Colic Sucks
Colic, a new mommy nightmare.
Colic.
Any mother who has had to deal with that dreaded word knows the pain, both of your child’s and yourself.
While our prayers have appeared to have been answered with our latest child, Zeke, we have had 2 other babies, our first and third, that both suffered from colic. Our first baby’s colic bout lasted total about 6 months and our third’s lasted 10 weeks. (Each baby is different. Colic, on average, lasts about 3 months).
What is Colic?
Per Wikipedia: Colic is a condition in which an otherwise healthy baby cries or screams frequently and, for extended periods, without any discernible reason. The condition typically appears within the first month of life and often disappears, often very suddenly, before the baby is three to four months old, but can last up to 12 months of life.
The sound of our little ones’ colic screams still ring in my head. The nights were sleepless. I cried with each baby as I scoured the internet for answers on how to relieve colic. The amount of money spent trying to “cure” my child, well — uh — it would be embarrassing if I actually totaled it up.
While I didn’t find a cure, I did find relief in reading The Happiest Baby on the Block (referral link). In the book, 5 S’s are identified to help induce a “calming reflex”. We use these even on our non-colic baby.
- Swaddling – Tight swaddling provides the continuous touching and support the fetus experienced while still in Mom’s womb.
- Side/stomach position – You place your baby, while holding her, either on her left side to assist in digestion, or on her stomach to provide reassuring support. Once your baby is happily asleep, you can safely put her in her crib, on her back.
- Shushing Sounds – These sounds imitate the continual whooshing sound made by the blood flowing through arteries near the womb. This white noise can be in the form of a vacuum cleaner, a hair dryer, a fan and so on. The good news is that you can easily save the motors on your household appliances and get a white noise CD which can be played over and over again with no worries.
- Swinging – Newborns are used to the swinging motions that were present when they were still in Mom’s womb. Every step mom took, every movement caused a swinging motion for your baby. After your baby is born, this calming motion, which was so comforting and familiar, is abruptly taken away. Your baby misses the motion and has a difficult time getting used to it not being there. “It’s disorienting and unnatural,” says Karp. Rocking, car rides, and other swinging movements all can help.
- Sucking – “Sucking has its effects deep within the nervous system,” notes Karp, “and triggers the calming reflex and releases natural chemicals within the brain.” This “S” can be accomplished with breast, bottle, pacifier or even a finger.
Source: babyslumber.com
If Your Baby Had Colic – How Did You Cope?
Related: Our son got over colic — we haven’t
Oh man, been there twice – with both of my kids. WHITE NOISE! so much white noise, and the head jiggling thing combined with swaddling helped my second son immensely. The first one’s colic was caused by a milk allergy – had to put him on alimentum formula. Every baby is different though, and it’s the time it takes to try everything out and figure out what will work for your baby that’s the worst part. The Happiest Baby on the Block book is amazing though.
Ours currently has it… white noise helps us so much. Also a swing, and tight swaddling (we actually got a Woombie….) He just hit 2 months, so I’m really hoping it eases up and SOON! We need our sleep back!
Add me to the list….all of the above helped our little one, in addition to the Alimentum (read: EXPENSIVE) formula. The best ones for my little one were swaddling and being held tightly and shushing almost directly into her ear. Thankfully she is past it and a very happy baby now!
Happiest Baby on the Block was a godsend for us. I wish it still helped with my 9 month old. Unfortunately it should be titled “Happiest Newborn on the Block”.
We slept in shifts of a couple of hours, swaddled, gave the nursing babe a pacifier when she stopped screaming long enough to suck, and what worked best was semi-upright (carseat, high chair, held) next to the stove hood that was crazy loud. She howled away for 2.5 months and then was magically fine. We were also lucky to have Grandma come stay with us for a week when the babe was a month old and she took several night shifts so we could sleep.
