Help with Colic

My son had it for about 7 or 8 weeks, only way I could calm him down was music. I played REO Speedwagon & it seemed to calm him down. to this day he loves to fall asleep to it. (I took him to a concert when I was about 5 mos preg. with him though so think that's something to do with it.)

put a peppermint candis in warm water in him bottle. this will settle his stomach. Just put it in warm water and let it melt. you dont have to let the whole thing melt just some of it. and give it to him in her bottle. peppermint is also good for car sickness or motion sickness. I used to have them in the car. My son when he was small always got car sick and that helped. It will also help with the colic. good luck. K.

Have you tried Mylicon? It was a life saver to me as well as a swing that can change from the front to back motion to the side to side.

Looks like you have your hands full with 2 children so close. Colic is hard, you may want to ask your doctor-many times thye reason can be gas. I'm not sure if you bottle feed or nurse, but if you bottle feed, you may look at changing bottles to ones that promote less gas. In addition, gas drops can help sometimes too. However; remember the colic does end.

When my daughter had it. I switched her formula to Enfamil Nutramigin, or Similac has a similar type as well called Allaium or something like that..It did seem to help some & her colic went away around 6 months or so...Good luck..

read this book : the happiest baby on the block. excellent, wonderful, my favorite baby book of all time!!!!!! i recomend it to all moms. i think there are dvds as well and a website too. just search by the name of the book. the author is wonderful and has been on oprah before. we followed all of the 5 s's and collic never was a major problem for us! good luck

Are you sure that it is colic or does he have acid reflux? My son was very colicy and he has really bad acid reflux. Some babies have silent reflux which is hard to diagnose. If he does have reflux if he is on medicine, you should try something different. I hate to say this but my son did not get better until he was 8 months old.

First, talk to the doc and see if it's acid reflux. Most colic is gone by 3 months so it my be something other than true colic.
Check out these links:
A doctor who wrote it has discovered through research - both what colic is NOT and what works to calm babies with colic.
About Dr. Harvey Karp and his work/publications etc
http://www.thehappiestbaby.com/story.htm

The main info to calm a crying baby in the first 3 months of life:
http://parenting.ivillage.com/baby/bsleep/0,,7fntl3tw,00....

Also, check out Dr. Sears' "Fussy Baby Book" and "The Happiest Baby on the Bock." (I just saw Happiest Baby at Half Price Books in Castleton.)

Are you breast feeding? It coule be an alergy to what you are eating. Email me if you want more info on that. Another option is to go to a breastfeeding support group and get help from the moms and LCs there.

Good Luck. It may no be soon, but it will get better some day and then every happy minute will be bliss!

D. -

My suggestion to you is to try a formula by Enfamil. It's called Nutramigen. It is more expenisive than any other formula, but it worked wonders for my son. My doctor recommended it to me and I was kissing his feet within 48 hours. It made a HUGE difference in him. Like I said, it's more expensive but worth every penny. Let me know if it works for you!

~H. P
Lexington, KY

In my experience it just means the baby is hurting and the doctor is too busy to figure out why.I sympathize with you,my son cried and screamed non-stop for the first 3 months of his life.I took him to the peditrician more times than I can count and each time they told me he was fine.Finally after a sleepless night I took him in and told them something was wrong and I wasn't leaving until they found out what it was.Turns out he had GERD(baby acid reflux).So my advice to you is to tell them that something is not right and threaten to camp out until they figure it out.
Good luck to you!

Hi D.. I know what you are going thru. My daughter had colic. When she would get really fussy it was usually in the evenings and my husband would lay her belly down over his arm and pat her back and that always calmed her down. You might try that. I can remember walking thru the mall and he would be carrying her like that. I think hers got better when we put her on zantac 15 ml.

good luck

S.

Hi D., I know colic can be tough because all 4 of my children had it and I can tell you my experiences with colic and acid reflux.

Colic lasted 12 weeks exactly from the day they were born. It was religious in that it started the exact same time and lasted the same duration each day. They only thing I could do was set aside time, be emotionally strong and comfort them.

Most people said it was gas, others said it was an alergic reaction to milk, my guess is it was caused by an immature nervous system. I say this because it stop instantly at age 12 weeks old. Plus gas and allergies are NOT so timely religious.

My youngest daughter was diagnosed with Reflux when she was about 4 weeks old. Maybe younger. I was breast feeding at the time and the indication that it maybe reflux was that she had choked on her milk a few times and lost her breath.

After she was diagnosed, her pediatrician put her on an anti acid and strict feeding regimen. I had to put either 1 or 2 tablespoons of cereal in her milk and keep her up right during feeding and for 30 minutes afterwards. Keeping her up right and not laying down, as well as the cereal kept the milk from rising up into her esophagus.

I dont recommend cereal but it couldnt hurt to keep him upright during and after feeding.

In either case a physicians diagnosis and recommendation is best. Hang in there, it can only get easier from here on out!

dont let your doctor tell you its colic... colic is a way of the doctor saying they dont know whats wrong... keep a log when is he the worst??? take it to your doctor and tell them what you notice! dont take colic as an answer!

