Colic Help - Belleville,IL

Ok, here are a few solutions. Warm peppermint water. My mom used to tell me to take a peppermint disk, and place in warm water, and so I did and I used 2 oz. warm water and 1 peppermint disk and would give it to my kids. If taht did not work, laying them on their back and raising their legs up and bending them in twoads their stomach a few times would help as it would make the gas move. I have also tried the warm towel, between me and them while holding them, plaece a warm bath towel folded to keep the heat in, between you and them and pat the back. I am a mother of three, ages 10-16, and I keep children from time to time between ages 0-3 yrs and have always had good response from one or the other. Mylicon works wonders as well. I use that as soon as the fussing starts and then go from there. Hope that this has helped...

Hi K.-
My son is 5 weeks old and had a terrible time with gas bubbles from formula. The gas relief drops didn't do anything for us. I found that using a formula with partially broken down whey protein worked wonders. He was a different baby in 2 days! You might try changing formula and see if it helps, I've also been told to keep babies out of the wind (could just be an old wives tale) to prevent colic. Good luck!

I see you have lots of responses, so this may have already been mentioned, but try watching "The Happiest Baby on the Block" video - there's a book, too, but it's faster and easier to imitate the video. Good luck!!!

If you are nursing, try cutting dairy out of your diet or if your baby is formula fed, switch to soy. That was a huge help with my 2nd baby. Though honestly, with my first, there was not much more I could do beyond holding him and crying with him. Nothing helped. Just know that you will get throught it :)

Use some organic tea like babies magic tea to soothe your child from colic.

Hi K. D
My son is now 14month old. The first three month of his life he suffered from colic. Finally, someone requested a chiropractor. I was very hesistate at first and of course I cried with him every time he got adjusted, but after each adjustment he sleeped so good for the rest of that week. This was my last hope and if worked for us. Hope it can help you.
C. B

First and foremost, remember that it will pass and probably pretty soon. My daughter had terrible colic. Even while we were still in the hospital, the nurse would come and take her because she was crying constantly and she thought I needed the rest.

Most of the things I tried worked, but didn't help me much. She wouldn't cry if we took walks in the baby carrier or buggy. Sometimes baths worked. I could sometimes sit with her draped along my forearm on her tummy and pat her back. If she went to sleep, I would try to lean back and snooze, but she wouldn't stay asleep.

Driving in the car worked.

She just stopped at about 5-6 weeks old, so keep your fingers crossed.

Hi! I have to agree with the ones that say consult with a chiropractor. My chiropractor was a life saver for me & was FREE also! That's how you know they were truly caring...I would've paid any dollar amount for the help she gave, though. My son had horrible stomach problems. Unfortunately I didn't consult her as soon as I should have. Nutramigen did work, it is expensive and tastes worse than any normal formula & does keep their stools loose. You can buy canned goat's milk (a third of the cost)& that is really good for people with allergies. I would suggest Poly visol drops for vitamins to be certain they are getting enough. Swaddling,, warm baths, vacuums never helped my son it just made a mess for me to clean up once he calmed (sometimes 8 hours later). If you're careful, you can warm a towel or blanket in the dryer and place under her belly or on if you don't let her on her stomach. You can try swaddling in a swing, but the swing made things worse for my son. Sorry I wasn't more help, but definitely cosult with a chiropractor, if you don't like what they tell you, you're not out anything.

My oldest son had colic as well and I know how frustrating all that crying can be. As my husband and I have looked back at that time and compared him to our other 2 sons we have realized that it wasn't a digestive problem but just his personality.A colicky baby often grows up to be a child with a high strung personality. That being said calming techniques like soft music and dimming light helps more than all the drops, etc. Another thing that really worked well for him was swaddling (wrapping him very tight in a blanket so he couldn't move.)They will cry very hard for about 30 seconds then just give up and fall asleep. Also remember that 6 weeks is the peak for that fussy stage. At 3 months the crying really drops off and by 4 months you will feel like you have a completely different baby.Hang in there!

K.

I took my son in when he was that age and they tried to tell me it was colic. We went back and back and come to find out it was acid reflux. Does your daughter have problems with spitting up alot.? You might check on this if she has problems with spitting up a lot. My son took meds until he was about 6 mo. and is not doing great. He is a very active 16 mo. old. Once we were on the meds for a week life was back to somewhat normal. Let me know what happens.
Good luck.

I used a vibrating bouncy seat. It was a miracle worker for us. She would actually fall asleep in it and i would just put her in her crib strapped into the bouncy seat, vibrating and all! She would sleep for a 4-6 hour stretch. Which for us at the time was like getting a whole nights rest. We went through alot of batteries but it was worth it. It really seemed to sooth her. Hope this helps

My son would cry until we held him very closely (and supported his head, of course) on his side. Then we would jump up and down and high and hard as we could. It worked every time.
Good luck. Let us know what happens!

When my son had it, I switched his formula to a low iron one. They don't make those anymore so I switched my daughter to a soy based formula when she had colic. It helped so much. That's usually the first thing a pediatrician will recomend with a colic baby so I'm sure you have already tried that. If not, it really helped me. Good luck!

