Colic - Help!

[VeronicaFranklin]

Hi

My baby is 4 1/2 weeks old, (5 weeks on thurs) and past week or so has been crying inconsolably for hours mainly on an evening and early hours of morning, no matter what me or my husband try it doesn't work, we cannot seem to soothe her.

I've read up and it sounds exactly like colic - red face, clenched fists, bringing her knees up to her chest, she seems in agony and it's so distressing to watch and not be able to help her.

I combi feed her although she is now on mostly formula (Kendamil) as my milk supply isn't good (stint in hospital with jaundice and 11% weightloss ended up with her being formula fed) but I do still try put her on the breast before each feed.

We've tried tiger in the tree hold, walks in the sling, pushing her around the kitchen in her pram at 4am...infacol, dentinox, cycling her legs and have now bought some comfort milk to try introduce switching her to as been advices Kendamil might be too rich for her.

She only poos every 2-3 days GP and Health visitor advise this is not a problem.

It's at the point I'm getting anxious every evening in anticipation before the unsettledness even begins...

GP and HV say it'll go away in time...

Reading up online it says it can take upto 6 months to go away...

I feel utterly miserable at the thought of this!

Anyone else experienced this or have any tips how to cope?!

Hi , just to let you know you’re not alone. My little one is very much the same, he’s 6 weeks on Sunday. Like you we’ve tried every technique above and probably read every page on Google too and still searching for answers.

im not sure if it helps but that majority (88%) I believe are resolved around 4 months with pretty much the rest after 6 months. So it’s hopefully not as long as you think.

oh my little one is also on kendamil but originally was on aptamill which wasn’t much better. I’m a position now where we shouldn’t really change again unless we definitely know it’s from kendamil the issue.

hoping for the best for both of us, but you’ve got this

Thanks for your reply. Sorry to hear your little one has Colic too, it's relentless isn't it. Glad to hear most resolves by 4 months, I hope so!

If it helps we have switched her from Kendamil to Aptamil comfort and her constipation is still there (she poos every 2/3 days) but her Colic seems to have settled a little...instead of 3 hours of screaming most nights we're down to an hour every other night or now and again. She clearly still has some discomfort but she does seem more settled...not sure if Kendamil was a factor but I read it has full fat cream in compared to other formulas so not sure if it was too rich for her...it could be coincidence but my health visitor said she knows a lot of babies that don't agree with Kendamil (strange as only positive reviews online) but I do think my little one was worse on kendamil x

Hi,
im with you too! Mines 7 weeks and has terrible colic it is sooo hard. It’s physically, emotionally and mentally exhausting. I’m desperate for it to end and 2-4 more months feels so long! I breastfeed so formula isn’t always the issue. I feel mothers need more help with colic babies, even an hour off in the evening would help!

Sorry to hear you're experiencing the same too. It's exhausting and steals the joy of the Newborn weeks for sure.

Luckily I took mine to Drs for something unrelated and she had a colic episode in front of Dr, screamed the Drs down! He sympathised as said both his kids had colic and said how awful it is to cope with. He prescribed colief which has slightly helped. So perhaps ask gp for that?

She's almost 2 months now and has eased a little so hope is there.

(If one more person says to me newborns just sleep, eat, poop and want snuggles
I'll scream 🙈 people with non colic babies seem to love to tell you how lovely and easy the Newborn weeks are 😩)

Has anyone mentioned the possibility of Tongue Tie @VeronicaFranklin?

It would fit in with the initial weight loss abs the crying. If it is TT, you probably won't have a supply problem, the baby is just having trouble transferring the milk

Thanks lovely. I have had her checked for tongue tie and she has a very slight posterior tongue tie but not enough to have it snipped.
She's now formula fed as my bf journey with her is over I'm afraid. On top of the colic and issues with feeding (supply, using nipple shields etc)

@VeronicaFranklin found this thread in my desperate attempt to find someone else going through this right now! My baby is 4 weeks and has awful colic. He has a tendency to cry at literally any point in the day, so I can't even 'predict' the episodes in the evening etc. today he has cried all day long, besides some brief cat naps in my arms and I'm absolutely done in. We have friends coming for a bbq and quite frankly I would rather chop my own foot off at this point than put on the facade of everything being ok 😩 has your situation improved with your little one at all? Please give me some hope!!!

Hello! Omg it has improved SO MUCH. So let me give you some hope.
Apparently week 6 is peak for crying and it certainly was for us. I was utterly miserable up until then and literally dreaded the evenings. Me and my husband were sleeping in shifts to cover 24 hours just incase she kicked off...I dreaded going out, people visiting etc.