Oh. I am so sorry. Our daughter had really bad colic and no one could give me an answer, although suggestions ranged from reflux to an immature nervous system. We tried everything, including the vaccuum, sitting her on the clothes dryer, music, walking, 8 different kinds of formula and of course the pacifier. I had her in to the doctor practically every week and no one in that office could get her calm, either. We could never imagine how someone could abandon their baby until we experienced that. The only thing that worked was a little Sesame Street toy saxophone that played jazz music. When we walked her and held the saxophone, she would stop crying. We are expecting our second in March and praying that we don't have problems. But there is good news...

For one, she was a really good toddler (she's 5 now). And also, the colic did go away around five months. It can last up to six months, but it usually goes away between four and six months.

The best news, of course, is that there is a pediatrician in California that has done extensive study on colic. (We didn't find out about this until too late.) His name is Harvey Karp and he authored the book, "The Happiest Baby on the Block." You can check out his website at www.thehappiestbaby.com.

In a nutshell (quoted from a Chicago Tribune article published on 7/28/2002 - I may frame this some day), his suggestions are as follows:
"To calm a fussy baby, Karp said, wrap him tightly in a square blanket, pinning the baby's arms against his sides so he can't break loose. This simply sets the stage for the calming efforts to come, so don't be alarmed if your baby initially cries harder at being swaddled. Next, position him in your arms on his side or stomach; make a shhhh sound loudly in his ear to imitate the sounds he heard in the uterus; swing the baby; and, finally, give him something to suck on.
Though some infants will respond quickly to two or three of the steps, most colicky newborns will require all five, Karp said. For those infants, each stage is a layer that builds on previous ones."

Dr. Karp claims that he's never met an infant he couldn't console. Just remember the 5 S's: swaddling, side/stomach position, shhing, swinging and sucking.

I hope this helps. We may be trying it with our second.

My little on also had colic. We determined that it mostly was from the formula, so we switched to Nutramigen and that seemed to help a lot. But, it wasn't the only thing....we also would run the vaccum cleaner while holding him in one arm. Oddly enough, it worked! He would stop crying and calm down almost immedeately! We now have a CD player in his room at night that has a CD of ocean waves. He just needed the constant 'white noise'. I have been told it helps calm them down because it sounds like your blood flow and heart beat while they were inside you.

I hope this helps - I know exactly what you're going through!

L.

My baby boy was very colicky and used to cry all the time. I started babies magic tea and it worked. Also it is preservative free, so safe for newborns.

Out of my four children the two middle ones were colicky. I found that Nutramigen formula really helped, this is very expensive, however, about $26 a can, and there are alternatives. Enfamil makes a wide variety of formulas for everything from gas to power puking to premie formula at the regular cost. My advice as far as formula is concerned is to go to Marsh and read the labels on the cans, see what best describes your problem and try out a can. Also, make sure the baby doesn't have a tight belly or it may be gas problems, pulling up his legs to his belly a lot is also a sign of gassiness. You can also try giving them a little more food, I always found that when I fed my kids a little more that I thought they were "supposed" to eat they felt better. (But burp often) My parents and family thought I fed my kids too much at mealtimes, but I found that they were happy longer when they had a good and full belly. Message me if you want to talk sometime. Hope this helps!

You have probably tried every medicine under the sun but there is a natural medicine at the healthfood store called Gripe Water. It seems to work every time for my son. He is four months old and I have been using it since he was born. Good luck!

first of all try swaddling her really tight. also if you go to a health food store there is stuff called gripe water...it's supposed to really help with colic. i've heard that gentle vibrations help...like putting her in her car seat and setting the seat on the washer.

My two year old daughter was really collicy when she was first born and the only thing that helped her was switching to hypoallergenic Enfamil Nutramigen formula and using the Dr. Brown's bottles. She was screaming 9 - 10 hours/day and I didn't know what to do. I already had two other kids so I kept calling the pediatrition and since my older daughter had a milk allergy, she told me to use this formula/bottle combination and call her in 48 hours if it didn't subside. Within 24 hours she was only crying if she was wet, hungry, cold, or anything else normal and all of the screaming was gone!! It is really expensive but it was totally worth it for my daughter's health and my well-being.

I know what u r going through both my daughters had colic and the only solution I found that helped was feeding soy formula. It also helped to give gas drops before every feeding. I was told to try melting pepermint sticks in water and letting her drink it, I don't know if it helps though.

Hang in there at about 4 months is when my girls finally gave it up. Hope this helps.
J.

Hey I know how you feel my baby had colic too. So it will help if you go to the pharmacy and ask for cat nip to make tea and give the baby about 1 or 2 ounces. All it will do is make her calm down and sleep for a little while. And they can get colic up intil they r a year old.