Are you breast feeding? If so look at what you're eating. Sometimes eggs or dairy will bother babys. Also make sure you don't over feed. If bottle feeding, 4 oz should be enough, if breast feeding, every 3 hours is good. Try a swing during fussy time or place baby with her back on your stomach and your arms wrapped around her belly and walk her. Some babies have an evening fussy time and this will just take time for her to get over.
D.-mom to 9

Are you breastfeeding? Sometimes what you eat can bother little ones. I thought you might find this site helpful. Dr. Sears is who I go to for questions, and often they have good suggestions. They seem to think that all colic has a reason, a source. Anyway, there are some suggestions that might help here...

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/5/t051300.asp

K.

I recommend reading "The Happiest Baby on the Block". In short, it talks about the 5 S's. Swaddle. Side/Stomach. Swing. Shush. Sucking.

Please allow me to make sense of those words for you ... :) Swaddle the baby, position on her side or stomach, support her head while swinging her gently back and forth, shh, shh, shh (or make some other monotonous sound) her, and give her a finger or a pacifier to suck on. Another idea is to get a "white noise" machine - some are even triggered by noise (a crying baby) and helps to calm them.

If you're not breastfeeding and are still having trouble, you might try switching formulas to a soy or lacto-free, even Nutramagen.

That's all I have for now. These methods worked for me and my girls. My very best wishes, K.. Hope your wee princess feels better soon. :)

J.

Have you seen those heating pad type things that you wrap around their tummy? I never used them but I think it looks like a good idea. And also something else but I'm not sure if you would be up to this. I think I saw it on Good Morning America a long time ago, but they were saying how you can take your infant to a chiropractor for colic. The family on the show said it worked great. I know it sounds a little iffy so I think I would be hesitant about it too. I would defiantly do some research on it. I just don't understand because when their that little thier bones still aren't even totally formed, like thier not hard yet? ya know? I don't know, good luck!

K.,
I know you have a lot of responses to this problem. I never liked, and still don't like, my kids to take any form of medicine so with my daughter I saw a Chiropractor. It worked great and fast. My nephew has also had colic and my sister-in-law is very big on medicine so she have been trying the gas drops from the pharmacy and has taken him to the doctor for an actual prescription. He is finally over it but he - and the parents - suffered through this for 4 months. My daughter did really good after the first Chiropractic treatment and after 4 treatments the first week and a half my daughter was sleeping through the night and we didn't have any problem with her after that. When she did get a little cranky and I was getting nervous about it coming back I just did a little back massage that the doctor showed me to do and she settled down. The Chiropractor worked great and we were sleeping while my sister-in-law was not if that tells you anything.

Good luck, and as several people have told you, you will survive whichever way you choose to treat this.

L.

My daughter had colic for 5 1/2 months. She would be such a happy baby in the mornings and then she would cry everyday from 3:30-8:00 pm. I tried about everything that was recommended 13 years ago and nothing seemed to help so she just had to cry. It was very rough but we made it and after she grew out of it she was a happy baby.

I would hold her belly over my forearm and rub her back from the lower back up to her neck and sometimes this would help her burp so she wouldn't be so miserable.

She hated the swing but think that may have made her feel more like motion sickness.

She didn't like car rides either.

I breastfed her until 5 months and she also had a soy formula bottle 1 or 2 times a day and then was on the soy after I quit b/f.

After she got past the stage someone recommended sitting the baby on top of the dryer while it's going in her carseat. The vibrating motion and noise helped their baby I guess. You want to hold on to the seat though so it doesn't vibrate off the dryer. I didn't know about this so didn't try it to see if it worked.

Those vibrating bouncy seats may work well too. I just had the regular bouncy seat and that helped sometimes.

It is difficult to go through but just remember and keep telling yourself that this will pass and your baby will be happy one day.

You will just have to try different things and see what works for your baby.

I did not hold her all the time although I would try to hold her to see if that would help but if she continued to scream I would put her in her crib or car seat and do whatever I needed to get done like fixing dinner or taking care of my 3 year old and she would just cry. There isn't much you can do and sometimes I would go outside for a few minutes to take a deep breath and get a quiet break from all of the crying.

We did not live near family and were military so hubby was gone to the field a lot so I was on my own dealing with it a lot and when he was home he couldn't take it so he would take our 3 yr old out to the park or somewhere for a while to not have to deal with her crying but at least he was willing to help with giving our 3 year old a break from it too.

try drying ur baby blankets gettin them worm then wrapin her up tight in the warm blankets

You need to make sure it's not reflux. My baby had "colic" too, but after we started him on Axcid (sp?) drops, he felt much better and stopped crying so much. If it is reflux, the condition fixes itself eventually, but the medicine helps comfort the baby until that time.

True colic is absolutely mind boggling to deal with, we did use the symethicone drops with my daughter and "white noise" a vaccuum cleaner. Eventually, we changed the vaccumm to a loud fan(try finding one of those, they all are trying to make quiet ones!! LOL) I would suggest walking up and down the display isle and picking the loudest one they have.

the sling worked well with my son, but not my daughter. So try several things to see what will work for your baby.

