How nice that Rose has brought up the burping issue.  I'm *really*
interested in this.  However I see this from a different perspective. I am
not sure if it is a local custom, but many, many of the mothers I work with
are compelled to burp their babies after every single tiny beastfeed.  It
goes like this: baby breastfeeds, mother burps baby, baby wants to suck
again, mother breastfeeds again, burps baby again waking baby up, baby needs
more sucking to get off to sleep with, falls blissfully asleep at breast,
mother perceives this as another "feed" and burps baby again - and so on an
on and on.  Baby by now becoming frantic to get some sleep, mother
perceiving that crying is due to "wind", tries to get non-existent "wind"
up, a snow-ball effect.

Mothers say things like "He's got so much wind."  or "If I don't wind him
then he just wakes up half an hour later ..".  When asked how they make this
diagnosis, they say,   "Well, he brings his legs up..." or "Well, he starts
thrashing around in his sleep", or some such ..  Eventually these mothers
start in on colic remedies, containing anything from alcohol to chloral
hydrate to diphenhydramine to dicyclomine and/or they start eliminating
foods from their diets, e g all fruits and green vegetables (I'm not talking
about dairy sensitivities here, these babies appear to be pretty calm,
eating well, behaving normally).

Mothers perceive that feeding the baby again will exacerbate the wind so
they carry and burp a baby for up to two hours rather than putting it back
to the breast - resulting in marginal weight gain, "not-enough-milk" and,
you guessed it - ABM supplements, lactation failure - the long downward
spiral.  Does this sound like a rant?  It is!  I think I've seen more
breastfeeding failure on the diagnosis of "wind" than from any other single
"cause".  It's driving me crazy. I don't know where all this "wind"
information is coming from.  I discuss how undigested lactose may cause gas
*later* (i e it's not swallowed air, and anyway is this actually painful?) I
point out how gently the baby is breastfeeding and the obvious lack of wind
going in to the baby from the top end, I discuss how babies love to suck -
to obtain the creamy milk at the "end" of the breastfeed,  and in order to
comfort-suck to fall asleep.  I suggest *not* waking up a sleepy full baby
to burp him and describe how babies often "cluster-feed" so that putting the
baby back to the breast for the fifth time is great!  Alas, this information
doesn't always "take".  I'm guessing that wind and the perceived need to
burp is a carry-over from a bottle-feeding age.  I would really like to hear
any explanations for wind from others, how they manage this craziness
successfully and what works.

Thanks for listening.

Pamela, Zimbabwe