Colic - Brooklyn,MD

My son started with Colic the weekend before I started back to work. We found that switching his formula to the Nutramigen worked for a few months until he developed allergies to it. We also found that using the swaddler baby sacks and white noise helped. My girlfriend used to have her baby sleep upright in the carrier in the bathroom at night with the fan running. The vibrating, massaging bouncy seat worked the best and he was in it most of the time.

You need to try a different formula - soybean? The colic should pass at age 4 months. Whatever you are feeding her is not agreeing with her metabolism.

See you pediatrician, and if that does not help, see a different one.

Pediatricians tell you it's colic because they don't know and they can't stand anxious upset mothers. Seriously. They can't even define "colic," except to call it "crying for no reason." There is a reason, we just don't know what it is. So in your baby's case, you have to play detective. Write down what time she started crying, what happened beforehand (if you can make a connection, maybe it's just a coincidence), what made it stop, and what time. Every single time. For a twenty four hour period, or until you have enough information to show a pattern.

It may be reflux, for example, or it may be constipation. If she's eating like that all day, it could be reflux (because the stomach acid comes back up and it hurts, and sometimes eating makes it better). If it is, it might also help to hold her upright.

My firstborn used to scream like he was being tortured. Everyone shrugged it off as "colic." He had severe reflux, and he also had constipation. We took him (over our pediatrician's objection) to a pediatric gastroenterologist. She prescribed two medications, and putting oat cereal into his formula, and BabyLax (which we hated, but if your baby is screaming and won't poop)...by the time our firstborn was four months old, we gave him baby food pears instead of the BabyLax and it helped just as well. We did all this after he was seen by a gastroenterologist. We didn't just set up a whole bunch of home remedies. But her treatments stopped the crying on a dime.

And in your baby's case it could be something else.

Also, some children are extremely sensitive to sound. Try turning the TV or stereo off. They can't ask you to turn the TV down. If there's loud talking, speak more softly. A lot of little babies don't like a lot of noise. Or extreme temperatures. She may be too hot. Make sure she's not overdressed. She may hate the labels in her clothes. Try cutting the labels out of her clothes and see if it helps. If she cries for "no reason," make sure that there isn't one kid of outfit she prefers over another. A lot of baby clothes are soft on the outside and very rough, even with a stiff scratchy seam, on the inside. You might try dressing her in baby sweat pants and a t-shirt with the label off as an experiment to see if it isn't just that she can't stand the feel of those clothes on her skin.

My personal feeling is that "colic" is pediatrician-ese for "I don't know what it is, so I'll call it 'colic' because if I can't solve your problem in a fifteen-minute visit, you're an annoyance."

If the crying starts to drive you crazy, put baby in her crib where she'll be safe and go out to the next room and read a magazine or take a five-minute shower. Or call someone.

Hang in there!

I just saw a show about this. Most doctors will say that it is colic and there is nothing they or you can do about it but wait until the phase is over. NOT true according to Dr. Sears. When a child cries it's because they need something or are in pain. My guess is that she may not want to eat because she has some sort of reflux or digestive issue that is causing her pain which in turn leaves her hungry as well. Take her to her pediatrician and don't take no for an answer. Don't leave until you know what is causing her to cry. Colic - according to the show I watched, is just a term the doctor uses for "I have no idea why she is crying". Good Luck!!

You are not alone! My daughter is 7 months now, but once she got over being jaundiced, she cried all day and slept at night. We found out that she was gassy from regular formula (switched from breast milk to formula at 6 weeks) so we put her on soy. She also had reflux: we tried 3 different medications before we found that prilosec from a special compounding pharmacy in Warrington worked (the stuff from cvs was awful). we also put rice cereal in her bottle and opened up the nipples. The cereal worked great with the reflux medicine. she was also a very dissatisfied baby that wanted to do everything before she could do it. She is currently sitting, crawling and pulling herself up and is much, much happier. I found that she stopped the crying at 5 months when i had her on cereal in her bottle, the medicine and had her on some solid food. perhpas it was all a coincidence, i don't know but it was hell till that point. try different formulas, the doctors don't always like you doing that, but if it helps i don't see why you shouldn't try a can of something to see if it helps??? I was told to deal with it until she was 4 months which is the average age that it stops! Don't let them do that to you!