I know your request is a few weeks old, but I wanted to tell you that I did the chiropractor for my youngest daughter when she was 6-8weeks old. IT WORKED WONDERS. The minute he touched her (which was barely a touch, just in the right place), she was cooing like I had never seen her before. I can remember thinking at night that I really wanted to give her up because I couldn't take all the crying and trying to figure out how to help her. I wasn't sleeping, it was horrible. We did acid reflux meds, changed formulas many times, gas drops, etc. and the only thing that worked was seeing a chiropractor. I hope things are better for you now. I can honestly say that with my next one I will see a chiropractor soon after birth just to ensure a happier baby

Natural Health Food stores sell Colic Tablets, they are natural... They are made of Sweet Yams and other things. They are inexpensive. However, they contain lactose, so if your child is experiencing these things due to lactose intolerence they won't help.

Also you can sit the baby down and bend them and straighten them (gently of course) and it usually causes them to release some of the pent up gas.

My daughter was thoroughly miserable for the first several months of her life; she was clearly in pain. Switching her (supplemental to breastfeeding) formula eventually eliminated her colic, but it took a few tries before we found the right one. If you've tried this already, switch again -- your doc should be able to provide you with a sample can.

Lying her on her back and gently pushing her bent legs up and in -- so as to help her pass gas -- helped, as well.

She is now 11 and a very laid-back, absolutely delightful child, BTW -- not a glimmer of being high-strung.

Best of luck to you.

Invest in a good sling. Colicky babies do much better when worn. And do all the five S's as well.

I know it is hard to get through the crying. My son, who is are second child, was very colicky for several hours each night, it was like clock work. we tried the gas medication but that did not seem to help. he hated the swing and didn't like to be swaddled. what i did try was bouncing him while supporting his head. I would sit on a birthing ball, or a work out ball, and bounce rapidly and hard. it would quit him down instantly but as soon as i would stop he would start up again. so i would have to bounce him until he would go to sleep. this would only take about 1/2 hour. i also got a small work out. when i was not around my birthing ball to bounce him i would lay him in my arms with my arms stretched out in front of me, my hands supporting his head, and i would move my arms up and down and bounce him. this would work for him too, again i got a work out. this way took less time for him to calm down and fall asleep.

Each babby is diffrent on what they like to help calm them down. so it might take trying several diffrent ideas that everone has shared with you. it can get very frustrating but dont worry there is an end to it. so keep up the good work and you two will get through this rough spot.

J.

is the doctor sure that is colic and not acid reflux? My son had colic and i took him to the doctor and it was acid reflux. We are now on prevacid twice a day and a couple months ago he was also on mylanta. Now we dont do mylanta and he is so much better. Sometimes the gas drops make it worse. I would ask your doctor if it might be acid reflux. Good luck, and she will get better!

Sorry, to hear you & your little one are having a hard time. my daughter had colic until about the 6 week mark. we used milocon drops & a stuffed bear that makes the same sound that the womb makes. i think you can get them at Wal-mart & i'm sure i've seen them at Target. After suffering through the long nights & our daughter getting better, i've heard from other sources that they tried massage therapy & even chiropractic help. Hopefully these are some new avenues you can try to give you & your little one relief. Good Luck!-G. S

A couple things:

Hyland's Colic Tabs - I last found them at a CVS pharmacy.

Chiropractor - Kim Miley ###-###-#### (she's a mom herself and is very gentle and practical)

Baby Wearing - Mom's have been "wearing" their babies for ages, literally. Here are some instructions http://site.peppermint.com/girasolcarry.htm and you can "create" your own wrap from a normal bedsheet to try it out. Closer and more comfortable (in my opinion) than a structured carrier or sling. And you can go back to functioning without your hands free - and your baby happy!

I hope these help you! This too shall pass!

T.

I agree with the other posters on using the 5 S's. I also used infant massage, they offer a class through parents as teachers, you might check into it.

Are you nursing? My daughter was gassy (not true colic), and I was nursing, so it helped for me to figure out what I needed to stop eating to reduce her gas. I ended up cutting all dairy products out of my diet until she was about 7 months old and gradually reintroduced it into my diet. She is now 9 months old and I am still nursing, and it doesn't seem to bother her as bad now. Either her body has adjusted or she since she is eating baby food she gets less breast milk. I hope you can find what works for your daughter, I am sure it is frusterating. Just know there is an end in sight, she will get past it!

what worked for me was to cut out dairy products from my diet for the first few months (breastfeeding) it really helped. something like 70 percent of people dont have the enzymes to digest milk. babies can grow out of it, but its very common.

Hyland's Colic Tablets helped my daughter with colic. They are homeopathic and I think you can get them at Walgreens or order them online. Good luck and just remember that this time will soon pass!

I think there's something called Cholic Water or something like that now that's supposed to really help. My sister in law found it online then found it at her local grocery in Kansas City. It's worth checking out if you haven't already. I wish I'd had it for my youngest. Cholic is no fun, but always keep the light at the end of that tunnel that it will pass someday. There'll be times when it'll seem neverending, but my little one is now almost 4 and I have other "fish to fry" with her now! :-)

Good luck!

