Experienced with Colic? Come on in!

ct103 · May 2013

I posted last night that DD is reverse cycling. Well, after last night's disaster, it occurred to me that she may be colicky. She cried consistently from 10pm to 3am, which she has done for the last three nights. At first I thought she was just wide awake and pissed off that we were trying to put her to sleep. Only last night did we realize that she's gassy as well.

We try burping, but it usually results in nothing when she's screaming, or even worse when she finally gets sleepy. We spend most of the night patting her back in every position possible! We've also tried warm baths, bouncing and walking with her, soothing music, white noise, and swaddling. She will stop crying and fall asleep in my Moby wrap, but I can't get her out of it without waking her and starting the screaming again. We've also tried gripe water and gas drops, both which provide very little relief. I plan on definitely calling her pedi today to run this by him, but I would bet money that he says colic.

Can one of you mommies please shed some light in the situation? Who has been there before, and what worked for you? What age did your LO outgrow it? How did you keep your sanity and get enough rest? I've only had 3 hours of sleep in the last 24 hours, and I've spent far too many hours crying right along with DD. I want to help my baby!

Karen1998 · May 2013

First off, I'm sorry. Colic sucks. My LO finally grew out of it around 4m. It was a gradual growing out of it thing. One day I noticed that it was suddenly getting better and I was spending more time in my bed and less time with him sleeping on me in the chair.

My pedi gave us a list of about 8 things to try. He said we could try all or none, but that they all seemed to have mixed results. We tried all but one (it had some CIO in it and I wasn't willing to do that that early). Gripe water made it worse for us. I didn't try Colic Calm, but have had friends use it with success. It has charcoal in it, so it will stain things. What did work for us was reflux meds (since he had that, too), peppermint water and gas drops at every feeding. I also spent just about every night in a Lazyboy with him asleep on me for his first sleep cycle. After that, he was usually able to sleep by himself in his Rock 'n Play. We moved to the RnP around 3w when flat sleeping would only last for 10 or so minutes.

A couple of things - obviously, check with your pedi to make sure s/he's okay with you using things like peppermint water and Colic Calm. For peppermint water, ours told us to take a starlight mint, smash it and mix it with about 1/4c of warm water. Dissolve as much of the mint as you can. Then, give LO a couple of ml of it via a syringe. You can do the same with peppermint oil, but the sugar in the mint seems to make it more palatable.

If you're nursing, try cutting out milk and soy. I had to do no milk, including hidden milk (read packages - it's in everything) for the first 4 months of his life. Milk greatly aggravated his colic. It'll take a few weeks for it to be fully out of your system, but I noticed some improvement after a few days.

Put your LO on her left side and lay her vertically down your chest/abdomen when you bounce her. This helps to align her stomach and esophagus, so it's easier for her to get the gas out. This is how he slept for that first four months.

Watch for patterns. We had a three day cycle. Day 1 was awesome. Evenings were easier, though still not easy, but he slept. Day 2 he'd stop burping. Nothing would make the child burp. He was happy, but couldn't get the gas out. Day 3 was hell. He was gassy and struggled to get it out. We'd spend all day bouncing and doing every move I could find to get the farts out. The night was awful, but eventually he'd fart it out. Then, it'd start all over again. While the pattern sucked, knowing what was coming helped me through it.

GL. It will end. It just sucks so bad when you're in it. If your DH can give you some sleeping time (you take shifts), that'll help some with the exhaustion.

jertie · May 2013

Oh, you poor thing. Yeah - Pip had colic and it sucked. It started right about week 2 and continued until she was about 5 months. She cried all.the.time. Morning, noon and night. Every 4 or 5 days we would get a break and she'd just sleep and eat like a typical baby for about 8 hours - but then she'd go right back to crying.

It sounds like everything that you're doing is what we did too. Bouncing on an exercise ball, walking up and down the stairs, music, gas drops, etc. I did a little bit of massage on her belly. I know there were some ladies who had success with probiotics (BioGaia - available at Walgreens), so I'd definitely recommend those. Truthfully, we never found anything that really solved the issue, what worked one day wouldn't necessarily work the next hour - it was like a moving target. In the end, she just had to grow out of it. I found that Pip loved to sleep on my chest. The books say don't do this - but it was the only way that I could actually get any sleep.

I also breastfed and cut out milk, soy, acidy foods, spicy foods, citrus, brocolli, etc. Basically, I was eating rice and drinking water. I was 5 pounds under my pre-pg weight 6 weeks after giving birth. This will take a toll on you - so you absolutely need to take care of yourself. Call in help - mom, sister, MIL, friends, etc. so that you can hand off DD and get some sleep, go for a walk, go to the store, get out of the house. My H went back to work after week 2, but he was AWESOME with Pip and basically pitched in the second he got home. Made dinner, ate, then took Pip so I could eat, take a shower and regain a little of my sanity. And the weather's nicer now, so I'd encourage you to take DD out on walks, get outside. Sometimes the 4 walls have a way of closing in and being in new surrounding help you to cope better. Sorry I'm all over the map here - your post just took me back and I remember those times. (((HUGE HUGS))) to you, YH and DD - you will make it through this and if anything your bond will be forged in fire.

ct103 · May 2013

Wow, thank you both for your detailed responses. DD and I just had a short nap and we both feel a little better, although we need so much more. The emotional side of it is really killing me; I hate that we're spending these early days like this. It's time we're never going to get back. But, I like what you said that our bond will be deeper when it's over. I'm trying to think of it as a first trimester to parenthood. There's lots of puking and fatigue, but it will end one day. Thanks again!

Petunia844 · May 2013

No real advice, just big hugs mama.

kpowers982 · May 2013

T either had colic or reeeeeaallly bad gas (the Ped confirmed she was gassier than normal). Altering my diet helped a lot (no dairy), and we went to half formula, half BM. Also made a formula switch to soy. My girl has a sensitive tummy. We also did Colic Calm. This combination of things seemed to at least make her more comfortable. I've heard from others that giving Colic Calm in the day/afternoon helps their tummies at night.

ct103 · May 2013

Thanks again ladies! Your words and advice are VERY helpful!

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