To ask you to please tell me it gets better

[PleaseLetMeSleeeeep]

My son (3 weeks) is suffering really badly with colic. His trapped wind is awful and he just can't sleep at all. This is the 3rd night in a row I'll have sat up in the living room rocking him until 5/6am (he's bad every night but the past 3 have been ridiculous).

I don't know how to do this, I am so unbelievably tired.

I took him to the GP today to check nothing else was wrong but just got a sympathetic 'its common' and sent on my way.

He looks like he's in so much pain, will only settle on me sat upright. I am terrified of falling asleep with him on me I'm so tired.

Every time I think he's finally dropped off he wakes again the minute he's lay down in his basket.

DC1 was a bit colicky, it was horrendous. Someone told me to think about it in terms of babies having tiny everything - their internal tubes are tiny so even little bits of trapped wind can really bother them.

When the baby cries, imagine how he's growing and tubes are getting bigger all the time. The problem is getting better. It's hard but it will pass in time.

Hope you are doing ok, my baby was similar it was horrible to see him so uncomfortable and it is exhausting! I have no helpful other than perseverance with the infacol and spend lots of time burping. It really does get better after a few months and I’ve forgotten all about the torture of it.

It will get better. But while you are in this phase, it feels like you won't survive. You will though, and believe it or not, you will joke about it

Meanwhile, some things that helped mine...
Lactose free formula seemed easier for him to cope with. He's not lactose free, by the way (aged ten now).
Brown sugar dissolved in boiled cooled water..1 tablespoon of sugar per 100mls, it's a laxative if your baby has hard poo.
A swing also helped.

Good luck- you will survive!

It will get better

As per PP try a sling in the day and safe cosleeping at night if you can/think it might help

You can also get probiotics from optibac that are suitable from birth

It really does sound like CMPA is a possibility. As dairy-free formula is only available on prescription you should try to get an urgent GP appt.

In the meantime, if he's only 3 weeks old you could try re-latching or pumping (assuming you're able to produce breastmilk, not everyone can)?

It will get better! My DD suffered terribly and I took her to a cranial osteopath, after a few sessions she was so much better! And my 10 weeks she was sleeping good stretches at night and no more witching hour every night.

@NatureNeverRushes

It will get better. But while you are in this phase, it feels like you won't survive. You will though, and believe it or not, you will joke about it

Meanwhile, some things that helped mine...
Lactose free formula seemed easier for him to cope with. He's not lactose free, by the way (aged ten now).
Brown sugar dissolved in boiled cooled water..1 tablespoon of sugar per 100mls, it's a laxative if your baby has hard poo.
A swing also helped.

Good luck- you will survive!

DO NOT DO THIS WITHOUT MEDICAL ADVICE! Sorry to shout, but it's completely bonkers and extremely unlikely to help (and very likely to cause more problems).

We used Infacol which really helped but also omeprazole for silent reflux (which was diagnosed by NHS -i just went in and said I think my baby has silent reflux cos of these symptoms.
Dr made us try infant gaviscon first which did nothing but give him terrible constipation then I said I wanted to try omeprazole and it was amazing. Weaned his off easily at 5 months but just not increasing his dose as his weight gained and then when it didn't seem to be affecting him badly I stopped

It's really hard 🥵

Top things for our colic baby , colief and the colic hold of you google it and get a carrier as they don't like to be put down. Big hugs it does get better Xx

It will get better. By all means try different things but it's possible you might have to wait till he grows out if it a bit - usually by 3 months.
In the meantime can you get any support? You can't wait 3 months to sleep. Can someone look after him for a few hours so you can sleep?

I went through hell like you op..so tired I was hallucinating. It DID get better after about 6 months..Honestly he is the light of my life now, stay strong you can do it, just hang in there. Keep believing it will get better I promise you it will.

Does he feed from the bottle well? Or is there a lot of dribbling and/or clicking noise? I'm also thinking along the lines of tongue tie and excessive air swallowing.

I'm a Midwife and NICU nurse, have seen a fair share of tongue tie babies really struggle with the wind it causes. Would be worth getting him seen. Your HV should know of local frenulotomy (tongue tie) clinics

Wishing you good luck!

@PleaseLetMeSleeeeep how are things?

We went to a cranial osteopath too and it reality helped dd, as did gripe water. Good luck, op. It will get better.

100% recommend cranial osteopathy. Works wonders.

Have you tried grips water ? We had a hard time with our little one at first he was constantly bringing up his formula so doctor would recommend anti reflux formula ( refused to prescribe gaviscon ) but then he would get trapped wind because of the thicker formul at which point they suggested swapping back to original formula and seeing how he does with that .... I was recommend to try anti reflux formula with gripe water and it was life saver !!

Have you investigated for reflux or cows milk protein allergy?

I’ve heard of this as being fairly common - sleeping upright - it does end. I promise you- the baby stage does get easier, and eventually becomes enjoyable!

You’re in the trenches now- remember: you can sleep train from 6 months, but I promise it does get easier.

Try dentinox for the colic, and if you’re formula feeding get the bottles that draw air away from the milk. We used the Tommee Tippee ones, and they really helped.

Mine was like this. Ended up having reflux & CMPA. Different baby once started meds & Neocate formula.