43 answers

My Colicky Son Won't Sleep in His Crib

Hi. My son is 6 weeks old and has pretty bad colic. He doubles up in pain and cries alot. The only way to give him comfort and stop the screaming is to either nurs him while I lay in my bed, or to let him sleep on my chest. I bounce him and it calms him down, but then as soon as he goes to sleep and we lay him down he cries again. He needs alot of comfort because he is miserable. What I want to know is if there is any way to get him to sleep in his crib now, or should we just wait until he is no longer colicky and then try to put him in the crib? Plus, does anyone know any magic tricks to offset the discomfort these babies feel from colic? Thanks!

What can I do next?

So What Happened?™

Thanks so much for all the advice!!!! My hubby and I implemented the 5 "S"'s from The Happiest Baby On The Block and they work like a charm. That is the best book in the world, and EVERY mom should get that as a shower gift. These tips will work for anyone who is trying to put their baby to bed without problems, not just for colicky little ones.

We are able to get Ethan to sleep in his crib from 7-12, at which time he needs a diaper change and quick feeding. He doesn't wake up screaming, rather with a little whimper and then it is easy to get him back to sleep. We have had some beautiful nights! Thanks again!

Featured Answers

My son was the same. The Cradle swing saved me. We ended up getting 2 of them. You need to have it swinging on a higher speed at first. He slept in it for 6 months, naps and bedtime. I thought it was going to be hard to get him out of it but it wasn't. We swaddled him for a long time too. Milocon was great. Good luck. Remember this time will pass!

My son was very colicky. I tried everything. i finally took him to a chiropractor and with gentle adjustments he was better in less than two weeks! He aid that babies get compression in the top two cervical vertebrae from being head down in the womb. Also the top two vertebrae correspond to the eustasian tubes. anyway, big, big help. good luck

Hi A.,

Please look into chiropractic care to relieve colic........if you google it, you can find lots of info.

I have a chiropractor who treats colic in infants and makes a really big difference in their symptoms.

Best wishes,

N.

More Answers

Dear A.,

If your son is like most colicky babies than you are in it for about 6 to 9 months. I had colicky twin boys, so count your blessings that you only have one that is crying :-)
We learned a couple of tricks that worked and I want to share them with you:
* The 4Ss Swaddle (wrapped up tightly including hands), Suck, Swing, Shhhh (white noise) together will calm the baby; the colicky episodes are usually peeking around 6pm. Your son might just prefer the swinging motion or the calming of your heart beet to fall asleep, since he got used to all this (being swaddled, swinging motion, and white noise all in your womb)
Try putting him to sleep in a swing or try to put the radio in his room between 2 stations to get the white noise, vacuum is too loud for the night, but you can use it for the day.
He is just looking for his comfort zone to fall asleep and you have to help him recreate what he was used to before he was born.
When he gets older, like a couple of months you HAVE TO GET HIM USED TO THE CRIB, otherwise you have problems later.
It worked for us, the twins would sleep either in a swing or with the white noise on tightly wrapped in their cribs, sometimes with pacifiers.
I got rid of the pacifier and the swing around 6 months or so as things got better.

Email me if you need more clarification.
Good luck!
____@____.com

1 mom found this helpful

A.,

My daughter had the same problem starting around 6 weeks. It took us pretty much 3.5 months to find out what was bothering her was acid reflux and once she was properly treated for that, she was a whole new baby. The reason she couldn't sleep in her crib was that everytime we layed her down flat, the acid reflux would come up and she would wake up and cry. I would not attribute your son's unhappiness to old fashion colic. See if there is anything else going on with him. Your sanity and your son will appreciate it. The best book I read was called Colic Solved. You can find it on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Colic-Solved-Essential-Infant-Diffi...

This book has a lot of tips of what you can do at home and medically.

I hope this helps.

Hi A.,

My daughter had a similiar problem but with acid reflux. She was miserable if you laid her down and the only way she could sleep was curled up on my chest or while being rocked (which unfortunately you can't do 24/7). I ended up using a bouncy chair as my solution to getting her to sleep. I found a rocker bouncy chair at Babies R Us that kept her at an angle and had a mild vibrating setting. She totally loved it and would sleep for hours in the chair. Once she got used to the chair we put it in her crib so that she was used to it. She slept in the chair for 3 months before we moved her to a new set-up. And the nice thing about the chair was I could put it on the floor andlay down beside her to nap too. Hope this helps.

Maybe try a combination of the suggestions - my little one liked the heating pad (on low!), I elevated one side of her crib (might help if he has mild reflux), and tummy sleeping. Try the last one for naps during the day to make sure he can turn his head - I let her sleep like this once I was certain she could move if needed. She also spent a fair amount of time napping in her papasan swing. She was not colicky, but had some trouble sleeping in general, and these things helped. Good luck!

Sorry for yet another piece of advice, but my son seemed very colicky too. Come to find out I had an overactive letdown, which means when my milk let down he would literally choke on the milk. After a few minutes he would just give up. The only way to fix this was to nurse him lying down. I noticed that is what you do with your child, so you might just want to google the term 'overactive letdown' to see if this is what is going on with you. If it is, you will notice a difference with your child within a day. Good luck!

A. i can relate to your problem my daughter was colic also. it just about drove me crazy all the crying not being able to comfort her or ease her pain. i am Native American Indian and i was a real young mother i was 17 when my daughter was born and she is now 21yrs old. colic it will last for about 3 months so it will end. back then i was told to put a teaspoon of Karo Syrup in her milk bottle to help soften her stools, rub your babies belly dont pust on it, i gave my daughter juice i know she was too young to have juice but it did help her and she didn't have as much pain. but today there are medication you can buy and give babies i wish i had that back then. My daughter also slept on mine or my husbands chest this was the only way we would be able to get a good night sleep it seemed like she was more fussy at night. i hope this helps you out and your able to help your son find some peace and be able to enjoy him during this hard time but it will end. Good Luck

I feel your pain. My son was also colicky and it lasted for just over 3 months. He was miserable and wouldn't sleep anywhere except at my side and I was sleep deprived! It was a horrible 3 months for my husband and I. I know how frustated you must feel. Some of the things that I tried and that (sometimes) worked were giving him a baby hot water bottle for his tummy, laying him on my stomach to sleep ALL NIGHT LONG, taking him outside during the early evening hours to calm him, laying him down with his head slightly elevated (there are tons of sleep aids for this), and swaddling him (although after about 2 months he hated this!).

Good luck and know that it doesn't last forever and you'll be enjoying sleep very soon :)

B. D.

Hi A.,
My son wasn't diagnosed as "colicky" but our pediatrician did suspect a bit of reflux and suggested letting him sleep in his bouncer to help keep his head above his stomach. We lowered the crib all the way down and put the bouncer on vibrate in there. We bought two sets of rechargable batteries for it and would swap out a newly charged set every night. We'd swaddle him for comfort, strap him in for safety and it worked like a charm. Don't get me wrong, he still woke up to nurse every couple of hours, but otherwise he was sleeping in his crib. Best of luck.

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