Poll please - exactly how long can colic go on for?!

[Jacksmybaby]

8 week old (corrected age 3 wks) little man seems colicky (screaming/shouting-type cries, back arching, leg thrashing, straining and farting) on and off all day and all night. Have read the various threads on colic and it seems the bottom line is you just have to sit it out - but for how long? The books say it usually goes by 3 monthss - but that's also what they said about morning sickness and that was a complete lie in my experience! What was your experience of colic? Also, does anyone know if for prem babies you'd look at the corrected age - hope not as that would give me an extra 5 weeks of it!!

[Tutter]

10 weeks here

[ucm]

My DD has it. We recently bought the anti colic bottles from boots with the straw in, they worked, but after 4 weeks the little bit at the bottom has split so I have gone back to her old bottles. We are using infacol and my HV (ex midwife for 30 years) told me to lay her on her front in her pram during the day when I can watch her, NOT at night. So far she still has boughts of it, but nowhere near as bad. This has been going on for 4.5 weeks for far, she is 7 weeks.

[ucm]

bouts - doh

[USAUKMum]

Both my DC had it. DD (5-9pm) from about 8wks - 16wks. DS (pretty much 12 hrs a day) 5wks - 20wks. DS was 2 wks early, so not as early as yours.

Hope it passes for you soon.

[powder28]

My first was 4 wks early, he had terrible trouble with colic until he was about three months. thought i was going to die from sleep deprivation!

[powder28]

Oh i gave him infacol which did help

[powder28]

Oh and we had those special bottles, Dr Browns or someting, cant remember the name.
Really though you just have to wait for it to pass

[piglit]

16 weeks in ds2 from 4 weeks to 20 weeks (interestingly he was 4 and a half weeks early - I'm convinced there's a link). Total misery - he had it all day and every evening. Every sympathy to you.

[ja9]

i asked my hv this today. she said 16 weeks.

[Baysmum]

Cant remember right now - maybe about 12-14 wks - but just wanted to sympathise! It is a nightmare but it does pass - honest x good luck x

[eenybeeny]

my prem ds had colic til he was 4 and a half months old. it was hell!

[eenybeeny]

piglit we have had the same experience and I agree with you!

[Hayls]

If it's any use dd suffered badly for 6 weeks. We then had a cranial osteopathy appointment and she had a bout that night then never again.... and I mean never. Didn't help sleep issues but no more screaming; I cannot recommend it enough.

[powder28]

I have heard that cranial osteopathy is fantastic for improving things like this in babies and the older you get the less effective it is. I suppose because the bones in the skull get harder to manipulate.

[casper06]

Both mine had colic until I got them on a strict routine of feeding.
Some say that the colic gets worse by night as they are hungry and tired, then they feed before they've digested, too windy, too much pain can't sleep....and on it goes.
IME structuring the feeds was a lifesaver, I used the Dr Browns bottles (now called Bfree) Infacol, gripe water. These all helped a bit but never solved the problem.
DD who is 3 months now also has reflux which went for 2 months undiagnosed. I just thought she was a sicky baby with colic. She was hungrier before feeds were due which really confuses things. If you have a very sicky unsettled baby check with the HV about reflux.
DS was prem and yes you do have to add on the 5 weeks (sorry)
Honestly I can't say enough how important it is that they get enough feeds during the day so at night they have their bottle and pass out.
Once the reflux was sorted and she kept the feeds down I have never looked back.
Good Luck

[octopussyintummy]

2 days old to 7 weeks from 5-7pm most nights and it just stopped one day.

[tiredandgrumpy]

14 weeks for ds, then it magically switched off & I had a baby who settled to sleep at 7pm each night and had sensible naps during the day. It was a miraculous transformation.

I found the best way of coping was to take ds up to bed with me as early as I could bear (around 8-30) and lie with him in my bed, bf as necessary. Taking him out of the distractions of downstairs really helped him calm down and I got a rest, too. I even had time to read again and sometimes dozed off for short naps. Finally, at about 11-30 he'd be properly asleep & I could move him into his cot.

This isn't ideal by any means, but it gave me a rest and was just about the only way to stop the screaming.

[serenity]

All three, from 5pmish until 10pmish, every day from around 4 weeks until 12 weeks. Absolute hell, but at least i knew with DS2 and DD that it would stop.......eventually

[suzi2]

With DS, I think the worst was over at the magic 12 weeks. We used colief before every feed and I recall stopping it around 12 wks. It helped a little, though he would still do the hours of screaming and had chronic wind. He saw my osteopath at about 4 months when he was better anyway but it made a lot of improvement to his digestion and he was far less windy.

In hind sight, I reckon my milk was part of the problem. I think I had an oversupply and was flooding him with loads of foremilk each feed. I also kept thinking that he was cryin because he was hungry as he was always willing to feed. But he'd pull off in moments and cry more. The feeding was making things worse.

DD is 5 wks and isn't as bad but still suffers. I have worked on single sided feeding to stabilise my milk supply a bit and that seems to have helped. I'm also trying to avoid overfeeding when she's doing the crying thing and space out feeds. She saw the osteopath last week and goes again on Thurs. Apparently slight head tensions would have made itf uncomfy for her to feed too long. She also has slightly wonky pelvis and tight diaphragm which are leading to poor bowel tone. Since the session last week she is feeding for twice as long each feed, has barely had hiccups when preiviously she had several bouts a day and does seem a bit more settled in general. Lets see what Thursdays session does...

[suzi2]

tiredandgrumpy - that's what I'm essentially having to do with DD. I do put the TV on but without sound, subtitles are great.

serenity - I definately feel better this time around as I know it will pass eventually.

Jacksmybaby - it does pass eventually!

[EllieK]

my ds had it and it did stop at almost exactly 3 mths.

[kels666]

I remember having one 'good' day with my baby when she was 12 weeks old. Prior to that, each day had been living hell. She had all-day colic. When she got to 4 mths old she becameo a little angel and has been ever since

[moondog]

I had exactly 7 weeks of hell,form 3 weeks to 10 weeks.Started at about midnight and screamed for exactly three hours.
God it was grim.

Towards the end,tried NCT suggested trick of a little sugared water in a bottle (although baby exclusively b/fed)Apparently it reduces pain.

Seemed to work too.