HI Carrie,
My daughter Jill was also born on February 23rd, but 23 years ago.
She too was colicy. Her pedeitrition put her on a medication, Donatol that turned her into a zombie, so much so that I took her to the emergency room!
The medication was stopped immeditaly and I learned to deal.
The motion of riding in the car was very soothing to her, many times around the block did wonders for us both.
Putting her in her my front facing baby carrier while I vaccumed also worked, i'm not sure if that didn't just drown out the noise though.
There is no quick fix, just please be patient with her. She will out grow it as fast as it started and you'll forget all about it.
You might also try laying her length wise on her back (head towards knees) on your thighs and slowly, gently pushing her legs inward from the bottom of her feet, which will help expell some of the gas.
C.

First, let me say I have read that most babies outgrow colic by 12 weeks. I am sure that feels like forever right now, but you are half way there. I didn't have colicy babies, so you have may sympathy and know that I am not talking from first hand knowledge. Have you tried wearing your baby in a carrier that would hold her upright? There is a baby wearing group in springfield. PM me and I can get you the contact information. Also, they make wedges for baby to sleep on that might help with acid reflux. Most babies are fussy from 6-8 pm, so you might try feeding right before that time and encourage her to sleep from 6-8 to evoid the crying. My nephew was colicy and screamed from 6-8 everynight for weeks. Best of luck!

My 3rd child was colicky.  He screamed for 8-10 hours a day.  A few things that seemed to work for him was turning him facing away from me in our Baby Bjorn--the extra pressure on his tummy seemed to help.  I was nursing and ended up cutting out all veggies and dairy-that helped a bit.  I also tried some baby massage on his belly-again, that seemed to hel pa bit.  I had so many people suggest the Happiest Baby on the Block book, but as an exhausted mom with a colicky baby, I didn't have any energy left to read:))My best piece of advice is to ask for help!  It's hard, but so necessary to just take a break from the screaming baby.  My mom would come over every afternoon around 4 (I'd had it by then) and just walk the baby and try to occupy the older two while I went for a 20 minute walk-it was amazing how much better I felt when I got back.
Hang in there-by 6 months my son had stopped screaming so much and I finally began to enjoy being a mom to him.

K.-
If it is truly "colic", I strongly recommend chiropractic care. You can find a chiropractor in your area who works with babies at www.icpa4kids.org. The website also has info on how chiropractic can help colic, since most people are unaware that chiropractic is even an option.
If it's gas, gripe water worked really well for my baby girl. Also, when I learned to burp her more often, she stopped spitting up as much & as often.
Baby-wearing and Happiest Baby on The Block are great whether she has colic or not. There are tons of local resources for both. If you would like more info, please send me a message.
Good luck, and congratulations on your baby girl.

Yours in health,
Dr. Alyssa

Hi K.. I am a mother of 4 (1 girl, 3 boys) and when my daughter was born she was very colicy. I would place a hairdryer on a towel on the bathroom counter and turn it on while i held her. She would stop almost immediately. I also would lay her on the clothes-dryer (while it was on) on a blanket and stand there with my arms on either side of her to protect her from falling. The other thing we used was a cd of an acapella group (a group that uses no instruments but uses their voices to sound like they do while they are singing - awesome!). She loved it; stopped her crying immediately. Hope this helps!

My son had colic and the only thing that I found that would calm him down was if I held him and bounced on an exercise ball. I also tried putting a peppermint in a warm bottle of water so the peppermint would dissolve, this sometimes helped but the exercise ball worked every time.

Check out Dr. Karp's "Happiest Baby on the Block" book or dVD if you haven't already. It really helped us through the first 3-4 months.

My son had gas issues too. The only thing that worked for us was to take a small blanket (fold it like in 3's) and wrap it snug around his belly. Hold him to you (again very snug) and the warms from your belly against his will help relieve the gas. Of course use along with the gas drops. Sounds kinda goofy, but it was the only thing that worked. Good luck!!

If your daughter has responded well to swaddling, I would recommend you do that. Make sure you look up the proper way and have a really good swaddling blanket. I've found that doing this in addition to having "white noise" or "shushing" loudly in their ears while rocking or swaying them calms them down immediately. No matter what you do, put her down if you feel yourself getting too overwhelmed or tense because she will sense it and get worse...and that will prevent you from snapping. Good luck!

Have you tried gripe water? I've heard a lot of people have more success with the gripe water than the drops. I don't really think the drops do much.

If it's real colic and not just gas, there's not much you can do. :( Sorry. The good news is that it doesn't last forever, she should outgrow it in a few months. Hang in there!

Hi K.,

They said my daughter had colic too. All that is to them is a term when a baby cries alot... for each baby it can be something different but she's crying for a reason. For my oldest I was nursing her and she had a intolerance to wheat. I found out from the Le Leache League a list of food to eliminate and wheat was the first on my list and she was a TOTALLY different baby after the wheat got out of my system. I know it was wheat because if I had something by mistake with even just a tiny about of wheat or gluten she'd go back to that same screaming crying baby. I like you asked the Dr etc and got the same type of response. If you're nursing get ahold of LLL you can do a search to find the closest one. If you're not nursing I'm not sure what else to do I was told by the nurse that bottlefed babies can be worse that breastfed babies on this issue and I can't imagine being any worse cause my daughter screamed in pain for 14-16 hours a day for 4 months before I finally got the info from the LLL. The Dr agreed she was in pain & sent her for all kinds of tests but eventually just said it was colic. So I hate that term due to what my daughter & I suffered thru.... I wish I'd have known sooner & I hope your nursing so this info might help both you & your daughter!

