Tummy pains???

Madeline has been getting terrible tummy pains after a feed...when they get really bad I have been giving her Infants Friend which seems to help; but I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions on other ways to relieve her pain?

I feel horrible just watching her writhe and cry; knowing there's not an awful lot I can do for her.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Have you tried changing the position you feed her in? A couple of things that helped Max were holding him so he was upright and facing me, or lying down next to him on the bed to feed. He swallowed less air that way.
I also found with all my children that they each had specific positions they liked to be held in to burp after a feed, and if I didn't burp them enough then they had bad tummy pains afterwards.
Experiment with different holds and see if different sorts of tummy pressure help her work out the pain.

Kerrie

Not that it stops them getting the pain which would be the ultimate solution but I have always found with my son that a gentle (but so there is relative pressure) massage in a downward direction from ribs downwards helps to calm and relieve his pains in the stomach whether due to wind or constipation - I sometimes still do it to this day when he's a bit crook or bound up. He's even starting to ask for rub tummy tummy sore.

Mum used to say with me it was my dad rubbing my lower back - she could never get it right cause she didn't get the pressure right but dad probably applied just that bit more and that helped with my burping.

Another one I've used with other peoples kids is on there tummys across your lap and lightly patting them to calm them. Again its probably just the pressure on the tummy thing - don't know.

Can't guarantee them - but they might be worth a try if different feeding positions/styles don't work.

To help relieve tummy pains I've used a hot pack wrapped in a nappy and held against Regan's tummy quite firmly. I think it works quite well.

I used to hold Hannah along one of my forearms with my hand firmly pressing on her tummy and her head in the crook of my elbow iykwim (if you need a demo, I can take a pic doing it and send ya). I also used to find that bicycling her legs while she was on her back was a winner. AND the hug a bub was fantastic - it seemed to be more comfy for her than any of the holding positions...Massaging her tummy in a circular motion in a clockwise direction (the direction of the bowel) also helped sometimes...

Poor little mite...it must be horrible for them!

Thanks ladies....I know exactly what hold you're talking about Jules. John & I carry her around like that, but she's only happy to lie like that when she's sleepy.

Funnily enough, the formula feeds don't seem to give her as much wind as the breast feeds. She must gulp more air in...will double check her latching on to make sure she isn't pulling in too much air.

I also tried the heat pack yesterday....wrapped it up in a cloth nappy and lay her on her belly on it. It did seem to help...although as with the hold Juliette was talking about; she only likes to stay like that if she's not too fussy or wide awake.

I was going to suggest warmth too. I have heard alot about lying them across your lap too.

Hey Bec...just a question - are you still only breastfeeding from one side? Maybe that's the difference between the bf's and the formula feeds (i.e. that when she's only bf'ing on one side and spending extra time sucking she might just be sucking in air once your breast is emptied (not that they're ever really empty but once it's not flowing as fast) IYKWIM? Maybe she's not getting as much as she wants from the one breast and she's feeding more frequently to make up for it (and getting too much foremilk in the process as well as sucking in air)? Not sure if I'm making sense - it was just a thought. Tummy pains are tricky and most of the time there's no clear reason for it anyhow...

Jules, for a few days I did follow the midwives' suggestion and feed exclusively from a single breast per feed. I have since found that if she's got a large amount of wind, she'll pull quite violently at my nipple and I end up in too much pain at times to just feed from one breast. If that's the case, I'll get her to feed for 10minutes or so on one, and then offer the second breast until she is full or falls off to sleep.

I suppose it's possible that she is getting too much foremilk; it's hard to tell. I mean, she tends to turn my breast from totally hard and overfull from milk to quite squishy at the end of a feed if that makes sense? I try not to limit how long she feeds; some mornings she'll feed for several hours straight and she'll literally drain one completely before moving onto the next! *L*