Anyone Else Ever Dealt with Colic??!!?

D.-

I just wanted to encourage you. 3 out of my 5 babies had a time everyday when they just cried. Loud and unnerving. I figured out with the first that she just needed 'stress-relief' I called it. She was not hungry, not particularly gassy, but fussed for 1-2 hours every day.

When I figured this out, I could put her down, knowing there was nothing physically I could do to help. I hated to hear them cry, all mom's do, especially when we feel powerless to help. However, they all grew out of it, it really only lasted about 1-2 months, it was not easy, but we got through it.

The other 2 had bouts of daily crying but not as intense.

I know you'll get there, but it is stressful as a mom to work through it. You are doing fine, but sometimes, we can't fix everything they cry about (but we can sure try).

Take care,
D.

It was unclear if you are nursing or not... if you are nursing. You need to cut out all dairy products. Everthing... milk, yogurt, cheese, butter, everything. This helps tremendously. I tried everything with my daughter and this is the only thing that worked.

Good luck!

I'm so sorry! It is so hard to be with a colicky baby-even if it's your own! My baby also seemed to have nightmares (and still does). Make sure you get a break-that's the best I can do for you. Hold your baby and rock and walk and drive and rinse and repeat. It does get better and it will soon!
Good luck!

This is so hard on a ne mom who hasn't gottne sleep herself. Hang in there. My son had a lot of colic the first 3 monthes of his life. The thing that helped me a ton during the day was using a sling and a pacifier. He would stay bundled up in the sling and sleep happily. At night, I had to sleep with him in our Lazy Boy recliner. Then, I didn't worry about smothering him in bed etc. Don't worry--he did eventually learn to sleep in the crib. We started each night by doing a bedtime routine and putting him in the crib and seeing how long he lasted. It eventually got to be longer and longer spans.
Please let me know if you have any more questions and congrats on your daughter.

D.-

First of all, congrats on your daughter!! I have a four month old son who had gas issues and was a little colicky. The good news is that most colic goes away by 3-4 months so your daughter should be getting better. If not, it may be something else like acid reflux. Is she breastfed or formula fed? I would change your food - cut out broccoli, asparagus, chocolate, caffeine, etc if breastfeeding and change formula if bottle feeding. I found that my son likes being carried facing out. It may be because of the constant pressure on his stomach? He also sleeps on his stomach which is not recommended but his pediatrician is okay with it.

As far as PTSD from the NICU trama, I am not sure how you can be sure? She may just be crying because she's uncomfortable from the gas or reflux. I would not think that she'd have nightmares this young, but I am not sure?

Just know that this will pass....during the long bouts of crying, be sure to give yourself time away and let her cry. It will not hurt her and will give you some time to relax.

Good luck!

This is a late response - sorry!

Just wanted to suggest that you read up about Sandifer's Syndrome. What you're seeing as nightmares might be that. My daughter had four episodes of Sandifer's Syndrome between one and three months old. For her, each time was when she was sleeping - I heard her cry in a way I've never heard at any other time, and when I ran into her room or sat up in my bed to look at her in her crib she was arching her back and crying out. I would pick her up and then she would settle down in my arms like absolutely nothing had happened.

I suspected seizures, so we did a neuro work up and the pediatric neurologist suggested Sandifer's. There were other clues that she was probably suffering from GERD, so we put her on Zantac. What was happening is that when she was lying down the acid in her stomach was irritating her esophagus and this caused the acute cries and arching. She also had difficulty staying asleep for longer than 45 minutes for naps or a couple of hours at night. Zantac, me modifying my diet (onions made my milk TOXIC to her poor tummy!) and time passing all helped her be trouble free.

So while I think some of your LOs fussiness may just be unexplainable colic, you might want to look into GERD as a possible cause, especially if it doesn't pass soon - isn't colic supposed to end by month four? Hang on - you're ALMOST there!

Good luck -

H.

