As awakward as this is I am actually writing for help for my sister. My sister gave birth, naturally without complications, to a beautiful 6.11 lb baby girl six months ago. However, the poor little thing can't seem to enjoy her life much. She is constantly irritable and doesn't let me sister have one moments peace. Just recently she came for a visit and cried the whole night and day they were here. My sister and her husband spend every waking second trying to calm her down by feeding her, singing to her, carrying her a certain way, but no matter what they do she still cries. After a horrible flight back home they thought for sure she was coming down with an ear infection and took her to the Pediatrician, but nothing was wrong, no infection, no building up of wax in the ear, nothing. The Doctors keep telling her that her baby is colicy and she will have to deal with it, but how much should she have to. I know there has to be something else going on, but what? Her daughter also has difficulty sitting up on her own, eating baby food without consitpation, and has a short attention span. My sister feels that now she has things under control, she recently told me that she has to cut out the one cup of caffeine she has and learn to read different books to her in a different order. Gosh, I don't think that is the problem, but is there someone else who has gone through this as well?
HI J.!
I saw that you are from Michigan, me too!! I moved here almost 5 years ago from Lansing. I was born and raised there. Where are you from in Michigan?.....B.
It doesn't sound right. I drink 2 cups of coffee a day and breastfeed, my daughter has been fine. It just doesn't seem okay that she is crying all the time like that. I doubt that the baby knows which order the books are being read. Has she tried to cut out other food from her diet. I have heard that some babies can be intolerant to dairy, or even wheat gluten. As for not eating baby food many babies don't like baby food and especially if they are breastfeed they can go without it up to a year of age. My daughter just started eating table food and skipped baby food altogether, She didn't like to be spoon feed. If she is breastfeed there is a chance that mom is eating something that doesn't agree with baby.
J. - I really feel for what your sister is going through. My 1st child also cried a lot and I couldn't soothe him. He cried when I tried to feed him, both by breast and bottle. All day every day he cried, and when my husband returned home from work, the baby was exhausted and slept, and I felt like my husband didn't really believe what I was saying about the crying. The first three months were terrible. Finally he was diagnosed with Acid Reflux. When he was put on the right medicine (it took two different ones) then he was like a totally different baby. It a was complete transformation.
In my opinion, your sister has mother's intuition that something is not right. I think you know too, otherwise you wouldn't have posted this request.
She should not accept the Dr.'s 'you have a colicky baby' answer and push for more. If that Dr. is unwilling to help, find another. It could be food alergies that are causing a lot of the problems. Or any number of other things (maybe Acid Reflux) that might be easily treatable with a perscription medicine.
It sounds like everyone including the precious baby is suffering. I am sorry. I hope it gets better soon for all of you.
is your sister breastfeeding? if the answer is yes then what she eats and drinks (caffine, sweets, etc) have EVERYTHING to do with the baby and how fussy is. i had to stop coffee, chocolate, etc out of my diet for good and my twins were so much better after i did. it's a least worth a try.
Hi J.,
Your sister must be exhausted. I don't really have a great answer for you, just my own insight. 6 months is a bit young to be able to sit up all by herself, try not to worry about that. The feeding issues are difficult to address without more info: is she breast fed? forumla fed? what kinds of foods is baby eating? what kinds of food is mommy eating if she is nursing? Mom's diet could effect baby's tummy. Rice cereal can be binding, as can banana's. Pears, apples, these tend to help baby go. I noticed with my son first, and now my daughter that when the first food introductions are being made it is an adjustment for their little tummy's. They have only digested one substance prior to food being added ( Mom's milk or formula) and the gut needs to make it's own adjustments in order to adequately digest.
Some babies are very content little ones, others are not. My son who is 2 1/2 now has always had his particulars, foods, stories, routines, even from the time he was an infant. If a routine was varied, he was MISERABLE. My daughter ( 5 months) was "colicky" for a short time, 7 weeks, but now is happy all the time, she has no routine (except bedtime) and is very happy to go with the flow.