My second had colic and it was a nightmare. Colic is something you hear about, but never quite think about until you go through it, and when you do, it’s awful!!! The two things that helped my daughter were 1) Fisher Price cradle and swing:
http://www.overstock.com/baby/fisher-price-my-little-snugabunny-cradle-n-swing/5623795/product.html?cid=202290&kid=9553000357392&kw={keyword}&adtype=pla
and 2) Colic Calm:
http://www.coliccalm.com/baby_infant_newborn_articles/understanding-colic.php
If you have a baby with colic, hang in there. And just repeat over and over again, “This too shall pass!”
Colic has now been discovered to be acid reflux. My grandson was in the NICU for over three months and he was the first baby to be treated with Prilosec and Gaviscon. It worked wonderfully and is now the standard of care where we live, at least. It makes such sense, I only wish it had been discovered long ago for my first grandson and my own children, and myself when I was a baby!
The Prilosec was specially compounded by a pharmacist for his weight in liquid form. He had regular Gaviscon (available by special order at only one Drug Store at the time) before every feeding. I know this sounds excessive, but it was absolutely necessary. There are a lot of happy babies around here now!
This protocol was instituted at Women’s Hospital in Greensboro, NC.
I thogth my baby was colic when she was crying day and night! i thought i was gona lose my mind, what i didnt know that she couldnt tolarate chocolate that i was eating which was passing tru the milk. Yes chocolate! i ate tons of it, its my weakness, and when i figure out and took out of my diet she became a very calm baby.
I was fortunate that my son didn’t have colic, but Happiest Baby helped to calm him down too. A lot of Dr Karp says about the “fourth trimester” makes a lot of sense.
I have two boys, 16 months apart, and they both had colic. The first ended at 4 months on the dot. And the second lasted three months. The only thing that would calm them was swaddling and bouncing. We would hold the baby, jiggle the head, while bouncing on one of those body balls. But you can’t do that all day and night (especially when you have two kids). Ugh, I don’t wish that on anyone. And we tried everything–elimination diet, probiotics, formula, nursing, gas medicine. Nothing helped. And driving in the car just made it worse. I’m getting stressed just writing this…
One simple remedy for the majority of colic suffering babies and one of the most common causes has been known for years. This particular cause is the intestinal flora in the babies gut is out of balance causing poor digestion and gas pain. The remedy is simple probiotics (see study below) that you can find at any health food store, I have seen it work almost immediately. Buy only refrigerated probiotics for freshness as they tend to be of the better quality.
Poor Intestinal Flora Symptoms: irritability, bloating, abdominal pain, foul smelling bowel movements, constipation/diarrhea, food sensitivities, rectal itching, spitting-up, poor immunity
Colic Symptoms: crying suddenly after a feeding, crying is loud and continuous for one to four hours, baby’s face often is flushed or red, hands clenched, belly is distended or prominent, the feet are often cold, baby may arch their backs, draw up their legs to their tummy, extend their legs rigidly, pass wind.
A 2010 scientific study published in the Journal of Pediatrics reports the effectiveness of a probiotic treatment for colic. The authors report states that the probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri significantly reduced crying time among infants with colic, compared to placebo. The subjects included 50 exclusively breast-fed infants, that were administered either L. reuteri or a placebo.
Savino F, Cordisco L, Tarasco V, et al. Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 in infantile colic: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Pediatrics. 2010;126(3):e526-e533.
Doc Blake
Neither of my babies ever had colic and that’s thanks to my grandmother’s secret which my mom also used on all of us. The secret is chamomile tea give them about 2 ounces or less just depends, after every feeding. It will calm them and help their stomach digest and keep them from being gassy. It is natural and will not hurt them it will help them sleep peacefully, like I said my kids never had colic and they were both formula fed. Try it out and have a cup chamomile tea for yourself too it will help you to relax and relieve your stress, being a new mommy is hard work! Hope you enjoy this tip and it WILL work :0)
my daughter had colic when she was 10 wks till 3 months and she also had a hernia and the only thing that calmed her down was laying on her tummy