Colic - what an experience! My daughter had it. They do outgrow it eventually, although at the time, you're at your wits end. My daughter would cry almost constantly. It was better when she was being held it seemed, but sometimes nothing worked. [She also developed into a clingy child as a result of it I think.] I invested in a sling so I could carry her and still get things done. It would rock her to sleep I think. I did have several friends who would babysit her if I needed to go out on an errand that didn't work to take her. They understood that she would cry the whole time.

My son (born healthy at full term) would cry from like 7pm to 10pm every night when he was an infant. Not hungry or wet, just like a really MAD cry. We called him the werebaby :-P

Around 8 weeks I figured out he was overly tired at this time (duh... even now he goes to bed at 7:30). I started giving him a warm bath, and massage at 6 then nursing him and putting him in the wrap carrier while I started dinner. By the time I was ready to eat at 7, he was knocked out!

Maybe your baby is tired like mine and can't settle down at that time for some reason. It might help yours like it did mine to gently help her start relaxing an hour or so before her usual cranky time :-)

Congratulation on your new little one! My little boy (now 2) seemed to cry for at least 12 weeks straight. His doctor didn't think it was colic--just his temperment. He's still a pretty intense little boy. I'm surprised no one has mentioned it (at least I didn't see it), but the book The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Karp saved my sanity those first few months. (There is also a DVD). Basically, you use the 5 S's to calm your child--swaddle, swing, shhhh (you do this quite loudly or use some sort of white noise), side (hold them on their left side), and sucking (on a pacifier or your finger). You don't always have to do all 5 at the same time--usually 2 or 3 will do the trick. For my son, it was the swaddling, swinging (either in a swing, or bouncing in our arms) and shhhing (white noise). If you want any other info, feel free to email me.

I don't think K. really start to dream or have nightmares until closer to age 2. You might ask her doctor about that.

With my child, things definitely started to get a little better at 3 months, and much better at 4-5 months, though we still used the 5 S's from time to time probably until 6 months.

Good luck and know that it will get better!

-J

D.,
When I was 17 I watched a baby that had colic. I used to put her in her swing and then sing to her until she fell asleep. For some reason her colic got better during the time that I was watching her. Of course I only know this because her mom called and asked what I had been doing differently.
W. M

take her to an osteopath or chiropractor. cured my daughters extremely intense colic within 2 visits.

D.,

Most of us have dealt with colic! It distressed my husband so much he used to lie on the bed with my son for an hour or two every night. Once you know your baby is not hungry, wet, or otherwise in distress, you just have to let her cry. I think it's a reaction to stress on being out of the womb, and once the baby gets used to being in the real world it stops. You should be almost through it, so just hang on.

I don't know anything about nightmares--my son's 27 now, and I can count on one hand the number of nightmares he ever had (two?).

E.

My baby cried for up to 7 hours everyday for almost two months. It was horrible. I tried everything -- the homeopathic colic medicine, keeping him in a sling and making big constant movements, muscle testing for allergies, diet changes, cranial sacral therapy, holding him while vacuuming until the only thing left to vacuum was the walls, long walks outside with fresh air, sleeping with him in my bed, etc. -- and frankly I can't tell you what worked. He got over it around 2 mts and completely over it by 2 1/2 -- though he continued to be a "sensitive baby". Maybe it was the cranial sacral. I don't believe that nothing is wrong. I think he got it because he was posterior and we had a very long difficult labor with some panic and emergency towards the end. I believe babies are strongly affected by the circumstances of their birth and if things aren't smooth they are panicked and physically stressed which causes them to feel pain. I think that you need to just keep with your child and keep trying things until you find the solution that your child needs. Something will work-- even if it is just time. One thing that didn't cure the colic but did help me a lot was watching the Dunston baby language videos -- after watching those you can tell the difference between a hungry cry, a poop/gas cry, a tired cry, and an irritated cry.

My husband's brother had a colicky child. They went to the chiropractor and it worked. One of my twin boys was very constipated at 3 months (the other twin was not). I took him to the chiropractor and added a probiotic to his diet. My twins were in the NICU for about three weeks and both had a least one round of anticiotics. If your baby has had antibiotics, I would highly recommend the probiotics. Initially, I used Bio-K, but since then I have found a powdered formula from Genestra Brands called HMF. I just add it to one of their bottles once a day. They are now 13 months old, and I still give it to them once a day. It's very good for their immune system.

