Colic - Manitowoc, WI

My son is now 9 weeks and seems to be taming down a little..he normally was "crabby" from 9p-11p or so. Standing near a sink while running the water or standing by the stove with the exhaust fan over it running seemed to help for some reason...He also responded well to being "swung". Sometimes sitting in a actual infant swing was enough, other times he needed something more "homemade" like two people holding the ends of a blanket that he sat in like a hammock or sitting in his carseat while I swung that back and forth (warning, that one gets VERY heavy). Good Luck!

My son had colic for about a week or so and then it just went away. I think we were lucky. This is going to sound crazy but it's the only thing that worked for us. I would put him in the sling and stand in the bathroom with the hair dryer on. The swing did absolutely nothing for us. He refused to be put down. Good luck with whatever you try :o)

Did you try baby magic tea? If not try it out. I have the same phase and this tea made better results. It's organic and non-alcoholic tea, so no harm to newborns.

Get the "Happiest Baby on The Block". This book talks about how to comfort your baby so that you trigger a calming reflex that makes the colic go away.

http://www.thehappiestbaby.com/

With our son one of the only thing that helped him was putting the gas drops into his bottle and if he would act up in between feedings our ped dr told us to have him suck on on a pepermint stick. Being its christmas time.. there are all kinds of candy canes out there.. just make sure its peperment. The peperment helps calm the belly. Just make sure its not more than a couple of minutes you let him suck on it because of the sugar that's in it. Make sure there isn't any splinter on it that can cut his tongue. We would always put it in our mouths and roll our tongue on it first to make sure and then wash it in warm running water to get the germs off it.
We would also give him a bath with the soothing bath gel and wrap him in his blanket right from the dryer and then lay him down, that always seemed to help him sleep longer. When he would wake up for his feeding in the middle of the night before we would lay him back down we would put another warm blanket on him and he also slept on his side in a wedge not on his back, if he was on his back it seemed to be worse.

Good luck!!

If it is related to gas you can try a few things;
* mylicon infant drops ~ Wonderful stuff! find at a regular pharmacy in infant section. Use proactivly by putting directly into bottle with formula/ or prior to nursing. If you are nursing anything that goes into you goes into breast milk so cut out anything that creates gas (onion, garlic, cabbage, and tomatoes are acidic, citric fruits as well)
* Warm blankets in the dryer and wrap baby up tight in the warmed blankets like a little burrito!
* Try having baby on tummy with the legs under tummy so it's butt kinda sticks up or hold so legs are bunched up under tummy, this helps to pass gas. Another thing is to take the legs and do a biking motion with the legs this also helps to pass gas.
* Sometimes a warm bath will also help.

Good luck!
All of these are safe for baby, I am a labor and delivery nurse and take care of brand new little one all the time!

Have you tried taking your son to the Chiropractor. Yes they do work on little babies. I did with my daughter and my sister did with hers. It helps and like my sister she found one that specialized in infants and helped with there diet also and pinpointed what made them fussy. Hope this works. Congratulations on your new little addition.

A.,
Maybe he has reflux, to my understanding that is what causes colic. If you are lying him flat you may want to try elevating his mattress about 20 degrees to see if that helps. Also keep him upright for at least 20 minutes after he eats. Happened with my second and usually only happened at night because during the day she was sleeping in her carseat, bouncey seat our in someone's arms. Also true colic usually occurs in the late afternoon, early evening. So he could just be over-tired or over-stimulated by that time of night. I always tired turning the lights down low in the evening and keeping noise down to help my babies know it was time to sleep soon.
Good luck to you. I know when you're in the moment it is hard.
Also know he will grow out of it.

My son cried a lot the first two months of his life. My neighbor saved us when she said her sister would bounce her baby on one of the big yoga balls. Just sit on it holding your baby and bounce. It didn't always make him stop crying but it was a life saver for us. When our guy was about three or four months he just stopped crying so much. It will get better! Good luck.

My son had colic and gastroesophageal reflux. This started at about 5 weeks and we thought we would never see the end of it. He was at least 10 months old before he was tolerable - day and night. But the evenings were the worst beginning around 6 p.m. and lasting until about 11 p.m. We took the advice of every book, doctor, friend, etc. None of the common remedies alone would get him to stop screaming so we began experimenting and combining recommedations. Here is what eventually worked (but was a major pain to endure every night): We took him in the bathroom, seated him on our lap facing the mirror (away from us), stuck our thumb in his mouth so he could suck on it (apparently the shape was better than the pacifier and since I was nursing perhaps the skin was somehow soothing), turned on the shower and the bathroom fan. This was all we ever found that made him happy during those hours. Good luck to you. I feel your pain.

The good news is (though it doesn't seem like it at the time) that this WILL pass. Usually no longer than when they turn 6 months. My little guy now is wonderful. Well behaved, compassionate, kind, and highly likable. I credit it to having gone through the worst in the first year. It's all been better ever since.