L.

We used Baby bliss GRIPE WATER... i think we there are a couple different brands out right now. It is all natural suposedly soothes their tummies. Wow... it worked like a dream with my son.... we called it the miracle water!

When my 4 yr. old was 2 1/2 months old, she was constantly fussy, and always throwing up her formula. We always made sure she was burped, and we tried the Mylicon drops both before she ate or after she ate. They never worked. Finally I asked her pediatrician about GERD (Gastro Esophical Reflux Disease). Pretty much its Acid Reflux in babies. They do a simple test (xray). The hardest part is convincing the ped. to do it. You go to the hospital first thing in the morning (because they can't eat anything until after the test), they give them a bottle with the white chalky tasting stuff in it. Then the technicians lay the child on a table with an xray machine over them. At that point they pretty much just watch to see if the formula comes back up (not vomiting, just back into the throat). My daughters came back up immediately. The procedure is completely harmless to the child. My daughter didn't even cry and she sucked the bottle they gave her down like it was her own formula. They only need to drink a little bit of it. By the time I got home from the hospital the dr's office was on the phone wanting the pharmacy phone number so they could call her in a prescription of Zantac. She took that for about 4 months. She was fine after that.

Not to say that's what wrong, but maybe google it for yourself and check out the symptoms. Good Luck to you.

My son didn't suffer from colic, but a lot of my friends have had colicky babies. My best recommendation would be to seek out an Osteopathic physician who utilizes manipulative medicine. Osteopaths (D.O.s) are fully licensed physicians who can practice any type of medicine. They get additional training in the musculoskeletal system, and that training can come in handy in situations like this. You can look in your yellow pages under physicians, and D.O.s are typically listed under a sub category. You can call and ask if they use manipulative medicine. Although all are trained to do so, not all keep up with that in their practice. My friends who have used DOs for colic found great results. Best of luck!

Time is the only thing that helped with mine. My daughter was colic ridden for about the first month or two. She's now 3 and an amazing child.

My son, had tons of problems, but was about as colicy as they come.

Have you watched the Happiest Baby On The Block DVD? As my husband and I were watching the DVD, I started donig some of what they were talking about....5 -S's. Swaddle, sway, swing, shhhhh,sucking???? I don't remember them, but as I'm doing them my son started calming down immediately. My husband and I both started crying because it worked so quickly. He was asleep in seconds.

There is a book...but the DVD is more helpful.

Congratulations on the new baby~

Sometimes you just have to wait it out. But the one thing I loved was the exercise ball. It was good exercise for me and calmed my children. You just sit and bounce up and down on the ball, I also hummed or sang a song to them. Don't forget to tighten your tummy and keep good posture.
Remember, if something doesn't work the first time, keep trying it. She will come to expect it and after several tries of the same technique, it can calm her down. Just be calm and patient and if you can't take it lay her down in her bed, close the door and sit for ten minutes and calm down. It will not hurt her, if anything she will have a stong voice later on. It is good for them to cry out some of their energy and tension.
good luck.

You have a lot of responses, but I still wanted to put my 2 cents in. My daughter was born on the 18 of Feb. and is colicy. We are using formula, I always warm it and that has helped a lot in the evening to calm her. Plus I have kept to a routine no matter what. If we go out we get home on later than 8:30pm so we can feed her at 9. We change her diaper, swaddle her, turn off the lights in the room (with a nightlight on throughout the night) and then feed her. We rock and "shhhhhhh" a ton. Passies are wonderful. Plus we keep her up on our shoulder after every feeding at least 10 min to let the formula stay in her tummy. This has helped a lot with spit up and she cries less in the evening. I wish I could tell you more, it's all trial and error. Just love on her and let her know you are there.

my daugther Elizabeth, who is now 16, had colic for four months. We too gave her the drops but I really don't think they did much good. After she could hold her head we started carring her on her side and stomach with a hand on her stomach, the pressure on her stomach seemed to relieve some of the pain. Also, this is going to sound ridiculous but it really did work. The vaccum. Whenever the vaccum was on she was quiet. We wore ours out so then we made a tape of it and took it everywhere with us. The white noise seems to calm babies down. I'ts better than listening to you baby crying. Hang in there it will stop. G.

Just hang in there!!!!

The best thing that I've ever found, and everyone I've recommended it to will agree; is to take a four ouce bottle, and put a couple table spoons of Jello powder into it. (I always found that they like peach the best) Then fill it up with realy warm (almost hot) water. Let it cool till it's "formula warm", and give that to the baby everyother bottle. If you're breast feeding you can still rotate the Jello everyother feeding, or Just instead of the bottle of water you should be giving her to rinse her mouth out. Don't worry that she'll not be getting enough milk because the Jello's just as good for her as the milk. It should help to fill in those air bubbles, fill, and calm the tummy.

I come from a VERY colicy family, We all had it and even acid reflux in some of us. Colic CAN last for several years in some kids, against many people's belief.
Several things that we have found to work:

1. Bounce your baby (while holding them) on an excerice ball from Walmart or Target. A rocking chair did not work for my youngset son, we bounced for months but he was happy and he felt much better, good for mommy's stomach muscles:o)

2. Colostrum - you can get it at the health food store, if you can use a bottle at least once a day, mix the powder in with the milk and have your baby drink it. This can do wonders. After my brother was on all kinds of meds from his doc and got no relief for his acid reflux, this took care of it!

