Colic? Please please help!

[dawneg]

hiya - have a 4wk + 2 day old that has had bad wind from word go. No crying just lots of discomfort. Seen a Cranial Osteopath twice which I am not sure is working. However at about 3pm today, she started crying and has been on and off ever since. She never cries except for food and is still crying even after milk. The crying is exactly how the books describe colic, but surely 4 weeks is too late to get it? Plus, I can console her by cuddling and she is sleeping in between bouts.

Please can somebody advise if they have experienced this. I am in a tiz and panicking that this is going to go on for 2 months as I also have a very demanding (but lovely) 3 yr old.

Am giving Infacol also, like the CO, not really sure it's working.

Thanks a million

My DD (now 4) had colic from 3 wks to 4 months and it was horrendous.

Check current advice with your HV, but mine told me it was OK to use Colief, Infacol and Gripe water at the same time cos they all work on different parts/functions of the gut.

If you find Colief/Infacol help - see your GP as you should be able to get them free on prescription.

Dummy was a Godsend, as were Dr Brown's bottles, and Cbeebies (think the colours and shapes distracted her - she still loves The Shiny Show now ). If you're bottle feeding try switching to organic formula - we found that helped a bit - you can certainly smell and taste the difference.

Above all - make sure you get some support and look after yourself. I drove myself mad cos feeling like I couldn't cope. I'm sure you're a bit more laid back as it's your 2nd but I can't emphasise enough how important it is to go easy on yourself when you've got a colicky baby.

My 14 week old son wakes in the early hours, farting like an old tramp and in lots of pain. Is this colic, or just wind, what's the difference and how can we tell? We give him Colief with his expressed feed at night but he's still waking in pain. Sympathies to all with crying babies, it's exhausting and heartbreaking.

Ds had colic so you have my full sympathies. Started about 3/4 wks and it was horrendous. He screamed night and day for weeks on end. Things that would settle him would be walks in the pram (the neighbours must have thought I was mad wandering up and down the street at 4 am) but he started crying again as soon as I stopped. As someone else said white noise - the hoover worked a treat, "sshh, sshh, sshhing" him - apparently it imitates the heartbeat in the womb, swaddling and lying on out chests. Infacol was crap.

It's so exhausting when they have colic and you feel like a zombie for weeks on end but there is light at the end of the tunnel. At 12 wks ds suddenly stopped crying and became the most easy-going baby who started sleeping really well.

Good luck x

I second the Dummy advice. Our DD wouldn't take it until she was about 5 weeks old (having suffered colic from 2 weeks) but it made a massive difference when she finally got the hang of it. She seemed to suck away the pain. She's now nearly 10 weeks and it's nearly passed bar a bit of squirming during evening feeds. It's horrible to see them in pain but it will pass.

Our second son suffered colic terribly from about a week old, screaming every evening from around 6/7pm until midnight. He would act hungry but as soon as the milk hit his tummy he would arch his back and scream, pushing the bottle out of his mouth. He would also wake every 2-3 hours at night and be quite difficult to feed.
We tried all the brands of milk (Aptamil, SMA, cow and gate, HIPP) various types of teat and bottle (including NUK and Tommee tippee) and infacol, gripe water, boots gripe mixture, dentinox colic drops and colief. All with no real effect.
Finally, after about 14 weeks, I tried SMA lactose free milk and to our immense relief, the colic stopped almost was immediately! Hardly any screaming and in the space of 4 days he went from waking every 2 hours at night to sleeping 10 hours solid (although the 10 hours of sleep was something of a one off, but 6 to 8 hours a time at night became the norm). I am so grateful we tried it and wish we had tried it sooner, I may now have a few less grey hairs and wrinkles! It is available straight off the shelf in boots and most Asda stores. Aptamil also do a lactose free version.
Boots gripe mixture, which is an antacid, also helps after a bottle, better than the other colic remedies. Colief helped too, but was expensive and basically reduces the lactose content in milk before the baby drinks it, so is the same principal as lactose free milk.
We weaned him back onto regular SMA at 6 months with no problems.
By the way, they recommend you consult your health visitor before making any changes to your baby’s feeding schedule.

I don't have a colicky baby, but do have a very, very, very fussy one. We went to a cranial osteopath and saw noticeable results after the third session.

Other things that help us- warm bath, massaging his feet, swaddling and white noise playing loudly. You can buy an app called 'sound sleeper' for £3/4 which will save your hairdryer- my SIL burned out 3 hairdryers with her colicky baby!

Hello, just a heads up that this thread hasn't been posted on for over a year. If your baby has colic, - we've rounded up information and the experiences and advice of Mumsnetters in a page on colic here.