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Original poster

What helps a breastfed baby with colic?

42 replies

drained1 · 29/10/2018 10:29

Tried infacol and gripe water. Doesn't really work. I've heard colief is good but not really for breast fed babies....any other ideas? I'm doing everything I can for him but he does nothing but cry. He's 8 weeks today

OP posts:
CrazyOldBagLady · 29/10/2018 10:32

Have you tried tummy massage and bicycle legs? This works well for trapped wind. There are videos on YouTube of how to do it. Are his nappies ok? I’ve heard of kids with allergies having green or foamy poos, are you seeing anything like that?
Has the doctor or HV seen him?

MaryShelley1818 · 29/10/2018 10:33

Colief is an absolute miracle!
Changed our baby overnight...I mix fed, it’s absolutely fine to use with breastfeeding.

DorisDances · 29/10/2018 10:33

I was advised to give the baby a soother and that certainly helped settle things. Thoughts with you as it is a real challenge

MegBusset · 29/10/2018 10:36

My sympathy - went through this for what seemed like ages with DS1. He had reflux so was happier upright than lying down; ‘tiger in the tree' hold (basically lying down on your arm - probably best to Google a picture!) helped a bit too. It did get a lot better around 12 weeks iirc (was a long time ago!)

It turned out he had lots of food allergies so that might have made the colic and reflux worse for him - not saying this is the case for your baby.

Notverygrownup · 29/10/2018 10:37

Colief was the only thing that worked for ds2. Bit of a faff, as you need to express a tiny bit of milk first, and mix it with the colief, and give it to the baby - we used a syringe - before starting to feed. However, it saved my marriage/sanity with a baby who would otherwise scream for 2-3 hours between feeds.

With ds1, also exclusively bf, cranial osteopathy worked wonders. After the first treatment he relaxed for the first time since his colic began and looked like a normal, happy baby. Lasted for 2.5 days. After the second treatment, he bacame a different child. He was a little older than your baby at 13 weeks, but it sorted it for him.

Best of luck. There are worse things for a baby to have, but colic can be a very challenging condition. (I still wince, years later, when I hear that colic scream from a little one. )

Original poster
drained1 · 29/10/2018 10:40

@MaryShelley1818 I'm happy to try colief but just the reviews I read said it's a pain to give but if it works then I'll do it.

His poo us yellow and has seeds so normal I think for a breast fed baby. Seen the gp and health visitor and neither had any concerns. Annoyingly as this is my 3rd dc they seem to think I'm an 'expert' parent..... but that's a story for another day lol

OP posts:
Original poster
drained1 · 29/10/2018 10:43

Yes me and dh are getting angry with each other too. Dh is struggling to bond with him. I've figured a way to hold him which keeps him happy but DH doesn't have the 'knack' when he tries it unfortunately which annoys dh.

Right I'll go get some colief. He will sleep in the car too so my ears can have a rest. Poor baby has his jabs tomorrow too :-(

OP posts:
monkeysox · 29/10/2018 10:46

It might be something you're eating. I had to cut out onions

MaryShelley1818 · 29/10/2018 10:46

It’s a little bit of a faff but he went from being a baby who screamed every single night from 5pm-midnight to a baby who overnight only ever cried for a few minutes for a specific reason.
It was worth every single second of the faff to get him in it! X

Original poster
drained1 · 29/10/2018 10:49

@MaryShelley1818 Yes!! That's great....bring on the faf and hopefully a more settled baby. Thanks for your help. X

OP posts:
Spam88 · 29/10/2018 10:52

We found the Dentinox stuff better than infacol or gripe water. Didn't get colief though.

Duggeedidit · 29/10/2018 10:53

We tried all the drops to no great effect, then dh's dgm said she swore by fennel tea. I made myself a litre of it every morning, just fennel seeds in hot water and drank it gradually all day. Ds was like a new baby! Also recommend bicycling legs after feeds

bobstersmum · 29/10/2018 11:00

Drink fennel tea. It worked for me, 3 cups a day. Worth a try.

Fatasfook · 29/10/2018 11:01

Try cutting dairy from your diet

Spam88 · 29/10/2018 11:02

Oh yeah, I forgot about fennel tea. The things we do for our kids 🤢

Kittykat89 · 29/10/2018 11:03

Infacol before every feed. Doesn't need to be mixed or warmed and worked here, worth trying before Colief. Good luck, and it won't last forever! Colic sucks.

MaryShelley1818 · 29/10/2018 11:03

Good luck...really hope it works for you xx

Kittykat89 · 29/10/2018 11:04

Also recommend you reduce things like garlic and onion and acidic fruit in your diet for 3 days and see if that helps. Xx

bastardkitty · 29/10/2018 11:06

I stopped eating eggs and it made a lot of difference to baby's colic.

Ennirem · 29/10/2018 11:07

My girl screamed her head off every evening for months. It was a dairy allergy. Her poops seemed normal for a bf baby, we only realised post weaning when they weren't thickening up/ Other signs were bloating, windiness and persistent cradle cap (past one), and recurrent back-to-back ear infections, all of which cleared up within a week of she and me going dairy free.

People kept suggesting to me it might be that, but I didn't want to be that person who catastrophised everything with their PFB and I had a bunch of other people telling me 'babies just cry'. I hate to think now she must have been in significant pain for much of her babyhood because I didn't give something a try. So I'd recommend going df just for a fortnight or so and see what happens... I tried all the colic stuff and none of it worked.

Harebellmeadow · 29/10/2018 11:08

Have you tried cutting out all milk/soy/milk products from your diet, including cheese, chocolate, etc? We had this around three months but were lucky in that switching to lactose free helped - so it was very mild and very short. It must be very difficult with ongoing colic and no solution.
Have you also tried continual upright holding, eg babywearingfor longer periods?

Harebellmeadow · 29/10/2018 11:09

Cross possed with enirem

Original poster
drained1 · 29/10/2018 11:10

Oh I'll try the fennel tea too...thank you. I'm trying to eat at healthy as I can but making meals is hard with a screaming baby all day.

He's my last baby and I don't want to wish this time away at all, I'm enjoying having him so much.....but I'll be glad when this stage is over. Now I feel guilty for saying it

OP posts:
Namechanger445 · 29/10/2018 11:28

Have you tried a cranial osteopath? I can’t recommend it enough, especially if you/they had a difficult birth, they can help a lot with colic and digestive problems.

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