3. Chiropractic care - this is what helped me! I had horrible colic till I learned how to walk but I continued till adulthood with stomach problems, I started going to see Dr. Clarke and he has given me and my children SO much relief!! I highly recomend this!

We have done alot of other things but these 3 were what gave us the best results!!

You get the point of feeling so helpless for your child, I have been there and there is hope! Good Luck! Please feel free to ask any questions, ways to hold your baby or anything you might want to know that I have not added in this email.

My Chiropractor:
I started taking my baby when he was 3 days old, Dr.Clarke is very good with babies and toddlers!

Dr. Fred Clarke
13849 S Mur-Len Rd. Ste. E
Olathe, KS 66062
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Hi K.!

Try taking her to a chiropractor! I work for an amazing chiropractor that sees dozens of babies and children. I've personally seen him help many babies with colic and with in a few days they are much better. He's VERY gentle with the babies and most of them actually love it. If you want more info you can email me at ____@____.com or call me at our office: ###-###-####. I'm not sure where you live, but if you are not near us we can try and find someone who is! We are in Collinsville, IL. Good luck!

H.

My first daughter was colicy (sp?) also. A few things worked for me from time to time but it was usually something different every time. Try gripe water, also a book Itsy Bitsy Yoga has some great moves to help relieve some of their discomfort. Usually wearing her in a sling helped and gave me some relief at the same time. Hang in there and know that you are doing a great job, it is so hard to remember that when they cry so much. My daughter was colicy until she was 5 months old then it was light a switch was flipped and she was the happiest baby ever!!! Good luck to you and I hope you find something that will help!!!

I had a friend whose daughter had colic and she bought a white noise CD off the internet. It was the sounds of the vaccuum running. That helped her daughter. It might be worth a try?!?

There is a prescription for this. Our son had severe colic and in order to get the Rx we had to have an x-ray of his stomach to prove that he in fact had colic by showing all the gas in his stomach. By the time we did this we had suffered for 3 months and within 48 hours the colic was gone and he FINALLY slept all through the night. Wish I knew the name of that but I don't, just know it is out there!!!

The other day when I went to the children's section in the pharmacy, I just happen to see something for colic -you may want to check to see - I think it's something new out - I never had seen it before.

I can't claim that my son had colic, but he did have issues with gas every evening. I'm pretty sure that I had an overabundance of milk, which means my let-down was very fast. For a young baby, my let-down was probably too fast, which means he would swallow a lot of air as he tried to gulp the milk. I followed the suggestions that I found online on articles such as http://www.breastfeed-essentials.com/toomuchmilk.html. I don't know if this would help at all, but it is always nice being more educated about how our bodies work.

Our son had colic from about 6-12 weeks and cried about one to two hours every evening. Aside from giving him gas drops before each feeding, we would walk him around our dining room table in circles. For an hour or more. *sigh*

That was the only thing we found that helped him. I think he enjoyed seeing the dining room light maybe. But it did help! The closeness of being held and the bouncing while we were walking were part of it too, I'm sure.

Good luck! I hope this helps some!

Hi K.,

My son was colicky until about 4 months and also suffered (slill does) with reflux. We tried most everything people have listed. Things that stuck out as working follow.

We often had to hold him on his side with his arms restrained positioned very snug and close to us while patting his back to get him to settle down.

To sleep, we tightly wrapped him (swaddled and with a velcro closure wrap around that) every night until about 4 months and then phased from that to a sleep sack over his pajamas.

Sometimes, gas drops or gripe water helped - once he began teething, teething tablets help, but we did not find colic tablets while he was colicky - I would have definitely tried them.

Otherwise, I think the rest was due to his reflux. He would get very upset when he was wet from spit up and he spit up often, so we had to change him often - kept him upright after feeding, used wedge at night, etc.

Once he was able to turn himself over from back to belly and vice versa, he always switched over to his belly to sleep - this may be reflux related also - but we really could not decipher differences between reflux and colic remedies with ours.

Hope this was helpful.
B. (mother to Brendan and Elise - 8 months old yesterday)

My second child also had some colic issues, but his were truly stomach related. He didn't spit up much, but did have an upset stomach most of the time with regular and soy formulas. We could tell because he would act as if he was hungry, but when you went to feed him, he would only eat an ounce or so, then start crying and arching his back like he needed to burp but he really didn't have to (very frustrating). My doctor ended up recommending Nutramegen(sp?) formula and a prescription acid reducing medication. Things steadily improved after this point and by six months old, we were able to go back to a less expensive soy formula and also eventually stopped the acid reducing medication. The nutramegen is very expensive and tended to keep his stools looser all the time, but it was well worth it. We didn't have to watch him continue to struggle through feedings and cry for long periods of time anymore. Good luck to you and your little one!

i took my baby to the chiropractor. i know that sounds crazy, but i was ready to pluck my eyelashes out! he had me hold her against my chest,like i would anyway.hepushed on her back, ever so gently and wow! i couldn't believe my eyes(or ears) i was very nervous, the the dr. is a dear person, laet me know he wouldn't hurt her. baby was three weeks old when i took her in.he is in the olathe area, if you'd like his info,email me. good luck,meg.

