To think that Infacol/gripe water/colic etc....

[CoralRose]

....is a load of old tosh?

If I am, please enlighten me.

in the early days it was the difference between me sleeping and not so not in my case.

Colic does seem to be used as a bit of a catch all as no one really knows what causes it.

Officially, it is only colic if the baby has prolonged periods of unsettledness / crying for at least 3 hours a day, 3 days a week for 3 weeks. It usually starts at about 3 weeks and clears up by 12 weeks. It can affect both breast fed and formula fed babies but can be worse when the baby is ff due to digestion issues.

There is no cure, although anecdotally, cranial osteoptahy can work and there is apparently a study due out later this year which indicates good results for colic.

Possible causes of colic include a mild lactose intollerance which Colief can help with. Colief contains lactase which helps to break down lactose until the babies digestive system can cope with it.

Also wind which Infacol / dentinox helps with. Infacol contains simeticone as it's active ingredient which makes the wind form bigger bubbles making it easier to pass - it's adult form is Windeze. Simeticone is not absorbed into the blood stream in any way which is why it is suitable from birth. Gripe water is the natural version of the remedy with the Dill, Fennel, Ginger and Chamomile doing the same job as the Simeticone and also acting as a soother - these have all been used a soothing, gas relieving remedies for years.

IMO colic can be one, both or none of these with other unidentified factors thrown in (tiredness, over-stimulation, general overwhelm with being new to the big wide world)

Reflux is slightly different and is to do with immature valves which usually results in a very sicky baby which suffers a lot of pain and uncomfortableness when lying on their backs. Silent reflux is all of the pain without the vomiting.

Babies can have both reflux and colic, reflux without colic or just colic.

Umm yeah, don't blame every cry and whine on colic and don't rush to shove medicine down them. People usually make these suggestions just to be helpful, but it's best to smile then ignore them. Every baby, child and adult has wind occasionally. There are things you can do that don't involve drugs.

Then again many babies do have very real problems.

Me eldest never had any issues, but could be a grumpy baby, he's still grumpy, and still not windy . Then I had one of those babies that people describe as content and good ;) But about twice a week he would have problems with wind, it'd start around 4pm and that was it for the day, evening, night ... Medicine at least reduced it to the evening and he would be asleep by 12. So we were lucky.

It was such a change from his usual laid back state. My Mum had 6 kids with no "colic" but even she noticed the difference. He's now 6 and still suffers from wind, most of the time he's fine, but he does sometimes shout that he feels sick, goes to the toilet and farts! Poor kid is very uncomfortable. He can be very stinky! According to the doc his dad has IBS, so does his brother and his Dad. Whatever the cause there's some genetic wind thing going on.

Poor parents who have to deal with babies who really suffer day in day out.

Rita Infacol is proven to work for relieving wind. It's active ingredient is found in adult wind relief remedies as well.

The only query is around whether it helps with colic, but that would depend on whether a particular babies colic was wholly or partially caused by wind.

My DD does not have colic, however, if I don't give her Infacol before a feed, it can take over an hour to get her wind up which leaves her cranky, uncomfortable and in pain. With Infacol, she normally brings her wind up within about 10 minutes or even during her feed.

Gripe water certainly worked for us - sorry it didn't work for you Coral, but just because something doesn't work for you doesn't render it "tosh".

I find it interesting that people are increasingly attributing 'colic' symptoms to a physical ailment - silent reflex, or whatever. DD had 'colic' in that she did scream for 3 hours a night at a regular time of night. But it wasn't physical, it was emotional. She was overwhelmed, and needed to create some white noise to comfort herself. Gripe water made absolutely no difference, and l got really tired of people recommending it or similar 'remedies' - because there was nothing wrong with her. She just screamed, because that's what she needed to do at that (mercifully brief) stage of her life.

Interestingly, people kept urging us to persist with the medication for so long that, had we believed them about the duration of treatment needed, she would have grown out of the problem on her own anyway.

With DS, he would feed, then draw his little legs up and scream. Gripe water, quick cycle of the legs, big fart and relax (him not me). Was wonderful stuff.

Yup, that's the thing, isn't it? Totally different symptoms, totally different reaction. So why is it all lumped in together as 'colic'?

I've never used it Ozzie, despite being constantly encouraged too. My children have all survived

Gripe water used to have alcohol in it, I suspect that was the active ingredient :o

If you have no use for it and don't want to use it, then why are you asking questions about it?

I am sure most children would "survive" without infacol, gripe water, ibuprofen, panadol, plasters, kisses, sudocreme, nappies, but we do what we can when our children have aches and pains, tummy pains, cramps etc.

It's just another product. Buy it, don't buy it. shrug

I'm asking because I'm constantly bombarded with comments encouraging me to fill my babies full of (IMO unnecessary) 'medicines'. I don't understand why there always needs to be a cure other than lots of cuddles and comfort. There seems to a trend of just getting the baby to 'shut up' in the quickest possible way. Ds gets wind. He cries. I cuddle him, rub his back and he burps. It sometimes takes a while, he's a baby, they cry.

