Colic - Elgin, IL

If her baby is less than 3 months old.....try Happies Baby on the Block by Harveyr Karp before changing diet, ading meds, etc. But the DVD, watch the 30 nminute video and then implement the 5 SSS. if this still doesn't work then do the things others have said. The DVD works wonders!

5 SSSSS
Swaddle
Suck
Side
Swing
SHHHH

I think the book The Happiest Baby on the Block has some great tips for soothing babies. Mine have not had colic but the tips worked.

My 2nd daughter also was colicky so I know what she is going through. I have seen colic tablets in the store and also some other remedies for it as well. I do not know if they work because I found them after we were done with the colic. She may want to try them. They were by the teething tablets and orajel at any drug store. Tell her to hang in there, it does eventually come to and end even if it doesn't seem like it now.

My son actually had colic as well for the first four months and it was really hard. The pediatriction actually prescibed a medication that helped out somewhat after a couple of months, but he still had screaming fits. It was a very difficult time and the only thing that had me keep my sanity was to sometimes (it may sound horrible) make sure my son was okay, set him in his crib, and just walk away for 5-10 minutes. If she doesn't, she will lose her mind! Have her talk to her pediatriction, and if she has anyway questions, feel free to ask me anything! Tell your sister that they say colicky babies are supposed to be extremely intelligent children! Patience is the key word....

There is no answer. She just needs to believe it will stop (like magic) mostly like between 2 and 4 months.

My daughter screamed like someone was cutting off her arm from about 6 pm to about 8 pm starting at 2 weeks. I was lucky, she stopped at 10 weeks or so. I tried everything ie swaddling, gas drops, bathing, rocking, lying tummy down, being in dark room. Nothing worked, nothing. I was lucky some scream for a longer time period and for more weeks.

My sister used to come once a week and hold her for me while she screamed. I really appreciated that.

Crazy as it may sound, for my family I honestly believe it's a family curse. My mother's 1st born colic, my sister's 1st born colic, my 1st born colic. My daughter is now 4 and tells me she wants to adopt a baby... hopefully she'll break the curse!

Just be there for your sister.

Hi P.,

My son had really bad colic and the only advice is:
1. Be patient, as this will pass.
2. Ask for help and get your rest during the day.

Everything else doesn't work, sadly, you just have to ride out the storm and hope it goes away sooner rather than later.

Best of luck to her!

J.

Read "The Happiest Baby on the Block." Really good.
- C.

My son was colicky for 12 weeks. He started screaming on day #2 in his life.

I was like Kathy, a previous poster, who tried EVERYTHING. I was exclusively pumping so I altered my diet completely, we swaddled him, we put him in the swing, we held him in the colic hold, we gave him Mylicon, we had him thoroughly checked out by the doctor, you name it we did it and nothing seemed to help quell the daily screaming and crying jags. And, it's not like I tried a technique once or twice or removed food items for a day...we're talking getting rid of a food or trying a technique for 2-4 weeks!

I logged everything my baby would do in a day - sleeping, eating, screaming, what he was producing in his diaper, just tracking all sorts of relevant data to try to make sense out of this issue. I found no pattern whatsoever, which of course made me feel like a failure of a mother because my kid did nothing but scream...and we're not talking the "witching hour" in the evening...we're talking all day long. I won't have another child because, emotionally, I cannot endure this ever again.

I remember posting about this when my son was colicky and many of the mothers who had experienced the same thing said that, for whatever reason, around 12 weeks the colic seems to end like flipping off a switch. So I hoped and prayed and counted down to that 12-week mark. I should have added an extra two weeks to that estimate, because at around 14 weeks the screaming/crying just stopped. And I finally felt like I didn't suck at being a mom.

Have the baby thoroughly checked out by a pediatrician and if breastfeeding, look into kellymom or some other reputable website to determine if a dietary change might help. People will tell you that there is 'something' wrong with your baby if he or she is colicky, but as someone speaking from experience, there was nothing wrong with my baby and he just needed to outgrow it.

"The Happiest Baby on the Block" by Dr. Harvey Karp is a fantastic book to help soothe the baby. It's an easy read and only $7 in the paperback version.

good luck. my daughter has it for 1 year. one day it was over. i thought i was never going to make it. i was the only one that could handle her, or the only one that she wanted to be with. it was horrible. all the doctors said was that she would outgrow it. it was hard but she did. tell her good luck and have some patience. it will end.

a lot of times people think they have a baby with colic, but I have heard that unless your baby cries continually for 6 hours or more a day without being consolable they actually don't have colic. It could just be gas pain. Gas drops help after every feeding and if nursing making sure the mom is not eating foods that would cause gas pain. Try going to this website www.familylife.com and seeing if you can get in touch with the woman who wrote the book "Moms on Call" They are pediatric nurses who addressed this issue in the book and on their radio show. Maybe it would help.

Now days most doctors agree that colic is nearly always acid-relux. Go to the pediatrician and get zantac or some other mild medicine. Chances are the baby, and mommy, will be loads happier. Colic is almost always completely avoidable and curable. In the mean time, keep the baby head-above-feet all the time, try to keep meals smaller, burp well, and dont put the diaper too tight around the waist. Really, take baby to doc. Almost all pediatricians are happy to dispense a month's worth of zantac. A month is often all that is needed as the baby's digestive system will mature during that time.