Luckily, we took her to GP for routine appointment and she had a colic episode during the appointment, she screamed and screamed inconsolably, red faced for the whole appointment despite having a nappy change and a full tummy. I was embarrassed, upset, felt like a rubbish mum with an unruly baby and almost broke down.

The GP took one look at her and confirmed she had colic, his two kids had had it and he said how awful it is to cope with. A wave of relief washed over me that I wasn't going mad/was a terrible first time mum...there was a reason for all the upsetting crying fits.

He prescribed Colief drops (you can also buy them in Boots and some supermarkets but they are pricey but worth it) and we add them to her milk...since hitting 7/8 weeks she has been so much better. No more crying fits on an evening like clockwork...and when she does cry it doesn't get to the inconsolable stage it used to get to.

We've had visitors over today and she was a lovely settled baby...

Honestly colic ruined the first month/6 weeks for me, I questioned my sanity, but now she's past it/it's manageable I can enjoy her so much more, it helps that come 6 weeks she gave me her first smile and it just made me realise how much better things are to come. Hang in there x

Also forgot to add...one thing I struggled with at the peak of my LO being colicky... was the amount of people that when I turned to for help told me 'oh all babies cry'...

...when I had been up all night and day rocking her in a sling, pushing her around the kitchen, playing white noise all while she screamed endlessly and even got to the point she was that agitated she would scratch at herself and me, kicking her arms and legs and going so red in the face I thought she would explode...

Colic seems to be so misunderstood even by medical professionals it's sometimes dismissed as a 'fussy baby'. It's relentless and soul destroying. Babies with colic are in pain and discomfort and cannot be comforted by all the usual methods.

I remember my MIL and SIL saying to me 'oh this newborn stage is just the best, they're so cuddly and content, all they do is eat, sleep and snuggle' ... I agreed with them to save face that actually I was hating every minute of those early weeks! I remember saying to my husband ' why have we got a baby that's like this' which I feel awful for now, I look back now and realise I was just in total despair.

@VeronicaFranklin oh thank you so much for the encouraging words! You've really given me hope that things will improve somewhat soon. I'm right there with you on feeling like colic has ruined this time for us, when he is settled he really is a lovely baby, he's really alert and loves to be looking around and looking at people. Then all of a sudden he'll just explode and like you described he will flail his arms and legs around and scratch his face like crazy. We have to have him in onesies all the time with the foldy hand bits on, even in the warm weather otherwise he'll take his eyes out!! I feel like things would be manageable if cuddling actually worked for colicky babies, but for us it actually seems to make it worse?! It's almost like he hates me holding him close, like it hurts him? I find it baffling how little it is understood. I've been giving him infacol but I will try the colief next thanks ☺️ I'm also right with you on not wanting to go anywhere or have people over, it's no fun having a screaming baby when you're out and about. No matter what people say everyone judges you, even though absolutely no one can control a crying baby. And god I'm sick of everyone saying ' make the most of this time, they're not little for very long etc' yes I know that but you try and enjoy 24 hour screaming and see how you get on!!! 😂

Deffo give colief a try, we started with infacol and not sure if it worked or not as we ended up changing our formula to a comfort milk and then later starting colief. It takes a while to work as builds up so sooner you can start it the better.

Apparently most babies grow out of colic by 12 weeks... So there's also that to keep in mind.

We also found our LO hated being held when having a colic episode, she actually found it more comfortable to be on her changing mat. We found distraction never worked either, if we tried white noise or music just made her worse.

There's also a thing called a shusher on amazon we bought which worked for a short time.

Rest assured things will get better, but when you're going through it you doesnt feel like it x

@VeronicaFranklin health visitor has recommended we switch his milk as well, as he has terrible reflux/regurgitation. He's always being sick and has hiccups 5+ times a day. I will definitely be getting some colief then! Agree with you on baby being happier lying on a mat, sometimes I think they just need to have a flail about and a scream (maybe it helps move things through their little bellies???) and being cuddled makes the pain worse? It's bizarre how it all works, I've read articles that state that colic is basically non existent in some countries, especially ones where they constantly baby wear and exclusively breastfeed on demand. And apparently babies don't go without their mothers at all for at least the first three months. I'd love to know what the correlation is there, is it the closeness, the breastfeeding, the attachment, the mothers diet, it could be any number of things and I'm fascinated!!!