My Newborn with Colic

I've used most of the Hylands brand kid remedies with good results.
http://www.hylands.com/products/productmain2.php
Good luck, A. H

Ok; I have not tried this myself and I don't know how you feel about old home remedies. My aunt who is VERY into it suggested that I try this out:

1t fennel seed
1pint water
boil then allow to steep while cooling
give 1t to baby

We figured out our deal just before trying this, so if you do try it please let me know how things turn out.
Hope it helps.

I second the Happiest Baby on the Block. Check the library because I know my local library has the book and video/dvd.

Slings helped me. My son screamed for months. I breast fed but then had to switch to formula after I got back to work and had problems. The gentle formula worked wonders.

Swaddling helped and the sling. Sometimes he was overstimulated so I just had to sit in a dark room and do the S's (see book).

Good luck - hang in there and get support if you need it. It can drive you crazy. You are not a bad mom if you have to put him down and walk away.

My oldest was colicky... Hang on for the ride! Get as much help as possible. oh, and don't forget to breath.
My son was taken to doctors, had x-rays etc. and nothing was ever found (after his colic was done at 3 months, he started teething!!) and then when he was older, like after that he started haveing night terrors. He didn't sleep through night until he was way older, I mean like 2 1/2 years old! But that is a long story, he had a long 18 months... but yeah, colic is very very hard. If you are Christian, say your prayers. It won't last forever! God Bless

Westernized countries are the only ones who have children with colic. This is often due to the fact that we feed our children formula and also that we don't wear our babies like other cultures do. There are some children who are extremely touch sensitive, they also feel totally freaked out by being born, and long for the warm tight fitting womb.

I'll post a link from a book that really helped us with our daughter. The key is to be consistent. Its called the Happiest Baby on the Block. Some of his reasoning is a little outside of my belief system, but try his method of calming the baby and you should be on your way. It really works well.

http://www.amazon.com/Happiest-Baby-Block-Crying-Newborn/...

Ok so my son was colicy and so was one of my nephews. This may sound a little strange but we would set him either in his bassinet by the window or crib with the mobile on and music playing. This worked for both my son and my nephew. Not sure why and not sure if it will help with your child! This only helped for a few minutes but it was a much needed few minutes! ALso, get some help, take a break. With someone you can trust because this can be very frustrating. We also had to switch our son to alimentium (sp?). He was on this formula until 3.5 months then we went to soy and now at 9 months just switched to regular formula. Also, for future refrence they say when you give them juice when they were colicy to give them grape or pear juice first not apple because they have more sensitive stomachs and apple is too harsh. For my nephew it also helped to lay him on the floor and take his pants off for a little while. Maybe just finding what your baby likes is the key? Just keep in the back of your mind that many parents say that around 3 or 4 months it is like a light switch and the colic just stops! Hang in there I know it is rough. My son wouldn't even nap when he was colicy so there was no break.

With my now 4.5 yr old, the only thing that helped us was changing to Similac Alimentum. We tried everything else, literally..
Oh and during her crying spells prior, I found that standing next to running water quieted her right down
Hang in there

Hi D.,

Congratulations on your new little boy! One thing that no one else has mentioned is trying Chiropractic care for your baby. I have been working for a Chiropractor for over a year now, and we have had several patients bring in there very young "fussy" or "colicy" babies for treatment. I had never heard of this before, but apparently people who use Chiropractic treatment for total health swear by it for treatment of colic. In all of these cases the babies responded sfter 1 adjustment, and did not need frequent treatment. You might want to ask friends & family to recommend a good Chiropractor in your area(if you don't already have one). Call around and see which ones treat infants, and at what age. I hope this helps. Good luck, try to enjoy your new little one, and remember, that this too shall pass.

S. L

Hi D.,
I'm sure you have some great ideas from the other moms...but I'm just going to throw in my 2cents.