White noise helps, try vacuuming. If you don't want to run the vacuum all the time, I also used to put my son on top of the dryer in the bouncy chair while it ran. I got some laundry done while he slept there. He was like clock work exactly 7:00 p.m. to 12 midnight (no earlier or later). He was fine if we held him upright the entire time while we were standing, but if we tried to sit or even tried to sit on the arm of the chair he knew and he would start to cry. That was tiring. I can't remember how long his colicness lasted, but it just stopped one day. That was 11 years ago. The dryer and car rides worked for me to relieve me from holding him for 5 straight hours. My husband and I took turns. Good Luck.

I Promise it will stop...right now it feels like it won'r, but it will. Just take it hour by hour...

My daughter had colic from about 6 weeks old until 4 months old. (She just stopped about 2-3 weeks ago. The same things didn't always work for her. Sometimes I offered the bottle. Sometimes the gas drops worked. Sometimes rocking her in the rocking chair helped. One night when she was entering her 3 hour of crying we flipped on the vacuum cleaner and wouldn't you know it she stopped. So, we found a website online that had cd's for sale for $10 of a vacuum cleaner running. The CD is about 1 hour long and we used it all the time. I would say that this worked 80% of the time. The most important thing is to remember to stay calm. Good Luck.

either take them for a ride in the car or put them in the car seat, turn on the dryer and put them on top of the dryer. Those worked for us and my mother in law, although my child was only colic for a week. Good Luck.

Our daughter had what many people called colic, but it turned out to be acid reflux- she was screaming because she was in pain. She spit up a lot, so the doc tried meds fairly early, but many babies don't spit up. Zantac didn't work for her though, so it wasn't until she was on prevacid for a full 2 weeks that we saw an improvement. In the meantime, if she sleeps on an incline, like in her bouncer or swing, that helps some. It's hard. I hope it's better soon!

I have to agree with the poster who suggested the chiropractor. When our second son was born, he cried all of the time. He wouldn't nap during the day and he had trouble sleeping at night unless we were holding him. Evenings were the worst- he cried so much. By six weeks I was at the end of my rope. I was starting to cry all of the time because I was so tired and stressed out and I was having trouble bonding with my baby.

My husband really wanted me to take him to a chiropractor, but I was resistant. Finally, I couldn't take any more and I made an appointment. We could see a difference after the first appointment and by 3 weeks he was an entirely different baby.

The doctor mostly did light massage on his back and there was a spot that was really tense that the doctor said was a pressure point for the intestinal tract. You could see my baby relax after about 30 seconds with the doctor. He would start off tense and crying and switch to relaxed with a smile right before my eyes. He is almost 2 now and we haven't had another problem.

If your sister is breastfeeding, have her keep track of everything she eats. My daughter found if she had anything with tomatoes or onions, she had a screaming baby. She may have to be on a very restrictive diet until the baby is a little older.

If the baby is on formula, she could try changing formula.

I have a couple other things that people have done that have helped. It sometimes takes being a detective to figure out what is going on.

I agree with the previous post, Dr. Sears says the biggest culprits to colic if b-fed is dairy and wheat. I also had to eliminate all nuts too. Nutragimen is a formula for colicky babies. Try Colic Calm which can be found online, suppose to be better than gripe water even. A good dose of probiotics is another good idea, even for the baby. FloraBaby by Renew Life and can be found at www.smartbomb.com

Good luck!

If she's on formula, try a new formula.
If she's breastfed then mom may need to eliminate trouble foods from her diet and see if that works...like green peppers, onions, garlic, spicey foods, milk....
She can take pro-biotics for her digestive system and that might eliminate gas in the baby.
My sister-in-law says she gets something called "Gripes Water" from the health store and that helps too...better than Mylecon drops.
Make sure she burps baby very well. Try a swing if she hasn't already (that helped my daughter).
Long walks outside helped mine too. For some reason fresh air and naps in a stroller helped her be more content at night. She was born in January and I would just put her in a snow suit...pack her in the stroller with blankets all around so she wouldn't flop over, put a blanket over the stroller to block the wind and she was a happy camper. I didn't like it much, but it made her happier and thus I felt better.

