Babies: 3 - 6 Months

When does "it get better"?

DS is only a month and a half old and he is incredibly colicky and has reflux and gas issues that basically equate to him screaming or crying 90% of the time he's awake. We've been to the doctor (multiple times) and are doing everything we can but have basically been told he needs to outgrow it. Whenever we are telling friends or family about how incredibly demanding and high maintenance DS is (not to mention how unhappy he always seems) the classic response is, "It gets better I promise!" I'm just curious from those of you who maybe had a baby with similar issues, when did things actually start to get better? I need a light at the end of this tunnel. DH and I are goin to end up in the looney bin soon!
Mr. & Mrs. UMich! July 2006! :-)
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Re: When does "it get better"?

  • My nephew had colic and acid reflux. I think it was around three months the colic lessened and acid reflux, about 5 months or so (when he started rice cereal). Hope this helps! It does get better. Hang in there!
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  • Colic definitely peaked in the 6-8 week range and started going back down to a more manageable level after that (it was not sudden, but gradual).  At it's worst, we couldn't get her to bed before 2 am because she just kept waking and screaming.  Now we're able to get her to bed by about 10-10:30 every night.  She's still gassy and has "episodes", which is why we can't get her on a consistent earlier bed time, but they are far shorter in duration and much more manageable. 

    I know you're having a tough time.  I think the first couple of months are like parenting boot camp, so you appreciate things more once they calm down a little.  (Hugs) 


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  • Things started improving for us around 8 or 9 weeks I think....and if it makes you feel any better, I was so sleep deprived I barely remember any of it. Then we had a few good weeks and last week was a mess (growth spurt or Wonder Week, I am assuming). And I am sure we will have a few more good weeks before the four month wakeful or teething or something else comes along! We just finally had a really great weekend that made me go 'okay, I get why people decide to do this whole baby thing again'. DD had all the same things, plus MSPI, so she was definitely an unhappy baby. But now, for the. Most part, our good days outweigh the bad and we are actually starting to have fun with her. On our really bad days, I would write down a little list of good things - like she smiled at me twice, or I got to take a shower AND shave my legs, or she didn't cry for 30 whole minutes, just to keep myself a little sane. I feel your pain, but it really will get better! Hang in there!
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  • L has silent reflux and had colic. She and I were miserable the first 8 weeks. If she was up she was crying. At around 8 weeks the colic went from everynight to a few days a week, then it just stopped. By 3 months I had a completely different baby. I cannot even believe I can say that now because I thought it would never end and I was going to be committed to a hospital. I developed PPD so those first couple months were really a nightmare. Seriously, it does actually get better! I think you are close so hang in there, I have been there. I never even went anywhere besides relatives houses because she was always crying. I didn't even want to go to their houses but I was on mat leave for 12 weeks and needed to get out a little bit. Now we take her to restaurants and she sits on my lap, doing nothing but looking around. I tell you, new baby! She's been at DC for 2 days now and they say she is very happy and content... Something no one ever said before!

    Lillian April 17, 2012
  • Weeks 6-8 were the worst for us in terms of crying episodes.  It got much, much better around week 9 and by week 10, he was pretty much a happy baby all the time (except when he gets hungry, lol :)  Good luck!
  • Our DS had a phase of about 1.5-2weeks of being miserable in the evenings from about 5-9pm.  Every baby's circimstance is different but it turned out our DS was mainly just overtired.  I started a bedtime routine about 7pm and it got so much better!

    Edit:  Sorry I forgot to mention his fussiness stopped around 6 or 7 weeks (I think!  Haha, it's already a blur!)

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  • Our DD1 had acid reflux and collic. It was hell. It started to get better when we started to give her solids.  She was on the AR formula that has rice cereal in it but that also constipated her. Then we discovered similac sensitive and began to introduce other solid foods. 
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  • I am not sure you want to hear my response.  

    Its "gets better" for a multitude of reasons.  You get used to your child and understand how to live you life as a family.  Your baby will also grow up and be able to express more, take in more, move on their own.  And then, of course, the "colick" will get better too.

    My daughter had colick for 18 weeks.  We then had chronic ear infections until tubes were placed at 6 months.  She is 22 months.  She is still high needs to this day.  

    Don't get me wrong, at 6 months-- I could breath.  At 9 months-- I could laugh.  At 12 months-- I almost couldn't remember the horribleness of those first months (almost).  

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  • Poor UMichGirl! Sorry you're having a hard time...

    10 weeks was my turning point... Around 9 weeks we were out on reflux Meds and I cut dairy out of my diet (I EBF). 

    Hang in there, girl!!! 

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  • Wow, I could have written your post.  I feel so bad for you only because I was there not long ago.  In fact our pedi told us to "buy ear plugs" because DS cried so much (that really ticked me off).  I remember thinking, "why do people keep having babies?" because things were just so bad.  But sure enough around 3-4 months things got better literally overnight.  It was like one day he woke up and was happy.  I'll never forget that day when I went to get him in the morning and he was smiling back at me.  And then the next day and the next....I couldn't even believe it.  It was like he was a different baby.  I really hope this happens for you too.

    We went through Probiotics, gas drops, acid reflux meds, etc.  I don't know that any of that really helped him.  I do feel like he kind of needed to just grow out of some of his digestive issues.  He slept in his RNP for 3 months and then I moved him to his crib since I was going back to work.  He actually seemed happy in his crib at 3 months and I think doing it that early made it an easy transition.  I know a lot of babies like to be swaddled, but I really think LO did not.  Once we stopped swaddling he found his thumb, and that also helped him self soothe and be a happier baby.  He loves his thumb.  I fought it for a while and then realized that was my key to a full night's rest.

    Good luck to you.  I definitely know how hard it is.  And I would look around at posts with all these happy babies and wonder what happened to mine.   It really made me sad that I could never interact with him without him crying.  I didn't even take him out alone until he was 4 months old!  It just wasn't worth it to me because I knew he'd start screaming and I wouldn't be able to help him stop.  Do the best you can right now to get through it and know that with every week that passes you are one week closer to him growing out of it.  I used to keep the song by Darius Rutger in my head, "It won't be like this for long."  :)

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  • It does get better and you learn to tolerate it better, at 3 months we went from crying all the time to crying for hours... Sounds horrible but it was a great improvement.  When lo starts sitting, eating and crawling things tend to calm down. 

    Some babies are just cranky but I would recommending working on reflux meds to get lo some comfort...

    Is your lo on the right dose for weight? We change our dose every 3-4 weeks as lo gains weight.

    Is there a different med to try? We had to try 3 before finding the right one.

    Have you looked into food intolerances? Taking milk out of my diet made a big change for DS2 (although it took18 days) and changing formulas was the key for DS1 (it took 4 formulas)

    I would recommend the book called colic solved, great insight on reflux! 

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  • For us, the turnaround happened about three weeks ago. For about a week I was walking around on eggshells, refusing to believe that there had finally been "a change". It seemed too good to be true.

    Now, don't get me wrong, DS is still very moody, and we he's not happy, he lets you know it. The last few nights we've been experimenting with bedtimes, as he's been waking up so early. Well, let's just say that 8:00 was too late, and he let us know by having a screaming fit. But, I know now that when he wakes up, chances are he'll be happy, and a good 80% of the time if he's upset, there's an obvious reason (tired, hungry, etc.). He still has gas issues sometimes, so we still have some bad days here and there. 

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