All 3 of my kids had colic, they would scream for about 3 hours every night, this went on for months and magically disappeard as fast as it has appeared! (I always say that was the reason I didn't have 4 children LOL)...the first one was just a fussy, intense baby, she had "colic" for a long time, like 6 months. I think it was just baby "stress" just being overly sensitive to outside stimulus. My 2nd and 3rd children had the classic colic which was clearly caused by an immature digestive track with plenty of gas pains. I could tell their tummies hurt. I gave them those infant gas drops (Mylicon?) before every meal and that helped some but the colic went away in both cases by the time they were almost 4 months old. If you are nursing, I would eliminate the cows milk from your diet. My son ended up having a cow's milk sensitivity/allergy and that may have made his colic worse. If you are bottle feeding, try soy formula or an alternative that isn't made from cow's milk. Has the doctor checked your son out for this problem? I would definitely start with a check up! My youngest daughter was the "spit up queen" she had GERD, gastric reflux which wasn't diagnosed until she was 8 years old! I knew someone whose child had horrible colic until he was almost a year old and it turned out to be a severe stomach problem that was corrected once they found out what it was! I have read that up to 30% of infants are colicky but it clears up by the time they are 4 months old. One other thing I would definitely try....make chamomile or fennel tea bought from a health food store, feed it cooled, one or two oz. at a time, no more than 3 or 4 oz. a day....this tip I wish I had known about when my kids were little, it calms the stomach. I take it now as an adult when I have a stomach ache and it works immediately! I am starting to find that natural remedies are sometimes the best. One resource is dr.weil.com also swaddling and rocking/soothing the baby. Good Luck!!!!

I just watched a show where a doctor said that "colic" was the same as "we just don't know why your baby is crying". He was saying that there is always a reason why a baby is colicky. He recommended sticking with it until your doctor figured out what is causing your baby to be so upset. He was on Oprah, so if you want to, you could probably look him up on her website.

My son had "colic" until he was 6 mos old! We often put him in a "Moses basket" and set it on the dryer. The heat and vibration seemed to calm him. You have to be extremely careful that the basket is secure (won't fall off or move with the vibration of the dryer), and careful NOT to overheat the baby too. I am not "recommending" this, but simply stating this is what we did. Other things we did were to carry him in a front-pack carrier, you'd be amazed at what you can get done with one of these on. Kyle also loved "Baby Einstein" movies. Baby Mozart and Language Nursery are good for this age. I could put him in the bouncy seat and count on 30 minutes of Mommy time! I also saw that nobody recommended Mylicon drops. These help with gas, if that is the cause. I also recently saw Dr. Sears on Oprah, who recommended feeding smaller amounts more frequently. Good luck, and this too shall pass.

This brings back so many memories. Our daughter at 9 weeks was diagnosed with reflux. She was put on Prilosec also. What they did not tell me and that I learned from reading the recommendations for adults was to take the Rx and wait 30 minutes before eating. Once we did this, plus put at tablespoon or two of baby cereal in her bottle it helped tremendously.

We did run into problems as she put on weight. The Rx dose is based on the weight of the child. If you have not been recently, that could also need adjusting.

I have been a daycare provider for 12+ years and several children have had reflux. Has your pediatrician referred you to a G.I. doctor to have them check your little one out? If not, I would put the bug in his/her ear to do so.

My daughter is now 2 and still on Rx and doing wonderfully. 3 of the 6 children that I have had at the daycare are totally off the Rx. At our last check up with our G.I. specialist said that he will keep Samantha on her Rx at the same dose and only increase it if need be. But, if there is no need then as she grows she will gradually wean herself off. I sure hope that all this helps. If you need someone to talk to feel free to contact me. I wish you all the best. K. S.

When our son once first born he was the same way. I am not sure if you are breast feeding or not. But what I found out was I wasn't getting enough breat milk and I was giving him that and formual. It was the formual that we were giving him. It was hard for him to break down. Once we changed his formual, I would say it took a couple of weeks and it was gone. The formual we used was called Enfamil gentlease lipil. Our son is now alittle over a year and I would say he stopped being colic around 3 or so months. Try that and let me know if it worked for you. The doctor told us it just helps the babies break it down eaiser and their tummies don't hurt.
B.

This takes me back to the first 3 weeks of my little girls life. She is now 6 months old and is a very happy little girl. She had colic bad. She would start crying right after she ate and would go for hours. The doc said acid reflux, we put her on medication but it didn't stop. Then we tried the gentle ease formula. It helped but didn't stop it. Being a person that won't rest until I have fixed the problem I kept trying to find the answer. Then it hit me. She was alergic to the lactose in the formula. She would turn very red and look like she was trying to go to the bathroom. But her little tummy would be as tight as a drum. Her little system could not handle it. We went to soy formula and within two days she was a totally different little girl. Happy and calm. Even after she ate. I did see that someone suggested the Dr Kalms method of swadling and calming. The book and video are called the Happiest Baby on the Block. His methods work. I didn't believe it until I tried it. Good luck and hang in there. All of us that have been through it are pulling for you.