Lime Water or :Colic Calm" for Colic?

Hi Megan,
I suggest you take a "Happiest Baby on the Block" class to learn some calming techniques. I think you will find it very helpful. You're a little far away from me, but you can find other certified instructors by visiting their website.
http://www.thehappiestbaby.com/

The exercise ball is also a great suggestion.
Blessings

I have heard that if you take the pink afterdinner mints and grind them up, give them just a little bit in water that it really helps. Have you tried a tea made out of real mint? That works too.

Karen

I used something called Gripe Water on my son when he got colicky. It worked for him and I just mixed it in with his bottle.

I would suggest Culturelle for kids. Just take a capsule and empty it into one of her bottles once a day. It helps with digestion and colic (and several other things). It may help, definitely won't hurt! You might also want to put a warm (actually heated, not just "cozy") blanket around her belly...the heat can sometimes relieve the colic. I would also suggest a chiropractor and/or a massage therapist. They have "magic" tricks up their sleeves : )

Hi! I read all the responces and so far no one has asked if you are breastfeeding? If so it may be your diet. There is lots of info on the net about cows milk protein in mom's diet causing colic in babies who are sensative to it. (Your MD should also be able to tell you about this too). That was the case with all three of my babies. However we never know it with the first. He screamed for 5 hours a day! It's difficult to take all milk products out of my diet but makes an amazing difference in how my baby feels.

Another mom mentioned dairy allergy--I cannot emphasize emough--cow's milk is not for babies, even if it is altered as in formula or coming through your milk. My oldest daughter and I suffered for 18 months before I heard about the dairy problem and quit giving it to her or using it myself(she was nursing), I was living with my sister at the time and she quit all dairy also just to be supportive of me.The change was a miracle-my daughter slept through the night for the first time in her life! and my so called seasonal allergies were gone completely and my sister lost the extra pounds she had been unable to lose and quit having constipation. Needless to say we never went back to cow's milk (it is in so many products you have to read labels) That was 29 years ago and there were very few good substittues then but now there are calcium fortified rice, oat, almond, hemp "milks". Soy can cause as much problem as dairy though so I woudl stay away from that. Also massage her belly and do "bicycles" with her legs to help pass gas. I also used Hylands colic tablets and they helped some but you need to get rid of the allergens to have any real difference. If you are not breastfeeding contact LLL for assistance with going back to nursing as it is not too late at just 2 weeks. If you cannot breastfeed for some reason then you will need to spend the money and get the meat protein based formula and add probiotics to it. I would add that colic is not natural or something to just wait out as they are suffering which causes you to suffer--I am sure now that I was depressed after her birth because of the inabilty to calm her or to sleep! My next two babies had NO problems with colic or gas or crying at all--I was on a strict no dairy, wheat or non fermented soy diet by then.Good luck!

get a big exercise/yoga ball and bounce the baby on your lap. i am not kidding that was the best thing for our colicky babies!!

also holding them with your arm in their tummies is good. face out, putting pressure on their stomach.

also if you're breastfeeding try cutting out dairy products. it can be hard for them to digest sometimes.

yes, the colic remedies worked for us too!! and even if you're feeling iffy about them, there is nothing toxic in them so it's worth a try, it won't hurt!

Hi there, I would highly recommend Baby's Bliss gripe water (walgreens)it is all natural product and worked wonderfully.

Hello Megan, this is strictly what I did for my third baby and it worked like a dream. After two babies I did a lot of not Dr. related ideas of my own. I would give my baby about 1/8th teaspoon of peptobismal and then give a drink of water or as much as they wanted. I also at times would give luke warm water and that helped also. Notice I said I for my babies so I didn't prescribe anything for your baby. :-) good luck K.

