Question: My baby gets wind after a bottle feed. What can I do to prevent this?

admin | 11:26 am | November 29, 2011 | Pregnancy and Baby Feeding, Uncategorized

Answer: Bottle fed babies do tend to get more problems with wind than breast-fed babies do because the rate at which they get milk is slower with breast-feeding. The wind is caused by air being swallowed into your baby’s tummy during feeding. Sometimes the air gets trapped and it forms a bubble in her stomach that causes some discomfort. Make sure that the inside of her teat is saturated with milk by tilting the bottle at an angle. Feeding her in an upright position, rather than supine, also helps.  Offer small amounts of milk at a time (about 60-90ml) and take short breaks to allow her to bring up wind. To assist her to bring up some wind you can try holding her upright over your shoulder holding her with one arm and using the opposite arm to rub or pat her back. You could also try sitting her upright on your lap and leaning her slightly forwards supporting her chin with one hand and using the other hand to rub or pat her back. Another position is done by laying her on your lap on her belly and supporting her head so tat it’s higher than her chest and from there rub or pat her back. The rubbing and patting need not be rough, just gentle motions will do. Try all three positions and see what works best for her. Some gripe water on her teat or on a dummy teat or dropped into the mouth can help assist the process of burping up air. If she is consistently battling to bring up wind or becomes very distressed, she may have colic in which case, she needs to be treated accordingly.