All that being said, Mother's instinct is strong. If Mom thinks something is wrong, seek more medical opinions. Find another pediatrician, get a referral to a gastroenterologist, the doctor isn't always right the first time. If she thinks there is something wrong, she should seek answers until she is comfortable that she has all the answers she needs.
Good luck to your sister, and to you the concerned Aunt. It's wonderful that your neice has extra love and concern to help find a way to bring her some comfort.
There is definitely something wrong if the baby is crying all day -- your niece is in pain for some reason or she wouldn't be so miserable. My friend's son has gastric reflux and he is a different baby when it is under control with medicine -- he is happy and content. Urge your sister to get another opinion from a different pediatrician -- even one in the same office may deal with it differently. As for the sitting up, most babies don't sit up on their own until 7 months, and all babies have short attention spans, especially if she is being distracted by pain or discomfort. It's true that babies have different temperments, but this sounds like more than that. www.livingreenathome.com
Hi J.,
Has your sister tried "slinging" her child? Some high need children need an extra message which says "I'm here" and extra reassurance that the child receives from the contact with a parent. This also gives the caretaker some free hands while attending to the child. I have a "high need" son and the sling was and is wonderful.
E.
A colicky 6 month old? That seems awfully late. I was under the impression that colick usually disappears by 4-5 months old. However, since you're introducing food, and mom said she cut out her caffeine, I'll assume she's still nursing.
Babies tend to be super-sensitive to the proteins in regular milk. Have mom cut out dairy products for a week. See if there's improvement. Cow's milk contains some pretty complex proteins that babies have serious difficulty digesting.
Does she desperately need her milk/dairy products? She can try substituting powdered milk for her diet. The powdering process breaks down all the cow proteins that can give babies indigestion. This is a pretty difficult diet to follow, but it really does take a week to get all those residual proteins out of her system.
For constipation, feed prunes, pears and peaches. They're extremely watery and help move things along. I feed my daughter prunes every other day for lunch because she seems extremely susceptible to constipation. BTW, that could be the problem. Before I fed my daughter prunes, she was just a crying machine. It was the pain of not being able to have a bowel movement. Beech-nut makes great pureed prunes in stage 1 size, and prunes mixed with pears in stage 2. I highly recommed this way.
At 6 months it's not unusual for a baby to have problems sitting up. To encourage the muscle development for sitting, use a Boppy pillow as a support, or just prop pillows around her. My son couldn't sit up on his own until 7 months, but at 6 months he was crawling! My daughter is 8 months, and still hasn't gotten the hang of crawling, but was sitting up comfortably at 6 months. Every baby is wildly different.
I'd try the prunes first. Everyone hates constipation. Ask any irregular adult! :-D
What a tough situation! Could it be lactose intolerance? My daughter cried constantly from stomach pain until I cut dairy completely out of my diet when I was breastfeeding. Also, I couldn't have any caffeine at all or she would be hyper and jittery (and not sleep), not even one cup. My daughter was just really sensitive to food I ate, and not a big sleeper overall. Maybe try cutting out dairy? It really was like night and day once we did that. Just a thing--it took about 3 or 4 days for all the dairy to work its way out of my daughter's system, so be aware that you may not see instant results (if that's the problem, of course!)
Good luck to your sister. That sounds like an awful situation!
I too, had a colic baby that would cry off and on throughout the entire day...and it lasted until she was almost eight months old! She hated driving in the car, bouncy seats, swings, crib, etc. I took her to the doctor a few times and there was nothing physically wrong with her, just colic. I was breastfeeding and cut pretty much everything out of my diet - chocolate, caffeine, citrus, dairy - nothing worked. (Has your sister tried pumping a bottle to give the baby in the morning - I did this so I could have coffee!) She sat up on her own in the very end of her sixth month and I gave her baby cereal right around the same time; no other baby food, just the cereal. Introducing baby food around 6 months is fine, but it's not required - it's more to get the baby used to the sensation and new tastes. The things that worked for me to lessen the crying: the Baby Bjorn carrier was excellent. She like to be close to me and as long as I could tolerate carrying her, she wasn't crying. I started supplementing breastfeeding with soy based formula -she seemed to settle down a bit with a few ounces a day. Singing! I just made up silly songs when I had completely had it and she would stop crying for a bit. It kept me from screaming too! I wish there was a magic solution that worked for your sister, but there's no one size fits all cure. My opinion is that your sister should try not to let the baby run the house anymore. My daughter kept us hostage until one day I decided that no matter what I did she would cry anyway, so I got on with it....crying or no crying. My daughter is about to turn one and she is still feisty and a little difficult, but she is so much fun now and generally cries for normal reasons. Good luck to your sister!