I see several posts about "The Happiest Baby on the Block". It saved my sanity. It really works. My cousin and her husband took a class at St John's Hospital for this book. Colic is hard to deal with so take care of yourself so you don't get too frustrated or exhausted. Ask for help from your support system to get a break. Good luck and remember she will outgrow it soon. My baby peaked the worst of it at 6 weeeks and it got better until she was 3 months then it went away.

Good Morning K.
At the health food store there is a
brand called Hyland's they are little tablets
that dissolve in their mouth you can ask someone
at the health food store and they could tell you
which one it is also Hyland's has a teething tablets
which is great . A friend of mine heats a wash dry
wash cloth in the microwave for 20 second and puts
it on here little girls tummy with a blanket on top
to keep the warmth in. Also my mom sell baby warmers
that work great for colic babies if you want more
information my e-mail is ____@____.com
and I will give you here phone number.
Have a great day B. K.

There are certain positions that you can hold the baby and places to rub, but I think if you visited a Chiropractor, they could show you in person. It relieves the pain and can avoid causing too much gas.

Hey, K.,

I understand about a colicky baby. My daughter was VERY colicky. So we tried all these, and they actually helped to throw her rythmn off from the crying. We tried running a vaccuum or hair dryer when she started crying. She liked the humming noise, so she would stop.

We also tried putting her in the swing. She could swing for hours, because she would fall asleep. We just had to keep cranking the swing up. :))

The dr gave us Phenobarbital for the colic, but it made her sleep 12 hrs a whoop, so we tried the above.

Hope these help!

Bev

Hi K.! Bless your heart, you must be a mess with being sleep deprived. My suggestion - and it's not a cure (nothing really is), is Gripe Water. You can find it on the shelf in Whole Foods or online, (I think that Walgreen's carries it now) or at just about any health food store. It comes originally from England and I SWEAR BY IT!!! It's helped many a sleepless night for my youngest son. He was the ONLY colicky baby out of five. Usually the small bottle of Gripe Water is about 4-8oz and costs anywhere from $7 TO $12 (WELL WORTH IT). My pediatrician said it was "harmless...give it a try". Sometimes I would give a second dose, if the first didn't do the trick. Most often, it would help. Sometimes though, you just have to push through the episode. Blessings, R.

Dr. Scharengberg!!!! Here in Wichita!! I swear by him! He is a chiropractor/PA. He treats babies WITHOUT "cracking" them FREE OF CHARGE!! I didn't know of him in time for him to treat my son for colic, but he cured his acid reflux in about one month. We were facing a pediatric GI specialist...but Dr. S helped my poor baby Aidan before we had to get too invasive with treatment or long term meds. I went through bottles and bottles of gas drops, expensive formulas, you name it and Dr. S blessed us with the best treatment and none the less- for free! I always felt like my Ped. had the attitude "babies cry" "he'll out grow it" "you're an over reactive mother". Dr. S. spent 1 hour just talking to me on the first visit! Email me if you have questions and I'd be glad to visit more with you about it! ____@____.com
(fyi he uses a massage technique...it's free if he adjusts the spine there is a charge)

Read the Happiest Baby on the Block. It saved me!

Wow, K., you've had tons of responses...obviously you are NOT
alone!!! : ) My first baby had long crying (screaming) episodes for the first 3-4 months. Every evening around 7 PM she would start in and scream until midnight or after. WAY back then, (she's actually 2 years older than you) I didn't know about any medicines available. I was a voracious reader though and the best thing I read was this: SOME BABIES ARE NOT PHYSICALLY ACTIVE ENOUGH TO USE UP THEIR ENERGY AND THEY CRY TO RELEASE IT. My daughter was much slower in her gross motor skills than any of my other children (8 in all). I always joke with her that if she hadn't been the first, I would have been worried that she was developmentally delayed!! However, as is often the case, she later excelled in language and all things verbal. She was also a VERY visual child, so trying to swaddle and hold her close and put her on her tummy just made things worse for her. The afore mentioned little gem of information gave me comfort that I was NOT a terrible mother, and that she WOULD someday develop enough gross motor skills to wear herself out without crying. As it turned out, she was never much of a sleeper. Even after the screaming episodes stopped, she seldom napped longer than 45 minutes or slept through the night longer than 6-8 hours. Just wanted you to know, sometimes colic-like crying really has nothing to do with the digestive system. If your baby only cries in the evening/night, it may be that she has too much energy to burn. If she is visually oriented, some of the "methods" that have worked for others, may only serve to frustrate her more. Hang in there, it really will be a short time before she is cooing and laughing and sitting up and reaching for things and continuing her capture of your hearts WITHOUT extended periods of crying!!

