Colic - Henderson,NV

My son also had colic...things that somewhat worked for me.

Probiotics (powder form) you can mix it into the bottle or if breast feeding I was told to put a little on my nipple before a feeding.
Swaddling helped a lot, I know it's summer but if I swaddled him and bounced him up and down it seemed to soothe him.
A pacifier was a life saver .
Patting his butt pretty hard (not too hard) but my son loved that, it would calm him down and seemed to soothe him.
Making a ssshhhing sound, like ssshhh, ssshhh over and over he also liked.

Read "The Happiest Baby on the block", very helpful soothing methods.

I feel for you!! I remember those days! I used to have this mesh baby seat for the bathtub that was kind of looked like one of those baby bouncer seats. I would fill up the tub with warm water and lay my kids in that seat and then I would put warm washcloths over their bellies. They really seemed to love that. I guess they felt like they were floating and so comfy in the warm water, almost like back in mommy's belly. Also, I would put on music and dance around the living room with my daughter. I would really bounce around, not enough to harm her head and neck, but she did not like it when i would gently sway, I really had to dance. My son was soothed by rap music!! Good luck, just remember it will end!!

The thing that helped with our DS's incessant crying was sleep training. I think that the sleep training was really ancillary, what sleep training really did was to keep us from feeding him too often. I was feeding "on demand." Not all cries are cries of hunger. I suspect, but I could be wrong, that we were feeding too often. Consequently, he was never terribly hungry (no hind milk), never full enough to sleep well but too full and too gassy to properly digest. Wash, rinse repeat, and you can see why baby would be distressed. If you are feeding as often as less than 2 hours, try playing pass the baby for a bit, where someone else takes a turn with baby for 10-15 minutes. That way you can extend the time between feedings and have a healthier feed and a more comfortable child.

good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

Hi,

I hate to tell you this because I know how frustrating it can be, but ultimately, with colic they must outgrow it. Yes, all of those things can help temporarily, but nothing will fix it except for time.

Our son had colic too and it was the most agonizing time for all of us. He didn't sleep for more than 15-20 minutes at a time. We had this cool little vibrating chair and it was the only thing that he would sleep in. Unfortunately, it would only stay on for 10 minutes at a time. So, I set it up on my bed, put my hand on the little on button and every 10 minutes throughout the night, I would press the button. If I didn't wake up, he did, and as soon as that button was pushed he'd go back out. The other only thing that helped was him sleeping on his tummy. Obviously, a no go these days. So, during the day, I would sit and watch him while he took a little nap on his tummy. Lucky for us, he had great neck control by the time he was 4 months old and the doctor said he'd be safe sleeping on his tummy so long as we made sure not to have anything else in the crib - no blankets, no pillows, no bumbers, nothing. We would put him in a full zip up little outfit for easy changes, but it kept him warm and we were finally able to sleep for a few hours a night.

We also used the bottles that are supposed to help with colic or bubbles in the tummy. Definitely kept gripe water on hand. Vibration and/or swinging sometimes helps a baby with colic. Ultimately though, only time will cure her. At about 6 months, you should start to see improvement.

I know how frustrating and tired you must feel. It is one of the many reasons we decided to not have more children (there are other very valid reasons as well, but that colic, no sleeping for 6 months was a doozy).

Best of luck,
S.

How about garlic? When I nursed my son, it took me a while to realize that any time I ate garlic, he got super-fussy and almost nothing would calm him. My 2nd daughter was the same. Just a thought. Good luck!

There is a great product called "Colic Calm" that seamed to help my 2nd little one. It is sold on Amazon. Also, ask the Dr. about acid reflux. My 1st child had silent reflux and never spit up. She weaned herself at 3 months because the side lying nursing position was so uncomfortable for her, but she had no problem taking a bottle. Then I KNEW there was a problem. The Dr. put her on liquid zantac.

You have my sympathy! My daughter and granddaughter had colic, and I was the only one who could deal with them.

Truthfully, I tried everything, too, and the only things that helped somewhat were wearing them in a sling and having them close to me as I went about my business, or going for a drive which seemed to relax them.

The one encouraging thing I can say is that colic doesn't last forever, hang in there and get your rest when she's sleeping.

You are doing everything right. With us, it was just a constant "change of scenery" and distraction. Lots of walks and fresh air - maybe that's more for parents ;) No one thing ever seemed to last more than a few mins so don't feel bad. Nothing I did diet-wise seemed to make a difference except for avoiding really bad trigger foods like pizza, spicey stuff etc. Just know that it DOES end when the say it does and that you all will be a lot happier soon. Hugs.

I don't have any remedies - with our colicky baby, she cried for 5 hours every evening for a month. We didn't figure out anything was really the matter - she was healthy, growing, otherwise slept pretty well, just cried every evening. And because it was in the evening, of course it coincided with the end of the day - everyone tired, trying to get dinner on the table and our older son to bed, and just hectic, WITH INCESSANT CRYING IN THE BACKGROUND! But eventually, she stopped at about 3 months old.

I wanted to stress the importance of having support! Enlist your husband, close friends, grandparents, ANYONE, to be able to get 2 hours away from the baby. Get a nap, take a walk, get a massage, take care of yourself. If there isn't someone who can take the baby, DO invest in some ear plugs, give yourself moments to take a break, even if the baby is crying in another part of the house. There were times when I'd put the baby safely in her swing on the other side of the house, put ear plugs in, go take a shower, regroup, and go get baby. Those 20 minutes saved me from my own meltdowns!

Wish I had a quick fix, but wanted to offer some sympathy and support!

J., my son had really awful colic for several months of his life. I recently learned that colic is a digestive issue and usually indicates low beneficial bacteria in the intestinal tract. When I started our son on probiotics his colic went away completely within two days of starting. He also started sleeping better, had better formed stools, and was an all around happier baby. Probiotics worked wonders on our little guy!!

Is she colicky only in the evenings, or all day? If it's all day - there is probably an underlying issue that you should talk to the pediatrician about. Research has showed that the majority of colicky babies 30 years ago probably had reflux. If it's just in the evenings, carry her in a sling while you take a long walk, set her in her car seat on the top of the dryer and turn it on. The vibrations might help (and the crying will seem less loud while the dryer is on). Good luck.

The three most common allergens are dairy (which you've tried cutting), nuts, and eggs. So you might try eliminating all of those before you give up on your diet.

Also talk to your doctor about reflux to make sure she doesn't have it.

Do you do the 5 S's for colic - I don't remember all of them, but some are swaddle, sway, "Shhh", etc. If you google it, you can find it.

Those are all my ideas, sorry I don't have more.

Oh I'm so sorry. Hang in there. My youngest was the worst. I didn't think she'd ever stop crying and my pediatricians response to me was "baby's cry". She wasn't a happy baby until I put her on formula and food at 6 months so I suspect she wasn't getting enough to eat from exclusive nursing or something in my diet wasn't agreeing with her. Keep dairy, nuts and eggs out of your diet for atleast 3 weeks to see if there is a change in her. That's how long it takes to clear it from your system. I used a Moby wrap a lot and the carseat. I used to drive her and my son around for 2 hours a day so they would both nap at the same time in the car and it would be QUIET. If nothing else, hire a sitter for a few hours a week or have a family member who can handle the crying help out so you don't burn out!