I nearly posted this the other day after a friend wrote on FB that her (BF) baby had colic and I realised that every baby I know has been "diagnosed" with it... [hhmm]

Made me wonder whether "colic" is actually just a normal crying baby...?

(Disclaimer - DS had colic, I know how hard it is.)

i have to say infacol was a godsend for me and DH when DS2 was a baby.

spoken like someone whos baby has never cried for 6 unconsolable hours despite every back rub, tummy rub and bicycled legs, hundred of trips up and down stairs (the jiggling is supposed to help), warm baths, tigers in the tree, cuddles, kisses and mummys tears.

My DD would be literally writhing in pain. THere is a difference between a burp that is a bit stuck and true intestinal wind. For true wind Gripe Water/Dentanox/infacol are godsends.

I hope you never have to find out.

Infacol worked wonders for DS1 who otherwise would end up howling even partway through a feed because he was an impatient and clumsy feeder and would swallow a lot of air (and mangle my nipples quite often, too). It contains a substance which stops big bubbles of wind forming and getting trapped in the gut. It did nothing for DS2, who had mild reflux, though. We just had to burp him lots, or else we'd all end up wearing his feed.

I tried every remedy available for my DS when he used to scream for 6 hours every single night for the first 4 months of his life & nothing worked. I stuck rigidly to the instructions of all medications recommended (infacol, colief, funny powder sachets, gripe water etc), took him to the health visitor, midwife, doctor etc. He had baby aroma massage & a number of visits to the baby cranial osteopath & absolutely nothing worked. I can honestly say, 12 years on, it was the worst 4 months of my life.
I think "colic" is such a catch all term, that it is hard to know what exactly you are trying to treat. Some babies have genuine "windy" colic & the wind remedies will work, others have reflux & you will end up needing baby gaviscon, others have something else going on altogether.

infacol worked wonders for my 2

as i remember, the effects are cumulative so may take a few days to work

(apols if anyone has said this already!)

YANBU imo. None of it worked for dd who was just a crier. If it's not wind making them cry then wind remedies won't help. And there are many causes of what is diagnosed as colic. Also as colic gets better on it's own some babies who have seemed to respond to a medicine may have just grown out of it.

I think some parents don't know/apricate how important winding is or how to do it properly or even how long it takes.

I know the things you meantion do work, as well as how horrible it is when they don't.

OP = Colic "....is a load of old tosh."
"I don't mean to offend anyone btw, I'm just generally curious. I've never really known what it is."

And you didn't mena to offend. Yes you DID mena to offend. By belittling something thta affects some, very badly.
Here's hoping your next child doesn't get it, OP. Then you might have some sympathy and understanding with those that do.

Both of mine had it. Both were breastfeed. Although I literally tried EVERYTHING. Paed told me there was nothing more I could have done.
Ds1 cried badly for 2 hours from 6pm, from week 1 to week 13. Classic time. Ds2 cried , on and off, all night, every night,from 6pm to 6am, for 3 months.

Why don't try a week , in the shoes of someone with a colicky child. Then come back and tell us what "tosh" it is.

[hhmm]

Apparetly we're obseased with winding in the UK and they don't both in some countries.

YANBU, there is no eveidance that either of these things work in relaving colic, no more then any other non medical cure anyway.

"Ds gets wind. He cries. I cuddle him, rub his back and he burps. It sometimes takes a while, he's a baby, they cry."
Then, that, OP, is not colic.
Please don't belittle REAL colic. Becasue that really is insulting.

DD cried for hours every evening from when she was born until about 6 months when it magically resolved itself. It was diagnosed as colic which is just the medical term for unexplained crying as far as I've read. I personally think it was a combination of a cranky natured baby and a slightly inept first time mum that was rubbish at settling babies in my case. Not saying that is the same for everyone. Some babies may have wind or unexplained pain.

As others have said "Colic" is a catchall word, like "headache" it can mean many things, some of them mild, some of them much more serious.

When serious it can be very very distressing for the child and all concerned. DS1 had colic bouts which lasted 6 or 8 hours. As Heady said, it is not just a bit of whinging or trapped wind. He was in real pain, and with it came a scream which he has never used since, and which haunts occasional nightmares. It often occurred in the evenings, but could occur at any time of day, and could last an hour, two hours or all day. . . .

By the time ds2 came along, Colief had been invented. It was magic stuff, if a little fiddly as we were bfing, and it has to be mixed with a few drops of expressed milk and given before each feed. If given, he was a happy, gurgly baby, who cried normally, on and off. If we missed out a dose of colief, thinking we could give him a quick feed, or if we believed that we were imagining it and it couldn't make that much of a difference, then he soon put us right, screaming for hours on end, with a high pitched, animal scream . . .

So yes, colic is a general term and perhaps overused, but never to be dismissed out of hand.