Is this colic?

melaniejt

My 3 week old DD has started having some terrible evenings. We will try to get her to go to bed around 6 or 7 change her, feed her, rock her but it will literally take us on average 3 hours to finally get her to sleep. She will go in and out of being asleep, but she'll wake up and scream bloody hell, even while I'm rocking her. I'm full time breastfeeding, but after the initial feeding which I'm also frustrated about because she's only eating 5 to 8 mins on one side now, she doesn't want to eat anymore so I can't even calm her down that way. We give her a pacifier, which works, but only for so long! Her cries kill me and make me feel like I'm doing something wrong and that I can't fix whatever it is that's hurting her. I am in tears every night.

I'm not sure if this is colic or not, but whatever it is, it sucks. The only reason I'm not sure if its colic is because the other night, the same thing happened but she wasn't crying bloody hell. She was just wide awake the whole time.

Can anyone offer any advice?

On another note, since i worry about everything I thought I'd ask this too. DD seems to only like to sleep with her head facing to the right. Is this normal or should I worry about it? I don't want her to have to go to physical therapy down the road! She sleeps on her back, but again, head facing to the right all the time. A lot of the time, her body will shift too. She moves so much at night that I swear it feels like she's going to roll over!

Other than these things and my breastfeeding issues posted on breastfeeding forum, she's a pretty happy baby. She sleeps for 23 hours at a time, plenty of wet dialers, but she only poops once a day. Any help would be great!

Clbehenna

It could be colic. Sounds similar to our situation right around the three week mark, but our ended up being a reflux issue. It was always following a feeding. Is she showing signs of reflux at all?

melaniejt

I'm not sure what all the signs are of reflux. She's not always fussy after a feeding, but during a feeding she just seems not completely happy. She latches on and off, only for 5 to 8 mins, makes clicking noises even when I have a good latch, and sometimes cries out like there's something yucky in my milk. She doesn't spit up too often, but she does sometimes.

MeaganG11

This sounds like what a book I read calls "the witching hour". Basically where babies have been stimulated so much during the day that they have to let it all out at night. They cry really for no reason other than needing to get the frustration of the day out. Our LO does this (he's just over 2 weeks old). He'll be fed, have a clean diaper, and still be inconsolable. The book says that cuddling them during this time only prolongs the witching hour because cuddling is stimulation. We let LO cry for about five minutes in a quiet place (usually his bassinet while we sit close by to make sure he's okay) to see if he quotes himself. Sometimes he does, but if he's still crying after the five minutes, we pick him up, cuddle him, soothe him until he stops crying, then lay him back down. If he starts crying again, we repeat the process. We only do this after he's been fed and changed (and bathed) so we know he's not crying from hunger. 

 

Obviously I'm no expert, but this works for us.  

RissKay

Sounds like what we're experiencing, and we're sure it's colic. Sorry I don't have any advice, other than to just step away for a minute if you need to so you don't get too overwhelmed!

I've never heard of sleeping facing one side giving a baby neck problems to the point of PT.

kateraid

melaniejt:

I'm not sure what all the signs are of reflux. She's not always fussy after a feeding, but during a feeding she just seems not completely happy. She latches on and off, only for 5 to 8 mins, makes clicking noises even when I have a good latch, and sometimes cries out like there's something yucky in my milk. She doesn't spit up too often, but she does sometimes.

 

this sounds like you could have an over-active letdown. Maybe it's causing extreme gas which is making her uncomfortable. Try the colic massages on YouTube. Good luck!  

shortysgrrl01

My girl had colic and it did start around 3 weeks. They say the clue is-3 weeks, at least 3 times a week, for 3 hours. Hers started at 3 weeks and it wasn't every day. But it was frequent. She would start around 5pm and would completely shut off by 8pm. Does she automatically just shut off at a certain time? I would say that would be a clue. Mine is FF so I did a few things like add probiotics to her formula, which helped a little but ultimately time was what cured it. At 10 weeks she just shut off as quick as she started. Out of nowhere I had a happy baby. It's hard, I know, my husband works nights so I did it mostly on my own. But everyone told me, and they were right, it will end and it will get better. I promise!

june10-06

It sounds like "witching hour" if its only in evenings. We had this for a few weeks around 3weeks, but it has (knock on wood!) stopped already. Google witching hour for info. We just did whatever it took to get through it: feeding, holding, swing, baby wearing, paci, rocking and taking turns so we didn't lose it!:)

FutureMrsBB

june1006:

It sounds like "witching hour" if its only in evenings. We had this for a few weeks around 3weeks, but it has knock on wood! stopped already. Google witching hour for info. We just did whatever it took to get through it: feeding, holding, swing, baby wearing, paci, rocking and taking turns so we didn't lose it!:

This is what works for us, my Ergobaby and Moby are my lifesavers right now.