Once you have ruled out any medical issues and the doctor's just say "it's colic, they outgrow it" it's time to try something else. Find a good massage therapist who knows or can refer you to someone who specializes in infant massage. They can teach you how to work on your baby, as well, these people work with thousands of babies and parents and know all the tricks. Ask them about craniosacral therapy (CST), gentle massage designed to help their little bodies find balance. These are things that can't hurt your baby, and may just help.

I did the Dr Brown's brand bottles and I also would consider switching the formula. It's trial and error. How's the diapers when the baby has a b/m? My son was constipated 24/7 and gasy. I wish to God I would of did the soy thing and not let his little belly be so sick.
Good luck.
I also would try the sling like someone else mentioned and the exercise ball.
Hang in there. First time mom is hard. You will figure it out and go with your gut feeling.

Try babies magic tea and hope it will work better than other remedies.

My son had colic. It was so hard on my husband and I. He screamed day and night. We couldn't console him at all... I use to just rock him in a rocking chair all day long... Some things that did work were vacumming the room he was in. He would stop sometimes when he would hear it - so I had a very clean carpet for about 6 months. He also liked one of the baby einstein videos, so he watched that quite a bit. Besides that not too much worked. Just try to get someone to watch your daughter, so you can get away and get refreshed. Also, let your Dr. know. They tested our son for multiple things, but he had none of them... Just to rule out that it's nothing medical -allergies, etc... Good luck. It will stop eventually. That was the hardest part of parenthood so far for me - just surviving colic. It's really hard to go through.

you could try http://www.gentlenaturals.com/products/tummy_soother.cfm this was a god send :) I also switched my bottles to Dr Brown bottles. What difference! HTH

My nephew was a colicy mess too! The vibrating bouncy seat was the one of the things that worked with him. He also liked being held with his belly pressing on our forearms (this hard to explain). We'd hold him, belly down along our forearms, head toward the elbow, our hands supporting his diaper area, and sort of bounce him a little- the experts say pressure on the belly makes it better for colicy babies. My sister also switched his formula to Nutranagem (sp?) and he was like a new man after that. Good luck- this colic stuff is sooooooooooooooo hard and we didn't even live with him 24/7! They DO grow out of it!

I have never had first hand experiencd with colic but I have heard that if you sit on a exercise ball and hold the baby close to you while you bounce lightly helps soothe them. Good luck

M.,
My oldest son had Colic and first... I am so sorry. It's the worst feeling to hear your baby cry for eighteen hours out of the day.
Here was our miracle cure... gripe water. It didn't do the trick overnight, but it reduced the fussiness about an hour at a time per day until it was manageable.
http://www.mothernature.com/shop/detail.cfm/sku/56811/rfr...

Hi M.,
My son was also colic he screamed all day and all night what i did that helped was i bought a hot water bottle and i would fill it up with warm water put it on his belly and then wrap him up in a blanket and it helped break up the gas and i also changed his formula there is fromula out there for colic babies it is called nutramagin it is spelled wrong but if you went to the store and looked at the formula you would know what i am talking about i think it is in a blue and white can and boy what a difference that made my son was on 4 different formulas before i tried that one and i should have put him on that right from the start. best of luck
E.

You could try a sling. You wear it and put the baby in it so she is held close and snuggly. They like it if they are curled up like in a fetal position and you kind of sway. Only one of my four had this problem and this seemed to be the only thing that made her feel better. I know how stressful this can be. She is just a baby. She will outgrow this and be into other mischief before you know it. Good luck!

It's hard sometimes with colicky babies. Just make sure to rule out any food allergies. Try white noise (like vacuum or static on the radio/TV). Sometimes singing and rocking (side to side or knee bends) would help or even music with a really heavy bass. Sometimes there is nothing you can do but hold her. She'll still fuss but at least she knows you are there for her. There are also some homeopathic medicines you might be able to give her but I can't quite recall what they are right now.

Good luck.

Y.

We went through the same thing! I would suggest ruling out some things, does she have a milk alligery,acid reflux,gas? It helped us to carry our little girl across your arm facing down with her head tward your elbow. Like a football.The pressure on their bellies helps and if you rub her back it can help get any gas out.Try a warm bath. After she eats keep her upright for awhile, if she is has reflux it will keep her milk from coming up and burning her throat.Also keep her crib on an incline,we just folded a blanket and put it under the mattress at the head of the bed.If nobody seems to want to help, insist on it. There is medication for reflux and trust me your baby will thank you for it.Doctors will say she'll grow out of it. And she will but to keep yourself sane you need all the help you can get. We didn't have any because all our family lives in P.a.Don't feel bad if you get crazy, it's not your falt you will slowly learn what your baby likes and dosn't like. They find ways of telling you. In our case I remember when Mia turn 6 months she was such a different baby. She was grown out of colic and her reflux med. worked wonders. We also had to use an expensive formula for milk sensitivity (nutramigen)that made a huge difference and was worth the cost!She just turned 1 today Feb.1st, and she's great!!!Hang in there I'm sure your doing a wonderful job.