About me: Mother of a 4 1/2 year old boy and a little girl on the way in March. I'm a stay at home mom since my son was born and I have a loving, extremely helpful husband without whom I would never have survived those colic and reflux days. Keep us posted on how things go.

I am a chiropractor and have seen good results for colic. Sometimes the spinal nerves are irritated from the trauma of birth and since the nerves from the spine innervate the entire body it can cause pain, reflux, digestive problems, etc. It is very gentle and may help. I am in the Plymouth area. I may be able to recommend someone depending on where you live.

L.

hi there i'm 19 and also a mother of a little girl that is 6 1/2 week old and she has colic between 6pm to about 9-10 pm. i went crazy for a while unsure what it was that she wanted but now i let her cry for a while becuase i think she just needs to cry. but to try and help soothe her i give her baby massages she likes it on her legs... but once that stops and she cries again i rock and sing to her... sometime her swing works. have you tried car rides... my keira stops when we do that. also a warm bath.

isnt it strange that its only at those times and they change so quickly from our little angel to a little terror!!! i hope that helps....

i really hope those suggestions work... if you have already tried them i'm sorry i couldn't help

alwase
V.

I read a ton of books and tried it all with my little colicky girl (Happiest Baby on the Block method, special anise concoctions, chiropractor, cutting dairy out of my diet in case she was lactose intolerant to the cow dairy in my breast milk...). What ended up calming her was sitting on a yoga ball and bouncing her gently up and down in our arms for hours. Massaging the gas out of her abdomen by pushing her legs up and kneading her back while she was laying flat and rubbing her belly (as our chiro showed us) helped somewhat at different times. For many of these children it really is a digestive thing that is still developing.

"shhh'ing" while you bounce the baby can help calm him. Colic is something that unfornately there isn't *much* you can do. There are some homeopathic meds that can help you a bit. If I can suggest...you might want to talk with your doc about possible reflux issues. It might be as simple as propping his crib mattress a bit at night if that's what it is.

GOOD LUCK!

S.
(Parker, 4.5 and Maddie, 20 months)

My boys never had colic, but my friends little boy did, around midnight like your little one. What worked for her was to put a swaddling blanket in the dryer and get it warm, then wrap him up tight and lay him on his belly right on her belly, so his head was on her chest and his belly was against hers. Worked like a charm and they all got some sleep.

I hope you get some rest soon.

I'm going through the same thing. It started when she was a few weeks old and now she's a bit over 8 weeks and she still goes from 9-12 midnight. When she starts I check/change her diaper, make sure she's not sick too hot/cold, rub her belly sometimes, I put her in the swing, talk to her, I try feeding her, shhhing in her ear helps, humming sometimes helps, and what I usually do after checking all that is nothing. I let her lay down and cry until she cries herself to sleep. The shhhing and humming only worked for a very, very small amount of time and she started up again. You might also want to give gas drops at the feedings. This didn't help much for me and the doctor said it may not work but I tried it anyway. Some people have success with gas drops. If there's nothing you can do to quiet your baby what can you do? nothing, in my opinion. When I look at it this way it makes the crying more tolerable and if I've tried all that I could and nothing works I feel there is no option but to let her cry. My friend suggested that I cut out cola and chocolate but my doctor says that since she's not cranky after each feeding that it's not my diet. I read that you can rub from the left of belly over and down the right side. Pretty much a big circle. I've heard a warm cloth on the belly might help. I heard it goes away around 2-3 months though. I'm waiting for the time I can go to bed at 9 or 10pm. I posted this then read some responses you received. Since colic is linked to gas or stomach upset I'd recommend the ocean wonders swing or a swing that swings side to side and/or forward and backward. Side to side should reduce spit up from happening. I hope something works for you and like previous poster said...it will get easier as the months wear on.

please let me know what you find that works, I have a little boy that was a preemie that is very colic we have tried every thing too and have gone to the dr because we thought maybe there was something wronge with him being first time parents I know we try the stuff called gripe water it work for a couple of weeks but lately it hasn't you could try that it is all organic(ginger extract ans fennel extract) and you have to get it at all natural store. I also found out that when I hold him in snugll so I can keep me hands free and he is close and can sleep with me while I answer e-mail clean ect. I think he likes to be close and that seems to calm him a little. GOOD luck let me know what works

My brother's baby was VERY colicy...when my Mom went to visit them (they live in Europe) she took some Mylicon and did the knees against the chest thing and it helped tremendously. My sister-in-law cried when my Mom left asking her to stay just until he was 18 years old (lol). But, I think different things work for different babies... Good luck!!!!

chiropractor...

many babies can be cured of collic with just one visit...

Swadling our daughter and putting her in her swing usually worked the best. Just remember when nothing seems to be working that this will pass soon and life will get easier. If you don't have a swing I highly recommend it...it was a lifesaver during our worst times with colic. Good luck and hang in there!
B.