Good luck!

Well it seems as though you have tried everything. The doctors never seem to think anything is wrong. My child was in the NICU for about 8 days too so maybe they do experience some nightmares etc. Since you've tried gas drops, colic, changing diaper etc. Could it be that she is still hungry? That happened to my child. I thought it was something else and when I had tried everything else, I finally started feeding him more during that time and it helped. Just a thought...might be wroth a try. Do you try swaddling him? That helped us too at his age up until about 5 months then he was done with that. Also, try holding him more during that time. I don't believe you can spoil an infant that young. I also tried the Baby Whisperer Book and another one The Happiest Baby on the Block, I believe) where you can soothe a baby w/the 5 S's: swaddle, ssshh in their ear simulating white noise, swing them in your arms, hold them on their side while you swinging them and shushing in their ear for example while in your arms swaddled etc . I can't remember the 5th one. Sorry I hope this helps!! This too shall pass. You just want to make sure you're meeting all of her needs (food/diaper changing) and comforting her.

D.,

Get a copy of the DVD of "The Happiest Baby on the Block" by Dr. Harvey Karp. His methods work wonders. Everyone that I have shared the DVD with has raved about the effectiveness. Dr. Karp has a point - there are cultures that have no colic or other issues like some of our American babies have - which is why he did his research across the globe.

As suggested by other, if you are nursing do consider getting off all milk products and any other item that anyone in your family thinks they might have an allergy to or a sensitivity too. I know a little one that had awful issues including constipation that lasted for the entire time she was nursed and then afterwards. Her mom finally figured out that she was allergic to cow's milk! Once she got off it she was fine.

So also consider possibly milk allergies if your baby is on a milk-based formula.

Best wishes - enjoy every minute. - J.

Congrats D.!!! My first son had a difficult birth too, his apgar was really low initially too (2/8), and he had to spend 4 days in the NICU. He was also really "colicky". In the grand scheme of things I think b/c he was about 3wks early it was just such an adjustment for him to be in this world. But in addition turns out I had some breasfeeding issues. I had an hindmilk/foremilk imbalance and he also was sensitive to dairy & wheat. But once I cleared that up he was such a different baby. I also think he had a mild case of reflux, but that resolved @ about 3 months. I don't know if your bottle feeding or nursing, but you might want to look into that as a culprit..

Now my 12 week old son sounds just like your daughter. He has been so much harder than my first. I might also have a imbalance again, but even w/ fixing that he is just irritable all day long. And from 3-8pm he screams non stop and nothing can console him. Now I guess my 1st could have been that bad but he at least took a binky & that would calm him down. Not my 2nd.

So oddly the only thing that calms him down is, taking him into the bathroom and turning on the shower and laying him on the changing table...I've spent many hours in the bathroom. The only thing I can think of is that's where I use to de-stress while pregnant & its comforting to him.

I've also realized that you are correct in the being tired thing. He gets really colicky when his brother hasn't allowed him to nap or if he gets woken up from a nap when he wasn't ready; sometimes my 1st wakes him, other times its his tummy, or the hiccups and he just gets plain MAD....And then it just cycles like that all day long...

BUT the good news out of all of this is that THIS week (keep my fingers cross) it seems to have all disappeared. SUCH a different baby. I haven't done anything different at all, only difference is he's sleeping better & not waking up at every little thing.

Rest assure it does pass, and since your lil' one had a rough start it may take little longer to adjust. But my last suggestion is to go in a room where its pitch dark, make sure its dead quiet and just hold her and comfort her as much as you can. Swaddling worked until last month for my son, now it just gets him even more MAD. But I basically hold him really tightly, so his arms & legs stop flailing and bounce him until he goes to sleep. Sometimes they just get so overstimulated, and upset that they can't calm down that they get all worked up because they can't wind down. I know its hard but hang in there it does get better..

Congratulations again I'm in such shock at how fast the second time rolls around, it does go by way too quick :)