Colic - OMG how am I going to survive the next 2 months???

[Mellin]

DS is 7 weeks old and in the last week has been extremely colicky during the day, especially the afternoon. He often has long screaming sessions, he won't bear lying flat for any period of time and is having short interrupted naps during the day.

DD (almost 3) never had colic and I am at a bit of a loss of how to deal with it. I'm feeling like a bit of a failure today as I can't comfort my gorgeous baby boy.

So I'm looking for some coping strategies from those who have been through it.... so far I am trying the following;

• wearing him in a sling (bjorn) but he doesn't seem to like it much. Squirms a lot and cries
• colic hold (relief for short periods)

Any advice??

Re the pram - my DD hated the pram at first ( I was gutted because my parents had insisted on buying a rather expensive one for their precious first grandchild!). She began to tolerate it more when we padded it out with blankets and made it more cosy with one of those headhugger things. I also put her on a pillow in there a few times so she wasn't lying on such a hard surface - obviously had to keep watching her 'cos I was terrified she;d suffocate!

She would probably have preferred to be propped up but I couldn't find a way of doing it safely. Now she likes to be propped up to be nosy so I just stick my changing bag at the end of the pram and lean her against that!

We had (still have) Bugaboo Bee pushchair with baby nest - DD was snug tight as a papoose in there and we didn't have it laying flat but at a 45 degree angle. She used to nap in there on long walks alot and was a godsend.

If you still want to use the lay flat pram then can you swaddle your LO tightly and tuck lots of padding around so feels snug.

Agree with earlier posters - Karp's SSSSS methods were also terrific. But nothing worked for us better than the electic swing on a high setting.

Also look at symptoms of reflux. More common in boys than girls and quite relieved by infant Gaviscon & elevated head at bedtime. Baby Whisperer defines it well just Google...

Our 5 week old has colic - we've tried a lot of things..

-cranial osteopathy - worked the first time, sent her to sleep all afternoon, but then she woke up and screamed the entire night. Her body was a lot less tense though. Had the second session today, and he found more tense muscles, and worked on those, so fingers crossed... she screamed the entire session though, wasn't in the best of moods...

-gripe water. We've just switched to Boots Apple flavoured one, which did some good, although I think has given her very runny poos. I'm monitoring that one... we had Woodwards one before, which didn't affect her poos (if Boots has)

-infacol - worked for a couple of days, but then stopped. You can't use it with Gripe Water, annoyingly.

• tilting the moses basket - haven't noticed any difference with this.

-Tiger in the Tree position - basically baby goes tummy down on your arm, and you carry her around, a bit like a tiger sits in the tree. Got a baby massage book from Amazon for a fiver - worth trying. She settles in this position very well.

-dummy. I hate dummies, I said I'd never use one, and here I am. It does help, when she wants/needs to suckle.

-I also got a couple of massage techniques from the Osteo - one was to move her legs, the right one clockwise, the left anticlockwise, to help her insides do what they're supposed to, then stroke her stomach in a clockwise circular motion. That seems to release a lot of gas and poo, which in turn makes her happier. Today I've been told to pick her up under the arms and gently swing her like the 'donger' bit from a bell. (haha, donger, I'm sure there's a better term) I can't remember what this does, but it's calmed her down.

-car seat/buggy - putting her in it and swinging/walking around seems to work.

-babasling - this has worked almost every time. POor husband walks around at 2am with baby in the sling, although once she's out, she starts screaming again. Oh how I envy those of you with colicky babies just in the day... we've had almost 20 hour days with ours at times

-doting grandparents - if all else fails, nanna came and babysat a few nights to give us a chance to catch up on our sleep. Which was fantastic! Weirdly, baby wasn't as colicky those nights, either. We've no idea what she's done differently, other than she's had 3 kids, so she's got lots of experience!

Good luck, I know what a pain it is, and I hope it passes soon. Our little one is 6 weeks next Sunday, and I keep thinking we're halfway there until it potentially goes... should the osteo not work...

vibrating bouncy chair = lifesaver.

agree with earlier suggestion, bouncing on the gym ball is good, esp if man does it while you have your dinner. then glass of wine, dvd with subtitles and an an evening bf on the sofa.

it passes but oh fuck it is horrible.

Mellin - both my dd and my ds had colic. Dd was 2.8 when ds was born - I think I had a similar age gap to you?

Anyway, we muddle through. It didn't last the whole 3 months, luckily.

We also saw some improvement through cranial osteopathy.

BUT if I had a colicky baby now I would do the swaddling and very loud shushing technique that was demonostrated on Richard & Judy and linked to here on Mumsnet just a month or so ago. It was AMAZING.

I can't remember who posted it or any of the key words in the thread title otherwise I'd try and search it out for you.

But think it was originally on YouTube.

Can any clever Mumsnetter find it and link, I wonder, you need to see it to believe it.

I know this thread is a little old now, but I couldn't not reply. It sounds like your little one might have reflux. The 'not wanting to lie flat' thing was what got me thinking this. Might be worth having a chat to the GP and seeing if s/he is willing to prescribe Gaviscon Infant as a first step. Don't be fooled into thinking that if there's no puke, it's not reflux: my daughter used to vomit and it would sometimes come up but mostly it didn't quite make it to the outside world - just burned the inside of her oesophagus, poor thing.

Totally agreed on the colief-fabulous! Noticed a real difference with DD.
Cranial osteopath-complete waste of money and witch doctery in my humble opinion (yes I did try it out of desperation-it did sweet fa)

My DD had reflux - the symptoms are quite similar to colic. Have a look here for a comparison of colic and reflux.
DD would fall asleep in my arms but wake screaming as soon as she was put down on her back. Lying her on her left side with the head of the moses basket propped up really helped.
I put a pillow under the head end of her change mat, otherwise she would bring up partially digested milk and cry because the stomach acid coming up with it was burning her throat.

It sounds more like reflux or silent reflux due to the lying flat thing.
My DS was exactly the same but because he wasn't too sicky it didn't occur to me.
5 months later it got worse and worse until a trip to sick kids had him diagnosed, correct medicine and our life changed that night!
Reflux is when the acid from the stomach keeps coming up to the throat and burning like hell.
Babies with reflux don't like to lie flat and are suddenly calmer upright.
Hard to breastfeed because turning them on their side especially right (I think) makes it worse and they scream and fight a lot, on and off breast.
Are usually sicky but it can be silent reflux - when they aren't sick but the stomach acid still keeps coming up.
Very hard to settle, especially during the day.
Gaviscon is not enough. I was prescribed omeprazole and domperidone. Omeprazole nuterlizes the acid and makes them comfortable. Domperidone keeps the milk down.
None of the GP's or HV's spotted it so good luck with them!
Just at least get it discounted to save months of hard work that needn't be!

what helped:
infacol
baby massage
LOADS of constant winding through feeds (he was breastfed)
holding him in an odd position devised by dh, where he lies along your arm on his tummy, so the pressure is on his tummy, and swinging him from side to side
walking endlessly up and downstairs with him (i dont know why this worked, but it really did)
handing him over to someone else occasionally (i got so wound up by the crying i think it made him worse, he woudl sometimes go quiet for GPs)
when all else failed gin and tonic (you, not the baby )
some people find diet helps if you are bf'ing (eliminating garlic/onions/spicy things/wind inducing things) but i found it made no difference at all
good luck and it WILL pass

Bear reflux in mind if things don't improve. I thought DS had colic but finally got it diagnosed as reflux when he got to 4 months and was still screaming. I remember feeling that, as his mum, I should be able to help him and crying with him during feeds, so I feel your pain. Remember that whatever the cause, it will improve and you will put it behind you.