My daughter had colic when she was an infant. Oiy! I so know what you are going through. What we found that worked very well for her was the following:

Swaddling. She liked to be wrapped up tight. One possible reason for colic is the EXTREME change from the nice cozy warm womb to the BIG COLD BRIGHT world outside. Some kids need some extra attention to get them to adjust to that change. Think about it... baby was rocked and cuddled and given food on demand and held 24 hours a day 7 days a week for 40 weeks. Now, even if you hold your baby 1/2 of the time, that still a 50% reduction in their 'cuddle time' !! That's BIG! So, swaddling helped with us.

Also, white noise. My daughter would quiet RIGHT down if I ran the vacuum or the stove fan. Seriously. It was the weirdest thing. My mom was amazed. (particularly since my sister had colic for 5 solid months! She kept saying WHY DIDN'T I try this 22 years ago!!!!) Music may overstimulate. White noise. If we were in the car sometimes a 'static' station would work as well. But she was pretty picky ... not all static was created equal apparently.

Jiggling. I would lay her on my arm, face down, hold her little face in my hand, head slightly down and just jiggle like jello. That helped when she was getting more calmed down to get her to that final quiet stage.

Basically, you're trying to recreate the womb in anyway possible. Give them that familiar feeling they know so well.

In addition, I found a product called 'Colic Calm'. I didn't find that until my daughter was almost 3 months old and I SO wish I would have found it earlier. It worked like a charm! It is a weird colloidal solution that is DARK purple. I would suggest purchasing the pacifier medicine thingy they have. Otherwise, it gets everywhere and stains. It WILL turn their poop purple. No worries. But whatever it does, it does it fast and it works for HOURS and HOURS.

www.coliccalm.com

I tried gripe water, mylicon, everything... it didn't work. Well, the gripe water worked a little...but the colic calm was MARVELOUS! A LIFE SAVER!

The good news is ... eventually my daughter grew out of it all and by 5-6 months everything was fine.

Congratulations on the new baby. I know it can be difficult when you just can't seem to comfort them. Hopefully some of the suggestions work. Keep in mind, every child is different. This one may just be a more high need kid who needs more attention.

Good luck!

D., Congratualations on your new little one! I strongly suggest you check out the Happiest Baby on the Block website and/or purchase the book of same title. Dr. Karp may have just the answer for your "colicy" little guy. As a Happiest Baby certified educator I have seen this work over and over again. Learning how to activate your newborn's calming reflex is invaluable. Best of luck! M. C.

I have been told that Colic simply means - you have a fussy baby with no known explanation for the fussiness. If this is the case with your baby you might want to consider two possible causes:

Several of my friends had babies diagnosed with colic and turns out is was acid reflux. I looked it up on the internet and apparently many Colic Babies are in reality reflux babies. There is no harm in trying a reflux med. If it works, you know that was the problem. If not, it must be something else. One of my friends, though, said the first med. they tried didn't help, but the second med. did.

MY baby was very fussy all the time also, so I started researching reflux and came across dairy allergies (Not lactose intolerance, but an actual allergy to the protein in dairy). That seemed to match his symptoms, and as soon as I eliminated dairy from my diet (I was nursing) he was a changed baby. I reintroduced dairy a month later and he was back to the same fussy baby until I eliminated it again. If you think your baby has a dairy allergy, you could try soy formula and see if his fussiness gets better. In case you are worried about soy - I was too, and my son's pediatrician and gastrointerologist both insisted soy is just as healthy as dairy formula.

Good luck. I hope you can find a solution to his fussiness.

My daughter had colic, and the only thing that would keep her calm and quiet was the sound of the vacuum cleaner. I have heard certain noises help soothe them. Some say the sound of the dryer, others say there are toys you can buy that have "colic friendly" sounds too them - you would have to look on the internet. I hate to tell you but the colic stage lasted months with my daughter. I hope it isn't as bad for you.

D.,

My son was the same way when he was an infant and it lasted for over 9 months. We discovered when he was 3 that he has seven food intolerances, with the possibility of more in the future. The "gentle" formula that our pediatrician suggested to help with his gas was a soy-based formula and our son is extremely intolerant to soy. I have also learned over the years that most pediatricians know very little about food intolerances and how they can affect a person's body.