There are various resources for colic babies, but many times, colic has to do with the babies digestion, many times there may be a formula or something the mother is eating that may cause the baby to be aggrevated.. Try having the baby sleep on its stomache, of course Dr.'s don't recommend that, but my daughter has been sleeping her stomache since she was 4 weeks old she's 14 months now. The pressure on the stomach help them release gas. Also working her legs back and forth may help as well. My mother-in-law also told me about rubbing warm caster oil on the babies stomach and placing a warm towel so that the caster oil is absorbed through the skin - that works believe it or not. There is as a homeopathic drop called, I think Colic water, you would need to try a health or whole food store. But it is an herbal remedy. A few drop of peppermint tea, like in a little drop as works. Try some of these suggestions. I hope one of them works for you. D. B.

at such a young age, his crying is an indication that something is bothering him. He is only soothed by being held. Homeopathy is a great natural medicine that you can try. Go to Whole Foods, Fruitful Yield, sometimes Jewel or Dominick's has it in the natural foods section or the baby section. Try the Colic formula -- here's what it looks like:
http://hylands.com/products/colic.php

Put 2 tablets into 4 oz of purified or bottled water and swirl for 15 seconds. Keep it in a glass jar or a baby bottle in the fridge. Drip 1/4 tsp into his mouth. Repeat every 15 min until he settles for a maximum of 6 times. Once he's a lot better, stop giving the remedy. If this does not help, you should see a professional homeopathic Dr who can help him. We go to Dr. Josephine Polich in Naperville. www.dupagehomeopathic.com is her website and it has a ton of great newsletters, testimonials, etc. There are other homeopathic Dr.s in the area, though. This medicine is over 200 yrs old and has no side effects, which even Newborn Tylenol has. It's such a wonderful medicine, it helps my son w/ his eczema and food allergies.
Email me offlist if you want to know more about it or how to find a different homeopath in the area.
best of luck and congratulations. -- oh, and if you don't have a baby carrier or a sling, you should try that. I recommend mobywrap.com for now, and mayawrap.com for later on.

P.:

they need to find out what is causing the colic.... I would start with a lactation consultant... a chiropractor, a cranial sacral therapist...

P., RLC, IBCLC, CST
Breastfeeding and Parenting Solutions

If she doesn't already have it, get her the book "Happiest Baby on the Block." Then tell her to read it and do exactly what it says. It really does work. If the baby is vomitting a lot, make sure it doesn't have reflux. Or even if it doesn't vomit, make sure the doctor rules out relux. I had one colic and two reflux babies. The beginning is hard, but it does get better. Also, there is a cd called For Crying out Loud. Colicky babies respond very well to loud sounds (ie a blow dryer) and this cd has them all.

If you can, give her all the support you can and take the baby for a while and give her a break from the screaming. I know first hand that it can be maddening.

My older son had colic. It does end eventually. I think for him I should have tried harder with things like swaddling and keeping him a less-stimulating, dark environment. But it's hard to say - eventually, it does end. Some kids like music, some like rocking - you just have to try different things. Gas drops helped a little bit. I think he was also very tired by the end of the day because he just didn't know how to nap well. Good luck to your sister!

Some take there baby to a chiropractor. That did not work for my son. We found out that is was my nervousness was coming through my breast milk and ended up having to wean at 4 months.
Any kind of broccoli, chocolate, etc. can cause a baby to have colic.

Best of Luck to your sister,

Try taking her/him to the chiropractor. I had a crabby/colicky daughter that would just CRY unless she was held...after a couple weeks of going to the chiro she became a whole new child. Good luck to your sis.

Hi P. - I used a service called The Fussy Baby Network when my little boy had colic. A lady came to our house and was a big support to us over several months. Check it out:
http://www.fussybabynetwork.org/
Call 888-431-BABY

i know i'm responding a little late, but my daughter now 5 was a colicky baby. our nurse suggested we try a constant soothing noise like but a blanket on the dryer and lay her on top of it or run the hair dryer. she also suggested a few drops of chamomile tea. We tried just about everything. the one thing that i won't suggest is letting the baby cry it out. Though it mean be seem like they're crying for nothing, colicky babies are going through something. and like other moms suggested, it's probably gas. We ended up having to change her formula to a Similac Alimentum and within a matter of two or three days on the formula....she stopped crying. if she's breastfeeding, she has to stay away from foods that will cause gas in the baby. Good luck to your sister.

There is some good research out there that says Probiotics has a very positive effect on babies with colic. You might want to call your pediatrician and let them know what you have read and seek their advise regarding dosing

Just part of the article, regarding infants:

A study published in the January 2007 issue of the medical journal Pediatrics demonstrated that daily doses of Lactobacillus reuteri significantly reduced symptoms in infants diagnosed with colic.
Researchers reported that by the seventh day of treatment, 95 percent of infants receiving probiotics showed an improvement in colic symptoms.
Only 7 percent of infants receiving simethicone, a commonly
prescribed anti-gas medication, demonstrated a reduction in colic symptoms. Although parents of colicky babies may be sorely tempted to take matters into their own hands, it's best to consult with a physician before administering any medications or supplements to infants and children.

Probiotics do more than just improve the health and comfort of the intestinal tract. There's mounting evidence to suggest that they may be beneficial in lowering cholesterol levels, reducing symptoms of food allergies, and improving eczema and other skin disorders.

I hope this helps

A.

Cat Nip Tea! It has been used very successfully for years with babies that suffer from colic. It relaxes the baby and is not harmful. I would make my baby 4 ounces and sweeten with a little sugar, serve warm and it worked wonders.

We though my daughter was colicky and then found out at 5 weeks she had silent acid reflux with many classic symptoms except for all the spitting up. Reflux can cause colickly behavior so you might want to rule that out. That is SO hard, I have been there. Tell her to hang in there, it can't get any worse :o)