To ask for your Colic survival stories to read tonight as I rock and cry

[Mustardnowletsnotbesilly]

DD2 4.5weeks has colic, she isn't massively happy when she is ever awake but Screams for about 4 hours a night. She was a section birth but had sepsis at 2.5weeks so we have been back in hospital for 7 days.

Things I have tried - Infacol, Ranitidine, me giving up dairy, lots of winding.

HELP ME. Its hideous and my DH can't cope and actually at the momment can't help as he has singles on his face.

When did your babies colic end? What ended it?

My first child was a dream compared to this. I need guidance and hope.

TIA

Poor you, I can well remember the stress and frustration even though DS is now 14!!

With us it ended dead on 12 weeks, in a flash it stopped never to return 😀😀

The only thing that really worked was an ikea swinging chair that we had up in our sitting room. I found sitting on it, gently rocking with DS lying flat on a pillow on my lap helped him sleep and I could drift.....

I had colic myself as a child.

My mother says it was the worse time of her life, she got so distressed at one point she threw me on the bed (not hard) apparently it was that or I was going out the window. It made her go literally mad!

It lasted until she put me on soya milk and within a day or so I started to get better and become a 'normal' baby.

I am still alive so it will get better OP. Hang in there

Poor you, this is horrible.

Have you tried using a Dummy? I found it relaxed the babies and helped a lot. If the baby isn’t used to using one it does take some persistence as it’s a different sucking technique. I’d basically hold it in ( gently) until they started sucking a to relax.

Other than keeping moving, rocking, patting and drinking gin I’m afraid that for most people it’s a question of time. It passes.

Try holding her on her tummy over your forearm with her arms and legs dangling down but head supported by your hand.
My ds screamed for hours every evening until he was 6 weeks +

Bloody hell, my eldest is 10 and I still remember the colic with horror. It was hell. She'd be screaming, I'd be crying and it was relentless for 5 hours each evening.

I think Colief helped a bit. I remember crying to my mum one day about it all and she told me it will stop at 12 weeks. She may have well told me 12 years as it seemed never ending and I couldn't see light at the end of the tunnel.

She was right, though. She changed completely at 11 weeks and 6 days. I know it is truly horrific at the moment but it will improve.

I had 8weeks of this hell then went dairy free (baby EBF) within two weeks baby was a dream and no more meds

Gripe water was our saviour, though the witching hour (ha, evening) lasted for a good few weeks at least - I think I've blocked it out a bit now!
if you have someone you can hand the baby over to so you can have some sanity time, do! And also cake helps!
Hope it gets better soon

A dummy? The tiny MAM ones seem easy to suck for a newborn baby.
Can you bring your Pram inside? I used to spend a lot of time with my DS in a Pram (lay flat) with Michael Buble in (it was Xmas 😂) pushing him over door ways where it was nice and bumpy. Hope you get some rest soon x

Micheal Buble on! Obviously not in the Pram! I wish!!

I coped by taking ds out for a walk in the sling in the evening when it got bad. Usually between 7-9pm was his bad time. It was this time of year (he was born end of October) And I began to try to enjoy those walks. On nights when dh was working and I couldn’t drag other kids out I put on loud music with a strong beat and paced/danced with ds wrapped in my dressing gown. Upright rhythmic movement seemed to help.
Oh and I cut out onions and garlic from my diet.

Colief was the only thing that helped. I wish I had tried it weeks before. I added it to expressed breast milk.
I would have paid £100 for it.

Worst time ever.

I remember this. Single parent dealing wth screaming colic til 4am every night for 12 weeks. I nearly lost my mind. I was bottle feeding and found Doctor Browns bottles saved my life.

My LO had sepsis and someone suggested baby probiotics as they get a mega dose of antibiotics which upsets the gut bacteria. I think we used a few different ones dabbed on a clean finger or dummy. Not sure they helped the bellowing but maybe worth a shot! Colief helped a bit in ebf but gripe water etc did nothing. Grew out of it eventually. Hang in there!

Have you tried white noise? Swaddle, white noise, lie in sleepyhead/co-sleep was our routine.

Are you sure she isn't trying to cluster feed for that 4hour period?

I feel you, OP - I thought I was going to lose the plot. I used to leave the baby somewhere safe, and go and whoop the absolute shit out of the wall with a towel just to get some of the rage and frustration out.