There is an allergy clinic in Grand Rapids that can test children through a blood test. I don't remember their name, but will email it to you. I have a friend who uses the clinic for her son.

If you have any concerns about the colic diagnosis then you should get a second opinion or do a bit of research yourself. If we had known that our son was intolerant to so many things we could have made his infancy a lot easier on all of us and maybe prevented the other intolerances from developing.

Good luck,

-C..

My youngest had colic too and the DR gave me a script for some gas drops, can't remember the name now but they were in a yellow box. They worked like some sort of miracle!!!!! I would give them to him I think after nursing him and he was a different baby all together. I'm sure if you ask the DR he would be able to find something for you to give to the baby. Mine screamed like crazy every night about 5pm until 10pm I would stand in front of the T.V. and rock back and forth with a warm blanket wrapped around his tummy and as long as I stood and rocked he was fine but sit down or put him down and all you know what broke loose. I don't remember how long this lasted but I do know those gas drops were great after I gave him those I could put him in his swing and he would sleep for that time instead of screaming!

Hey D.,

Sorry I did not read through all the responses, but I too had a baby with colic. It was the worst 6 months of my life. He was on "pre-digested" formula and that didn't even help. We wore out our vacuum using it for white noise. However, my best friends just had a baby that too had colic and they found a product called "Highland Colic Tablets" and it worked miracles. I just saw her again last week and she is quite as a mouse, no signs of having been a colic baby at all!
I hope this helps...and remember it doesn't last forever.

D.,

I have 5 children and my 2nd baby was colicky. I think he cried constantly whenever he was awake until he was around a year old! I feel for you, I really do. I remember the frustration of just wanting some sleep, or to relax in a quiet area.

Some of the things we did were to walk the floor with him, rock him. I know its the wrong time of year for this but he was always much better outside, when the weather got warm we would pull his baby swing right outside in the yard and put him in it and he would sleep, and later we got a Little Tykes outdoor swing and used that.

Sometimes I would hold him tightly to my chest and sit at the foot of the bed (on the bed) and gently bounce up and down on the bed with my feet on the floor, and sometimes that would help.

Sometimes singing would help---sometimes not so much though lol (I am not a very good singer)

We also would put him in the van and just drive around, actually my husband would drive around with him in the middle of the night so I could get some sleep. He would take him out around 10:00 pm and come home around 1 or 2 am. I vividly remember him coming in with the carseat (with the baby in it) setting it down on the floor, and before he could even walk over to the bed, the baby would be crying already! Then it was my turn.

I would put the baby in his carseat and just set the carseat on top of the washing machine while it was agitating or spinning out, or on top of the dryer while it was running, (holding it all the time of course!) and that always seemed to have a soothing effect too.

I nursed my son and eliminated everything from my diet at one point or another. We never could figure out why he was so fussy. We thought maybe he was overstimulated easily, se we even got to the point to limit the TV and Radio playing while he was around. Sometimes even laying him in his crib and just leaving the room, although that was very hard for me to do while he was crying. We tried every pacifier on the market, and also different kinds of diapers thinking that maybe the problem was there. It never made any difference.

Some babies are just fussier than others. We got to the point that it felt like all we could do was try to find ways to comfort him. There were even times I just held him and forced myself to relax (under the theory that babies can sense when we are tensed up and become tense, more agitated and upset themselves) I would sit in my rocker and mentally force my feet to relax, then my legs, then my back, and so on until I was as relaxed as I could be while holding a crying baby. There were also times I just held him until he wore himself out, and went to sleep out of sheer exhaustion.

Don't forget that you need a break from it. If someone offers to walk the floor with him for a little while...LET THEM! When you are constantly with a difficult baby it wears on you and you NEED to get away from it at some point.
Good luck to you and I hope this was helpful. God Bless you.