Two of my kids that are now 18 and 15 and my grandson is colic. Mylacon Drops work awesome. They sell it in the baby section at walmart and any drug store. A candy cane also helps with gas. If the baby is screeming the also like noise. Like a vacuum cleaner and my grandson loves the sound of our 4 wheeler....lol. We also have a nature sounds picture and that even works for awhile. There are just a few ideas. Oh yeah one more idea, one of those bouncers with vibration and sounds works great. We can actually set me down with that.

Megan, IF you are still considering breastfeeding, go for it - breastmilk is something a colicky baby needs even MORE than your average baby. If you are done w/ breastfeeding, please consider a trial of hypoallergenic formula for 2 weeks (ie, Neocate or Elecare) to see if this helps remedy your baby's pain/fussiness.

Please know that the majority of babies who have colic ACTUALLY have some sort of valid medical issue, whether it be an allergy to the proteins in cow's milk or soy, or acid reflux or GERD, or all of the above (since these things often travel together).

If wanting to breastfeed partially or fully, continue pumping to protect your breastmilk production, and right away please read this quick article on cow's milk sensitivity and how to fix it - cow's milk is, by far, the biggest offendor (whether via breastmilk or formula!):
http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/food-sensitivity.html

If doing 100% formula, please skip this paragraph: Your baby is still quite young - my only other question is whether your baby is fussy because of hunger... if you are having any milk production issues, or if your baby is latching poorly OR if they're latching well but simply not able to move milk out of your breast effectively, your baby could be hungry. And hungry babies can be miserable, unhappy, colicky, so if you haven't yet considered it, check to see whether your baby is able to move enough milk during each breastfeeding (renting a baby scale and weighing before a feed and directly after a feed will tell you exactly how much baby has taken in). If you know baby was getting enough breastmilk, and yet was still colicky and fussy, then please consider the cow's milk sensitivity issue FIRST before anything else.

The fix for a baby w/ cow's milk or soy sensitivity is very straightfoward, and if you are religious about removing cow's milk products from yours and baby's diet (reading all labels) for 2 weeks, you would be able to see a change in your baby IF cow's milk sensitivity is the problem. Note that formula is based on cow's milk proteins or soy proteins, and if mom is doing both breastmilk and formula, ALL sources of food for baby need to be free of cow's milk during the elimination trial.

Hope this helps... and good luck! I know it's tough when baby is hurting - my 2nd was like this, and thankfully another mom shared this info with me and it REALLY made a huge difference for my son and me. Within 1 week of going dairy-free (free of cow's milk), improvement was noticeable. Within 1 month of going dairy-free, my son was a happy, glowing, healthy, NOT colicky infant. It's worth investigating, and I love that it was not invasive and did not involve medication at all. It may not be the fix for every baby, but it *is* common (which is why there are different formulas other than cow's milk and soy in the first place).

Hang in there!

I will say Hyland Colic tablets worked WONDERS for me. I have been giving them to my son since he was 2 wks old now 11 mo and my daughter now 4 took them at 2 wks as well. They were REALLY bad and a friend told me about these and the Dr said it was ok. They melt in the mouth and my kids stopped immediately. You can get them at a health food store or I get them and other things at vitacost.com. I tried everything medicine and even took him to the chiropractor and that was a joke it did nothing so for the price I was not very happy. Hope this helps you out. Give it a try and let me know what you think. OH I also use a Happy Tummi band to go around his waist. I warm up the herbal pack and put it inside the band and place on his tummy and it helps alot as well...

we use gripe water all natural, it really helps my 10 week old daughter. i get it at whole foods. good luck!

My second baby was VERY colicy!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All she wanted to do was CRY!!!!! It was very difficult! It made it extremely difficult ot fall in love with her, sleep, feed her, sleep, figure out what was wrong, sleep, have some quiet time! Then a friend of the family gave my mylacon drops, it was as if the clouds seperated adn angels came down from heaven! Really! Almost no exageration! :} My baby felt MUCH better!was able t oeat, SLEEP... We still had to put her on her tummy alot especially after feedings. She was bottle fed so we also had to burp her much more frequently. It helped ALOT! I would run up to your closest store and get some now and then take a nap!
Goodluck! I hope her tummy gets better!