M.,

With her seeming to want to eat, but not, it definitely sounds like she's gassy and uncomfortable. I ABSOLUTELY second the gripe water. It's amazing stuff.

Without knowing what she's eating it's tough to suggest changes to make. If she's nursing, how long is she nursing on one side? Too much fore milk (the first milk that comes) and not enough hind milk can cause gas in babies. I always nursed on one side at each feeding, being sure to keep my babies on that side for at least 15-20 minutes. If they wanted more, it was very easy to tell ... they would wiggle back to the breast. There's lots more to suggest, too.

If she's taking formula, is she eating too much? That can hurt the belly too. A change of formula might be in order. I would absolutely steer clear of traditional Soy formulas or even Enfamil Nutramigen (or any similar formula) if you can help it. After much research when I had to supplement with formula for a brief period of time with my youngest who still nurses I discovered that they both pose major health risks for the babies that eat it.

Soy formula - <http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/infant.html&gt;
<http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/manganese.html&gt;

Nutramigen - <http://www.westonaprice.org/children/msgformula.html&gt;

A commercial formula that I found that works well for MANY infants including ones with some discomfort such as yours is Baby's Only formula - <http://www.naturesone.com/products.php&gt; They make a dairy based and Soy based formula (only one made from whole soy). You can also consider a good Probiotic for infants.

Whatever the case may be, I hope you find a solution that works right for you and your little one. Send me a message if you'd like, I'd be happy to continue the discussion.

Blessings,

Rolinda
Wife, Mother, Friend

My daughter had the same problem. She would cry all day and nothing worked. It turned out to be acid reflux. Her pediatrician put her on zantac and she was a completely different baby. It also helped to keep her upright so she slept in her swing or bouncy seat alot to keep the acid down. At 5 months old she was off the medication since eating solids were helping. Also, since I was nursing I had to cut out juice, caffeine, and stay on a low sodium diet. Also, if on formula changing the type might help. Hope this helps you!

I recommend Baby Bliss Gripe Water since the ginger/fennel amounts are higher than others on the market.

Babies who cannot easily "burp it out" can be very uncomfortable and not able to settle. This product may help. Keep baby upright or with pressure on belly. A little massage just between and slightly lower than chest bone can help release at times. Rotate babies upper body while sitting on lap sometimes helps. Sitting with back leaning forward can help at times. Just keep trying, this too will pass!! Keep yourself calm!

Colic is a disorder that my daughter suffered with twice. Twice being because I found the best stuff.....Gripe Water worked wonders on my colicy little girl, I was breastfeeding at the time. I never had a colicy baby on formula. Are you sure it is colic? A colic attack often occurs at night, and can last up to 4hrs. Baby may draw her knees up to her chest, pass gas and flair her arms about. Her tummy muscles will feel hard. An attack can stop suddenly as it starts. Colic is not harmful to the baby, although it is heart wrenching to hear her cry. Reasearchers have little evendience on the cause of colic, and very little evendience as to why it occurs. Theories suggest:
GERD.
Intolerance of, sensitivity to,cows milk protein in formula or proteins in breast milk.
Fatigue in the infant
Foods mommy eats while breastfeeding.
Discuss the situation with your ped. Slings are great!!!Skin to skin contact wonderful!!!!!Keep her elevated when she is not sleeping.
During attacks the follwing helps...
Offer baby the breast.
Try switching to a different formula if she is on milk based(talk with ped first).
Carry baby, bounce softly on a ball with baby.
Offer pacifer(only if there is no nippel confusion and if you are already offering it).
Place baby across your lap on her belly, and rub her back.
Swaddle baby.
Massage baby's belly.
A crying baby can cause parents to become stresses, so please take care of yourselves as well as your little girl. I would def check into the Gripe Water....it is homeopathic, and has no side effects........

have you talked to your doctor? The are differnt formulas for colic babys as well as music for them too...not sure of the spelling but my daughter had to drink nutramagen it helped.