Well let me just say that my youngest was born with acid reflux. I COULD NOT lay him down. He was in constant pain he would projectile vomit all the time and then I would have to hold him in upright position for at least an hour after each feed. You can imagine how little house work got done and how little sleep we were both getting. Well anyhow the only way I got through this time of trying to nurture my inconsolable baby was one I had some testing because I knew this wasn't just colic(which is what one of the doctors told me in the beginning) but when he started vomiting we knew, I breast fed and spit up just isn't normal with breast fed babies. Anyhow I had testing done and I the one key thing I got that was a life saver was the sling. Not just an infant carrier but the sling. That way the baby can be held right close to your body. The only time i took that sling off was when I took a shower. Or if I had to wash it. Other than that I slept with it on. And that way when I woke in the night for his feeds I would put him in the sling let him eat and then we could both fall asleep and the reflux wouldn't bother him because he was in an upright position. The sling the sling the sling. If your baby is colicy I strongly recommend getting one. They are worth the money. Let me know if you need anything. I know that it can be rough. Good luck...

oh I feel for you, my daughter was colic and I tried everything but its just something they have to grow out of. I was told (and no one can really prove anything cuz they can't really do a study or testing on babies) that its bcuz the bowels and stomach are not acustom to the food and/or texture and they haven't built up the acid layer around them yet so when there little stomachs are making the acid to break down the food and that wall is not built up yet it hurts, probably like getting burned on the inside. They have gas drops you can get at the stores that helps the air bubbles and makes it so the gas isn't as bad but its something that just has to develope on its own. I did find and this might sound crazy that if you lay a running vaccum down next to them or put them on something that is moving or vibrating it helped (my bouncy chair that vibrates was a life saver at times) maybe becuz the acid is not sitting in one place in there stomachs I'm not sure but hey its worth a try to make them feel better. Good luck :)

Have you tried running the vacuume or the dryer if you have a first floor unit? A fish tank with an aierator might help, too. What abouta white noise sound machine? Chances are you might just have to work through it till your little one outgrows the colic but different sounds can help.

Congratulations on your new addition! Good luck - S.

I have heard if you run the vacuum near by or sit the car seat on the dryer and run the dryer, that the colicy kids usually like that and will sleep.

Good Luck hun!

Congratulations on your new baby! The Sears family has some tips and tricks to deal with colic (www.askdrsears.com). This helped me a lot with my now 8 month old. Although it turned out he didn't have colic he had reflux. So don't rule that out, you could also try to eliminate diary from his diet (Soy formula etc) as he could just have trouble with diary. It will be frustrating trying to figure out what does/doesn't work so hang in there!

Take him to a chiropractor that specializes in infants/children. I know it sounds crazy but I finally did it with my now 7 month old and it worked!!! Someone else had told me about it. I took her to see the Andan clinic in Livonia 1st and then he referred me to Dr. Renee at the Van Born Chiropractic in Taylor since that was closer to home. Don't worry-it's not the typical chiropractor where they crack your back for infants. It is a very light finger touch pressure applied. The explanation is that babies get subluxations during the birth process. The nerves in your upper neck/back area control digestions so if they aren't working properly, the result is colic.

I think it's worth a try. Take him and if you don't see a difference, you don't have to go back. Best of Luck!

18 days old is really too early to diagnose colic. Colic generally doesn't develop until at least a month old.

It can take as much as 2wks for dairy and soy to exit the system. (I assume you are using the hypoallergenic formula)

Have you tried swaddling him? (I assume you have but didn't see it mentioned so just in case)

My 2nd was very fussy it wasn't until he was 1.5 that we started getting answers as to why. Hopefully it won't take that long for you.

Oh i cant greatly relate to you too well. My daughter is now a year, but when she was a newborn she had the worst case of colic! SHe would cry for hours at night and there was nothing i could do to comfort her but hold her and bounce on the bed. That was tiring! The ONLY thibng that worked for her was Neutramigen. Its a formula that's hypo-allergenic and it worked wonders! I tried gentle-ease, soy, and nothing worked but that. The soy eased her symptoms a little bit, but didnt help enough to really notice and it made her constipated. The gentle-ease did the same. I would try that. I call that the formula from heaven! I thank god for that formula!

3 words for you.....dr.brown bottles! They are fantastic for children with colic. Also, just keep a close eye out on the formula because that could still be causing some gassy discomfort for your baby. I had a VERY colicky baby and we tried reg. formula..no luck. Then soy formula....no luck but a little bit better...then we tried enfamil nutramigen. It worked like a charm. But also with the dr. brown bottles. they were a godsend.