I think the best thing ever for human's health is natural remedies. I don't know why some doctors won't recommend these natural remedies. My baby was extremely colicky and I used everything I was recommended, but finally an herbal tea babies magic tea worked to soothe my colicky baby.

i would listen to your dr. just b/c it's natural does not mean it's beneficial. believe me, don't by into the hype. do you breastfeed? thats what my dr recommended for our son. and attachment parenting/cosleeping which is quite natural. but i really recommend listening to your dr!!! the know what they're talking about

If you end up using "gripe water" or "nursery water" - that may contain some of the same stuff that's in Mylicon...so I would check that out just to make sure she's not getting too much of it.

I would definitely get Dr. Brown's bottle's though. Yes, they can be a bit pricey, BUT neither of my daughters got colicky ever. In fact, they wouldn't even take other bottles - we tried (we were given other types of bottles as shower presents). When we got the dr. brown's bottles, they took it right away.

They also wouldn't take the powdered stuff. THey'd drink the Ready-to-feed no problem. I can tell you that the powdered stuff is VERY gassy. Our pediatrician's office recommended making a pitcher full each night for the next day's feedings - and to use warmer water to help the gas escape. We have a rubbermaid pitcher that had a flip top with rubber stopper - we'd close it to give it a good shake, and there was enough gas in there to pop the top open with enough force we couldn't hold it closed. So - we had to mix it up and let it sit for a little while before we could close the top and put it in the fridge. We did try that, but our first child particularly wouldn't have anything to do with the powdered stuff. We tried mixing it in with the Ready-to-feed with not much luck.

Anyway - I would definitely try the dr. brown's bottles and continue with the mylicon.

Good luck!

Dr. Brown bottles help alot with the colic and also taking the baby to the chiropractor. Hope this helps.

Megan,
I have used Colic Calm, not because my baby was colicky, but because he has acid reflux. It works well for gas, colic, and acid reflux. I spent a lot of time researching this product. Its all natural ingredients, and its true what some of the reviews on their website say: my baby likes taking it! The black color can stain, and it gets on their face and hands, but a baby wipe takes it off great. Anyways, I felt great about giving this to my baby over other products because the ingredients are all natural versus other products that have chemicals in them.

Hi, I also had a colicy baby & I used colic calm that worked really well. The only problem is that it is black in color & was very messy. I used a pacifier/measuring cup which helps w/ the mess, if not... It worked great for us, I hope it does the same for you.

Hi,
This sounds so familiar! My daughter started crying and never stopped for about a year. I used gripe water with my son and it worked great! Not for my daughter. I tried everything I could think of to calm her down, but she would cry like someone was hurting her. Her doctor kept saying it was collic, just give it time and it will go away at 3 months...at 6 months... there is absolutely nothing wrong with her....I thought I was crazy! I ended up finally switching doctors around 1 year. I had already put her on soy formula. We ended up finding out that she was allergic to dairy. If the doctor would have listened to me I could have found this out a long time ago and she could have been a happy baby. When you took her off of regular formula did you happen to notice your baby look a little thinner? My daughter looked puffy and by 3 days on the soy formula the puffiness disappeared. At this age it could just be collic, but I don't think it is a nomal thing for babies just to cry all day long every day. There tummy is upset for some reason and I think you need to find out what is causing it. My daughter had been put on 2 different meds in this time that were absolutely not needed, and I feel like the doctor just gave them to her to get me to quit bugging him. I was calling him once a week.
have you tried massaging your baby? or laying her on a warm hot water bottle. You might also try chamomile tea. I have heard a friend say that she gave a little to her daughter. It is calming and easy on the stomach. Good luck, and just keep this message in mind if it goes on too long.

