your baby’s poo green, like really green. All of her poo’s were green and I did not like it.

After week I felt like it gave her more wind and although she didn’t seem to be in to much discomfort and was feeding find I did not like how many a times she was not burping after each feed when she needed to. So this prompted me to make the choice to change her formula to the normal Birth – 6 months range. Taking this formula, it did take a while for her to get used to it but once a week went she was very much used to it and drinking it fine, much better then the Aptamil. I found that Cow & Gate smells a lot sweeter and is also less grainy compared to Aptamil.

Baby formula is not to be changed all the time though

It really is trial and error to understand which formula suits your baby if you decide to formula feed only or change up your feeding and combination feed. This is an FYI and I know most of you mummy’s and daddy’s know this. It takes time for baby to get used to a formula and once your baby is used to it then you deciding to go and change it is unfair for you and your baby.

Remedies to give along with milk for Colic or Trapped Wind (which I gave)

Infacol

This can be used from birth. This is the only remedy that can be used from birth that I felt happy to use on my baby. You simply with the dropper add 1 drop into baby’s mouth before every feed.
When I used this I did feel it helped a lot but the thing was sometimes I forgot to give the drop to Soraiya at the beginning and I felt giving this during every feed was a bit to much. I know some parents like to add the the drop into their baby’s milk. I used this up until she was nearly 3 months old.

I regularly bought mine from Superdrug

Gripe Water

Woodward’s Gripe Water is what my mum fed me and my siblings growing up. I remember it tasted the bomb and I also remember I would sneak into the kitchen to have some.

With Gripe Water you can only give this to your baby from 1 month on wards. I waited till Soraiya was 2 months before I gave this to her. My baby girl is now nearly 6 months and I still give this to her from time to time.

I am the kind of parent I do not like o give something always and with this, you are advised to give after or during a feed. I did find it super helpful compared to the infacol especially as she was drinking as she was getting better so the Gripe Water helped her to burp better. There were times were I had a hunch she was uncomfortable due to trapped wind even when after feeding her she burped and seemed fine. This is fast acting!

My daughter hated the taste of this until about 5 months which was exciting to see as to me it was a sign she would be ready to wean!

I know a lot of parents have this at home and who can blame them. I learnt recently that although now its is alcohol free, back in the day this contained alcohol and it got me thinking if this was still the case I would not be able to feed this to my baby.

I also regularly buy mine from Superdrug. I feel the value is cheaper compared to my local chemist.

And there you have it… 🙂

Every parent experiences colic/trapped wind differently because babies are not the same. It would be so helpful for us first time mums if they were but that is not the case. Safe to say when I have baby number 2 InshAllah I will be more up to speed and will learn from my first experience.

At present, I am content with my baby Soraiya, in no rush for baby number 2. The labour nightmare still haunts me to I think it is fair that I should be ready when my mind lets me forget the pain and when I am feeling broody!

I would love to hear your experience. I do not have many mum friends so really I do not know how other mums and dads dealt with and helped ease the discomfort of their baby’s colic and trapped wind.

On that note speak soon!

Yours Always,

The Soul Tamer x