Six week old baby with colic

[peachypetite]

My baby woke up at 6am crying and has been screaming and scratching me for two hours. Has finally crashed out. The last couple of days I have switched bottles to Mam anti colic and had high hopes but it doesn’t seem to be making any difference. She’s had it for about a month now and initially gripe water was working but doesn’t seem to have any effect on her now.

What colour / consistency is her poo? What's she like when she's feeding? Does she struggle to take milk (i.e. does she seem reluctant)? Does she have clammy hands? What's she like at keeping milk down?

My DD was / is lactose intolerant and DS was / is CMPI. It may be that your baby has some form of intolerance too. Have you mentioned this to your HV? Have you had your 6 week check yet? I'd be mentioning all her symptoms to either your GP or HV and asking for assistance.

Her poo is yellow and grainy (I’m expressing breast milk and bottle feeding since she won’t stay latched properly. She has 1, Max two bottles of formula at night the rest of the time it’s my breast milk. My six week check is next week. I’m so fed up. She doesn’t have clammy hands and is sometimes a bit sick but not excessively.

My daughter suffered terribly with colic. Nothing we did worked unfortunately. She grew out of it eventually, gradually just stopped having the screaming episodes. Decreasing for 8ish weeks. By 12 weeks they didn't happen anymore.

Yellow and grainy is good. Is she gaining weight? Lots of wet nappies?

Definitely speak to your HCP, and not to minimise the awfulness, but 6 weeks is a growth spurt age so it is possible that the screaming and scratching today is in aid of increasing your supply to cater to a growth spurt. If you are nursing her at all, have you been shown how to get your milk flowing before trying to get her to latch?

@Gremlinsateit I’ve given up trying to get her to breastfeed, pumping and giving it to her in a bottle is working for us. Not sure whether to try infacol?

www.babydoc.com.au/faq/colic-bore-your-baby-to-sleep/

This explains colic really well with some tips. It's nothing about tummies or digestion. As her poos are normal it's unlikely to be cmpa.

OP my baby is seven weeks now but we've been having similar issues, although mostly at night. She will scream and thrash about, and we can't calm her down. Ours started about 10 days ago so not as long as yours but it's been really hard. Not sure if it may just be a normal phase at this age.

Posted too soon

There was one controlled trial which tested infacol and reported that it isn't really effective. The article I lined to explains why.

Oh, that’s good that pumping and bottles are working (I was hopeless at pumping!) Are you able to keep her head up in a baby carrier or rocker for a while after a bottle? Will she take a dummy?

@MrsPatrickDempsey just had a quick read but for example this morning she had been asleep from 3.30am in her next to me crib, woke up at six drawing her legs up etc and crying, so nothing to do with her being over stimulated.

I think overtiredness can definitely be a factor in “witching hour” colic but what you are describing sounds more digestive. I would suggest feeding in a slightly more upright position, keeping in that position after feeds, possibly consider dividing bottles into more smaller bottles, encouraging a dummy because the sucking action helps digestion, and making sure that the teats are slow flow to allow more sucking during feeds. Good luck :)

I’m sitting crying holding her now willing her to sleep. My neck is scratched to pieces.

Oh that’s no good. Are you wrapping her for sleep? Do you have a partner who can take her while you have a break?