Hi. My son was also fussy as an infant. There is no "miracle" that you can buy to make it stop. Time is the only thing. Until then the best you can do is try to find what works best for your child and keep them as clam as possible. My son love the "ultimate wrap"--it worked great for around the house and out in public too. Also, get some help--dad, siblings, grandparents, friends. It is easier to handle all the cring when it is a shared experience and you get a break. Plus, other people have good calming ideas that are worth a try. Good luck.

Our son had the same problem. We would put him to sleep at a 30 degree angle and it seemed to work without the meds.

http://www.tuckersling.com/

Try "Gripe Water" it saved our lives!! You may also need to watch for lactose intolerance, or reflux- both contribute to colic. Also try keeping him sitting up more than laying down, My son would wake up as soon as he was horizontal. We still use mylecon(sp?) drops all of the time. After my son grew out of the colic I saw a product that was a warm wrap that went around their tummy- I didn't use it but it looked promising- if you look on-line for colic relief it should pop up. I know it is easy to say but hard to do, but be patient- he will grow out of it! Accept help from others, it is easier to deal with the crying after you have had a break.

One thing that worked absolute wonders was the calming technique in The Happiest Baby on the Block. If you can get a copy of the DVD (there's a book too), you will not be sorry. This was the only way we got our daughter to calm down her first 3 months.

When my son was a newborn, he had reflux. He cried constantly for 18 months straight!! The only thing that worked was that he grew out of it after 18 months. However, you can find temporary relief by using Nestle Good Start formula, mylicon gas drops, and gently rocking him while rubbing his back. I wish you luck. Trust me.....things will get better. :)

Our son had problems with colic. We tried almost every kind of formula that Enfamil made. When we switched to Nestle Good Start, it helped a lot! Just used the regular supreme formula, not the one with any added ingredients. I also second the Dr. Brown's bottles, "Happiest Baby on the Block", sleeping on an angle (though we just put towels under half of his mattress)and Hyland's products. Gripe water also helped, it is at most health food stores. It seemed that different things helped at different times, but switching brands of formula was the most helpful. He also responded well to being held (walked) facing forward leaning over my arm, the pressure on his belly seemed to sooth him. He would even fall asleep that way, just leaning over my arm.

Another thing that helped: while sitting down, put him on your lap facing out. Rub your whole hand from the bottom of his rib cage down, one hand after another. Do this for the count of 15. Then bring his knees up for a count of 15. Then rub his belly clockwise for the count of 15. Bring his knees up again for 15. Repeat whole process. He seemed to like it when I counted out loud.

Hope this helps!

My daughter didn't have colic, but I did, and my mother would tell me that the only thing that would stop me from crying is cradling me on my stomach with one arm and one leg on each side of her arm. It would put pressure on my stomach and make it feel better (for a little while at least) Good Luck!!

go buy some peppermint oil dip a toothpick in the oil the take the toothpick and put it in a bottle with 2 oz of warm water shake well then take out the toothpick and give the bottle to you babay the peppermint oil will help relieve the gas your child should start passing gas out bouth end shortly if you cant find peppermint oil use pepermint candy or candy canes

To treat colic, babies magic tea is the natural solution and it contains no preservatives. I am satisfied with the results for my baby.

Our 1st son had colic from birth until 3 months old. The only things that worked for him was bouncing him in my arms facing outward with forearm pressed against his tummy. I would sit on a big exercise ball and do it. Gooooood luck, it is very frustrating and exhausting but just remember that colic will usually end around 3 months old.

Do you have a front pack baby carrier? My daughter was also very fussy from about 3 weeks until about 9 weeks. She loved it when I would put her in the front pack and dance with her to jazz music. She also really liked stroller rides, so when it was cold we spent a lot of time walking the mall and once it was warmer out she would ride around the neighborhood in her stroller all day. The walking was good for me too:) Keep telling yourself though that this is a phase and he will grow out of it, eventually:)