First of all be sure to give yourself time away. There are "Colic tablets" in the natural food section of the grocery store and Natural health food stores carry them as well. I have heard chamomile tea works and also peppermint oil mixed with water. Just a little bit of the oil diluted with water. Not sure the exact proportions. I didn't know about these when we were going through this. My son, now 7, had what they called colic but actually turned out to be reflux. He cried all the time, would sleep for 20 minutes at a time, and throw up half of formula. We tried everything, changing formulas, I don't know how many times. We would turn on the vacuum and just let it run and he would quit crying, but the vacuum running drove everybody else crazy. This went on for 6 mos. and I took him to another pediatrician who prescribed Zantac. After taking that he was able to sleep for 8 hours! It really helped during the day. He was a different kid!
The Zantac allowed his body to heal but after about 2 months his body became accostomed to it and started producing more acid. A pharmacist friend suggested Choco-Base which is a powder, that has Prevaid in it and you mix it with water. It is a prescription. Worked great! We also used Dr. Brown's bottles which seemed to help.

Best of luck!

K. -

My son had TERRIBLE colic too. Most of the time you just have to wait it out, however what did worked! First we switched him to a soy formula (if nursing, start a food diary and make note of how she responds to what you eat). That worked for a while. The Milacon did NOTHING for him, but one of my friends (mother of 5) told me to give him Mylanta. It needs to be the normal original Mylanta...only Mylanta brand. Just give her about 1/2 tsp and see if that works. It worked for us. It's the only thing that relieved his gas. Unfortunately, colic is not easily solved and they just have to grow out of it. Some children end at 3 months, some at 5 or 6. Ours ended at 6 months. THERE IS HOPE. :)

Hope this helps...K.

Hi K., my name is Elizabeth Ann & my bd is 2/17, so I feel compelled to say hi! I have 3 boys and each had their bout of colic. Dr's confirmed nothing else was going on and they were all healthy. Each one handled remedies differently. I got little naps when my 3rd son would sleep in the bathroom with the vent fan running and he was in a secured bouncy chair. My first son needed a drive or a vacuum. He was also small and so I carried him in a front-pack, his tummy against mine and he was upright. My middle son was the worst, he cried continuously, and I do think there were underlying issues, but he really liked the outside / night air. Calming, quiet, rhythmic sounds and activites always seemed to help. Good luck.

I too had a colic baby and nothing worked. Last year my cousin had twin boys...both colic. They took them to a chiropractor who did a minor adjustment on each. It worked. It is worth a shot to at least look into.

Hang in there. I know how hard it is. Just say a lot of prayers and be thankful that she is healthy enough to cry. It does end eventually. Good luck!

Are you sure it is colic? We were told the same thing but by evening my son would be sreaming and crying uncontrollably for hours at a time. We persisted and found that he actually had acid reflux. My son started these systems by week 4. We found a remedy that worked with the dr.'s help. This may not be the case for your situation but thought it may be somrthing to think about. Good luck.

Hello K.,

It's been a very long time (our daughte is now 21) but she had colic very bad. What formula is she on or are you breast feeding? We had to put Kelly on soy based formula which helped some and then the only thing that would calm her was motion. I know that sounds crazy, but we would put her in her seat on top of the dryer and run the dryer. The vibration seemed to calm her. We also took her for lots of car rides to get her to sleep. I'll pray for you - I know it's tough....

S.

Be careful!! Make sure it is not acid reflux. I thought my little guy had colic and tried every trick in the book...and then some! For 7 1/2 months my baby would scream, puke, and scream. Very little sleep for him or me. We finally discovered it was acid reflux. We put him on zantac for infants and the first dose made a complete turn around for him. We had him on zantac until he was 1 yr old and he is doing fine now.

Best Wishes,

J. H.

the vaccumm cleaner worked for me, the sound and the vibration was soothing to my son.

I didn't take the time to read all of the other responses, so sorry if this is a duplicate, but I'll keep it simple.

Get a good swaddling blanket (cotton knit that stretches so you can wrap her up tight) and buy the book "Happiest Baby on The Block" by Dr. Karp. Skip straight to the section on "The Calming Reflex" and the "5 S's." My son didn't have full blown colic, but these 5 tricks worked EVERY TIME to calm him & quiet him. At 6 months old, we still use them when he gets upset & he still sleeps swaddled up.

Best of Luck!

When you say colic, do you mean crying every evening that is really hard to console, or do you mean lots of spitting up throughout the day, difficulty sleeping/staying asleep, a funny swallowing noise about 1.5 hours after they have eaten, shrill crying(baby is really upset and most likely is in pain)? The later list of symptoms are various symptoms of Gastroesophageal Reflux disease. They may have some combination of these symptoms or all (for your sake, I hope not!). I have 4 children, the oldest is 7 and all four have had this problem. It is caused by under-development of the flap that closes the top of their stomach which then allows stomach acid to go up into their esophagus which is very painful. It can also cause some major spitting up, both in volume and frequency.
My kids were put on Zantac almost from birth which really helped! Another strategy is to keep them more upright, like putting one end of their crib up on blocks or something under the mattress to raise it. My youngest slept in a vibrating bouncy seat for daytime naps until he was about 5 months old. Then, the sphincter (flap) had developed normally, and we were able to let him sleep in bed. My two youngest kids slept on their tummies which I know is against what your doctor will tell you. We made the decision to try it, and for some reason, it really helped their tummies.

This is a condition that is really tough on moms and kiddos, but you don't have to just suffer through. Medications do really help and some strategies for keeping things down in the tummy really helped us as well. Hope it helps. Do some of your own research on the topic, too. It is also called GERD.