We experienced some relief in switching to low-lactose milk (DD was mixed fed), tilting her bed up and swaddling her. It's a wicked bad thing to go through - thinking of you! x

I feel for you, my daughter had awful colic from 2 weeks which ended overnight at about 3 months. She would cry from 4pm until around 10pm when she would finally just give in and sleep. We tried the anti-colic bottles - they did nothing for us (in fact I think they made her worse) colief - which helped a little - a sling which calmed her down but only if constantly being walked around - a babocush cushion (where they lie on their tummies and it vibrates) which helped as well. The best help though was when she was put on carobel to thicken her milk. Turned out she had a bit of reflux. We bought a mama roo swinging chair as well in a moment of utter desperation as the constant movement helped her.

What helped me was to constantly remind myself that it would pass, which was hard to believe sometimes but it did pass just as suddenly as it came on.

Hopefully it passes just as quickly for you as it did for us.

Cranial osteopathy, dummy, soya milk, colief, dentinox colic drops, gripe water, swaddling, a motorised swing, a sling. It lasted until she was 6 months old. She screamed continuously. At 6 months it was like a switch had been flicked she was a different child.

I have an only DD because her colic was awful and vowed I wouldn’t do it again. Swaddling, white noise, dummy and Dr Browns bottles helped a bit so did headphones and really loud music for me! You have my sympathies

Hugest hugs. This is draining,
Sling, dark, walking. And time. And maybe something entertaining to read on your phone.

My second was a screamer between about 5 and 8 weeks. I thought he’d never be happy, he never smiled or looked remotely like he was happy be here. I was miserable. I tried colic drops, I’m not convinced they did much - he just smelled like minty dill. I am also giving him probiotics. Again, no idea whether they’ve done anything.

After eight weeks, he perked up. The reflux reduced, and the screaming lessened. He’s 14w now, and still a bit grouchy around 6pm, but that’s manageable with a sling and some wandering about.

It WILL improve. Just make life easy til then. Ready meals are definitely one helper.

It was the worst time with DS. Turned out to be silent reflux (which I suspect a lot of colic is). GP prescribed infant gaviscon and it was an overnight miracle cure. He was a different baby. If we ever didn't give him the gaviscon with a feed he'd start the screaming all over again. It all went away completely when he was 5 months. You'll find what works for your DC and get through it op.

My now 8 mth old DD had awful colic. Nothing helped. If she was awake she cried and she cried from 6 to 10pm every night. DS didn’t do this so I was shocked when baby 2 wasn’t ‘a breeze’ like everyone promised.
I stared a bedtime routine at 8 weeks which helped. She had a bath around 6pm which calmed her down then DH took it in turns to stay with her in our room while she slept/cried in 45 min blocks until she settled about 9pm. About 4 weeks of this and she was down for the evening at 7pm. We started a bedtime routine for DS at 6 weeks so we were keen to get something implemented despite the colic.
She turned into a delightful little baby at around 4/5 months. There is hope!

I second colief

Colic is a made up thing (it’s actually defined as unexplained crying in an otherwise healthy infant).

Do you mean reflux? Second all the suggestions made above, hopefully they’ll help.
If it is ‘colic’ then baby will just grow out of it, no magic solution I’m afraid!

I hardly ever post but wanted to share my sympathy too. DD was absolutely horrendous - screaming and screaming each evening - we made quite a few trips to the hospital as she sounded so distressed we thought there must be something seriously wrong with her I'd had a very difficult birth and she was a forceps delivery and she had trauma to her head...I slept for 14 weeks with her on my chest (buttoned into my nightie in just a nappy, with me propped up on pillows on my back, midwife had shown me this!). The only thing that would stop her crying for a bit was loud white noise - have you tried it? I remember DH literally standing over us holding the hoover...we then had had static at high volume on the radio. It didn't work all the time but it gave a bit of respite.
Like a miracle, at exactly 14 weeks she just stopped...just like that. We kept waiting for the crying to start and it just didn't.
We'd tried everything...daily osteopath visits (he couldn't help and didn't charge us for the visits in the end!), infacol, motorised baby swing thing, you name it.
Anyway...when you're in it it seems like a lifetime and anyone saying 'oh, it'll pass in a few weeks' really doesn't help much at all but IT WILL PASS. You are doing brilliantly and you WILL look back on this time with a shudder as I do now...have treats when you can (I used to eat my supper from a bowl, above DD's head while she was in the sling, with a spoon and kitchen roll over her head to protect from dollops of food, as I had to keep walking about!) like cake or crisps or a glass of red wine.
It's truly awful and I empathise 100% - the only faint silver lining is it's not forever and they say colicky babies are highly intelligent - DD is now 12 and super clever!!