Hi Megan! Colic is horrible! I'm sorry to hear that you and your little pumpkin are experiencing it! We did it too... for a long 9-1/2 weeks! Then it just stopped out of nowhere. We used Gripe Water. I think it took the edge off, but as soon as she started to get fussy, I gave it to her. Then her pain and crying didn't seem to get as bad. It's a horrible thing to go through. I've never tried Colic Calm, but the Gripe Water seemed to help a bit. We even put one of those bags full of herbs that you buy at the mall and put it in the microwave and layed it on her belly while we carried her all night long. I don't know if the heat helped or the scent, but she would tend to doze off with it over her belly.

We used Colic Calm and it did seem to take the edge off. It's black, so be sure if she spits it up, you have a bib on her! Another thing that helped take the edge off was Hyland's chamomilla tabs. In fact I recommend the whole Hyland's Kids Kit for teething, colds, etc. Another thing that really helped, I understand, was to wear the baby--get some good baby wraps and slings and wear her a lot during the day. The Moby Wrap is good, as is the Hug-A-Bub, and if you need more information on baby-wearing, see Mothering.com at http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_baby/babywearing/we....

Take care and good luck--it will pass!

Dear Megan,
My daughter had colic but it only lasted 3 months. I have read articles where babies can't handle the cow's milk we drink. I have not tried the products above but I think natural is best.

L. M.

I bought Colic Calm and it is messy and useless - DO NOT wate your money. The testimonies were real convincing so who knows if it works for some.

My son is on Alimentum (hypo-allergenic formula) which helped the most for his colic, but the reason he was on it starting at 2 weeks was that he had a milk allergy.

Also the occasional Mylecon drops worked well when his colic was real bad. Bottom line, he outgrew the colic in by 4 months, but he is still has lik allergies and needs to be alimentum.

Put some white noise on the tv or run the vaccum, rub her belly and love on her. Sometimes we are all too quick to give our kids a *cure* for whatever ails them. That's why most of the meds now a days do not work ne more. Children have become immune to them. Just love on her a little more :) She'll be fine. Good Luck!

It bothers me the amount of physicians who aren't ready to accept the fact that "natural remedies" have been used for years and are sometimes as effective if not more effective than not.
I used lime water with my daughter 28 years ago, it worked for us pretty well. My grandmother had told my aunt about it and she had used it on one of my cousins. When I was 17 and babysitting for a nurse who had a colic baby she used a 1/2 a teaspoon of Peppermint Snapp's in the baby's bottle. That worked for her although I don't recommend it!!!
What I have heard about Colic Calm has been pretty positive.
My prayers are with you! Colic can be very trying on the parents to say nothing of the pain for the child.

Take your baby to see a chiropractor, works almost every time. Delivery is a rough route for babies and the Chiropractor can realign any thing that is not right.It is pain free and your baby will be so peaceful afterwards.Some times it takes a few adjustments but it is money well spent.

Hi Megan - our baby was colicky for 14 weeks. I tried everything - altering my diet, wearing, carrying, swinging, being still, taking rides in the car, making sure I burped extra well, laying on the belly, Mylicon, you name it I did it and NOTHING worked. We went to the doctor and asked lots of questions, tried everything they suggested. I can totally sympathize with you.

I know it doesn't help right now (and if you're like me you might want to scream at me for saying this) but it is highly, highly likely that at around 12-16 weeks the screaming will just stop. It will be like you have a different baby. My remedy was to count down the number of days til I had a non-screaming baby. When it got really bad, I would either call up my mother-in-law (adore her!) to come and help me or I'd strap junior into the stroller and go for a brisk walk around the neighborhood (somehow the sound of the traffic temporarily calmed him).

You could try every product under the sun and I totally hope you can find one that works for your baby. But, if you don't, don't despair because this won't last forever. My heart goes out to you and I wish you the best of luck. Have friends and family help you whenever you need a break from the insanity!