WINDING TECHNIQUES

Winding is one of the most troublesome things in a baby's life.
Time and again, a baby will cry and cry and mum does not know how to stop him, but there are things you can do.

For a start, putting baby on your shoulder and hoping for some wind to come out is not enough; and in my opinion is the lazy way!

There again, banging the baby's back hard and curdling the stomach contents is too much and not right as well.
So a variety of methods are called for apart from the obvious and you will soon learn what suits both baby and you.
As I said have before, sometimes it takes 25% feeding and 75% winding, if baby has trouble in that direction.

So here are a few methods I use, that you may not have been shown before:-

1. Try laying baby on a flat surface and when one bent leg (or both) start to jerk up and down, pick baby vertically upwards and (hopefully) he will burp.

2. Then there's what I call the African method: Lifting baby up and down in the air, holding her under her arms. Slowly up and down with each move taking about 2 seconds.

Remember what you are trying to do; which is to obtain a straight line from the stomach to the mouth, so the "Bubble of Air" has a straight passage to travel up and not get caught in some bend or kink, as in a bendy straw.

3. Try swaddling baby tight and sitting him upright on your knee; one hand up against his tummy and the other straight up his back (your hands, like a pair of book ends!). Gently make sure baby is lifted, so he has a good straight line of passage from tum to mouth. Now just hold the baby very still and upright, then if nothing still, you can very gently rock baby to and throw.

4. One last position. Sitting upright, cross your legs and place baby face down over your knees, with her head and arms leaning over the higher thigh, her legs hanging over your lower thigh.

(As a rule of thumb, if the baby feels comfortable on you, you will probably feel comfortable to her!)

5. You can always try some sips of plain boiled water. I find this is as good as anything you might buy more often and not.

I hope this is of help, it can be so stressful when you cannot get wind up, or your baby has colic.