HI,
Well since I don't believe in "colic" I have to say to me it sounds like she may have some food intolerances. Here is our website to our foundation. Please take a look at it as well as pass it along to your sister. www.thepicfoundation.org I started this with another mom of a protein intolerant child. What your sister's little one might be experiencing is milk or soy intolerance. If she is formula fed it might be because the protein's aren't broken down enough, causing gas and irritablity. If she is breast fed then it is coming from the diet of your sister. There are a few doctors out there who have an understanding of protein intolerance. Those who do not often mis-diagnos with "colic". We found that out too. Hope this helps.
D. B.
mom to Delaney and Carson
Has she been tested for Acid Reflux? My baby boy was just as miserable and they were worried that he would need surgery. After what seemed like endless tests, they diagnosed him with Acid Reflux and put him on a prescription. What a different child! He eventually grew out of it (as most babies do). It's worth asking the doctor, at least!
i know someone who's daughter cried for the first 8 months... and now at age two they discovered that she has a sensory disruption problem. their occupational therapist said that she needs rough play in order to enjoy the same amount of "touch" that we feel. they were also recommended to do deep tissue massage, and they said it worked wonders for her! Maybe your sister could give that a try!
Is she breastfeeding? Could be food allergies
J.,
I am so sorry for what your sister is going through. It can really work your nerves. While I didn't really deal with this problem in a big way, my sister did. My neice used to cry non-stop. They would have to getup in the middle of the night to drive her around until she fell asleep. The doctors also stole my sister she was colicky. My sister was unwilling to accept that there wasn't anything she could do, so she researched and researched and found out that the baby was lactose intolerant and was having stomach pains and/or constipation from milk. As soon as she took her off the milk, she got better. My own daughter had a similar experience, though she didn't cry all the time, but every few days she would get constipated and "pissy", when she was generally a good baby, so using my sister's experience I experimented with milk and different formulas. It did turn out tht she had a milk allergy, not lactose intolerant, but a problem with milk just the same. I changed her formula and she got SO much better instantely. I feel as you do....If a baby is colicky, ther must be a reason for it. Wish you luck in discovering yours.
M.
J., I think, first of all, you are a wonderful sister to try and help your sister and what she is going threw. If it was me in her position I would make an appointment with my dr. and tell them all the things that are happening and tell them I feel that something is wrong, I understand colic is somthing that happends and that you have to work threw it but that is not always the case and Dr. are very easy to push off things that they feel new moms make a big deal about. If they tell her not to worry and she still feels like they are not helping, i would look to get a second opinion. Every doctor deals with thing different and it does not sound like her baby's dr. is very sympathetic to the problem or even offereing other ideas tha they can try, just to deal with it is not the answer. I know I really didn't offer you any ideas, but I just felt like I needed to share with you what I would do if I was in her shoes. I would talk to another doctor and if they didn't help me I would keep pushing till someone did something b/c sometimes it isn't just something you need to deal with.
Hope she or you can find some answers, Good Luck.
K.
(sahm mom of three wonderful children)
I had this. My son screamed from the moment he came out untill he was 5 months old. If your sister is telling you she has it under control now, I would believe her. It's colic, and its horrible. But they do grow out of it. I love my son, but it took me a very long time to LIKE him. Some babies are just very difficult and it sounds like that is the case here. If she wants some colic tips I could help out but if she has it under control leave it alone. The worst cases I have heard off last till about 8 months. Wish her luck for me. ~E.
