Desperate- 24 hour "colic"

[MsPea]

My dd is 4 weeks old. Over the last week and a half she has gradually become less settled and more grizzly to the point where now she basically screams unless she is feeding or asleep (which she doesn't do very much). It's driving me wild, it is so hard to see her so unhappy and I feel I must be doing something wrong. We have had her checked by the dr who says its colic and we are using infacol which doesn't seem to be doing much. I thought colic happened regularly in the evening for a few hours, not all the time. Can this really be colic? Has anyone else experienced it?

How is she fed? How often is she fed?

PS We have also tried gripe water, cooled boiled water and I am drinking fennel tea and have cut out cows milk.

She's breastfed on demand although this translates into every 2-3 hours through the day (average 2.5 I'd say). In the evening she cluster feeds between sixish and nine and then goes 4 hours without a feed during the night (perhaps twice ina row).

If it is colic, please go and buy some Colief from the chemists - it is the only thing that works. My DS1 had colic from 1 week to 7 weeks - screamed from 3pm to 7pm every single day, and stopped within 2 days of giving him Colief. Infacol, gripe water etc don't work but for some reason not many people know about Colief. If that doesn't work, then maybe go back to the dr and push him to help you.
In the meantime, try to get a bit of time off yourself - can someone else look after the baby even for an hour or so a day? It is really really hard to cope with a baby who is crying all the time, so try to give yourself a break.
Let me know what happens!

I second Colief it helps the baby breakdown the lactose and realy works well.

Doyou carry her in a sling? i have found te ring slings like Premaxx great as you can have baby at a reclining angle not upright.

MsPea. Your dd sounds like my DS. He was v. unsettled for about 12 hrs a day. Screaming, etc unless feeding or sleeping. Continued until he was about 4.5 mths old. My DD only had colic from about 5 -8pm every day. It does sound like it, the feeding pattern sounds about right for her age. Mine were waking about 2 -3 times a night at that age.

I can recommend Colief or INfacol. Also some people find craniopathy helpful -- but didn't help my DS. I found he was "best" if carried. Get a sling to help with this. Also sometimes white noise helps, vaccum, fans etc. to settle them. The thing that worked best for us was massage, expecially of the tummy area. With both DD & DS. See if you can get signed up for a class.

It won't last forever, it just feels like it will.

MsPea - have you cut out all cows milk products, and not replaced them with soya? You will only be testing a possible intolerance properly if you do so. 30-40% of babies with a milk intolerance are also soy intolerant, so you need to remove that from your diet too if you are attempting to pinpoint whether or not this is the problem. Also be aware that it can take 7-10 days for the protein to completely leave your/DD's systems.

If this doesn't help then I would also recommend a cranial osteopath.

I totally empathise with what you are going through, and my suggestions are based on the fact that my DD had head compression from her birth, is milk intolerant, and also has silent reflux.

Although it's very hard to believe it at the moment, it will get better eventually.

Baby's weight gain, MsPea?
Do you feel you have tons of milk?
(just thinking about over-supply, which can have the effects you describe - it's easily fixed)

You could be describing my ds, mspea, from about 3 weeks old. I had a thread about this a while ago and got lots of support as I'm sure you will. To give you some hope that it may not go on for too long, over the last week my ds (7 weeks) has finally started to have periods where he's awake and not crying, although there's still a lot of crying, good days and bad days. I'll be interested to hear what tiktok has to say about oversupply as I do seem to be dripping with milk and ds has been putting on a pound a week for the last 3 weeks. Also he's been having cranial osteopathy... but who knows if it's that that's helped or something else?!

Tiktok- weight gain 8oz in 7 days last week and do feel I have tons of milk, it is always leaking and sometimes squirting out. I find it easy to express but do not often have problems with engorgement.

Writing in haste as dd unhappy and about to take her for a walk. Thankyou for all these posts which I find v encouraging and will read again later (in fact I look forward to it).

OK - try the thing for oversupply. I've described it on MN many times such as here

Thanks, will def try that. Does anyone know if I can use both infacol and colief? Have some of both but her system already loaded with infacol.

Can't think why infacol used with coleif wd be a problem - infacol works on the bubbles inside the tummy, and coleif works on the lactose in the milk. Neither work organically on the body, and neither will do any harm. Good luck!

tiktok could be right. If dd is getting loads of foremilk and not much hind milk, that s lactose rich so coleif might help but also doesn't satisfy for long and so then needs another feed in a short length of time. Is good advice and worth a go. They say that "evening" colic can be reduced by either reducing the size of morning feed (ha if you can!) or I suppose expressing some of the foremilk off before feed though could then lead to MORE milk, which was never a problem for me (had barely any despite world's hungriest baby!). NEway, I hope some of people's suggestions work. A sling is a life saver if only so you can be hands free for a while. My husband used to walk our DD round in the garden all evening in our sling with his headphones on to drown her out!

Well, we've started the coleif and the onesided feeding regime. Also we have generally reduced the levels of stimulation she receives in the evening. Last night she slept for 5.5 and then 3 hours with no crying which was lovely although at the moment I'm assuming it was a fluke to avoid disappointment. Haven't quite got the hang of my ringsling yet but going to persevere today. Will let you know what happens next...

When i use my ring sling MsPea i have it fairly tight to me, so i can slip babe in with a wriggle and said baby then stays put, no moving about, also having baby and sling snug to you is much safer when getting up and down and leaning.

Hope today is a better day for you all.

Good luck, MsPea - sounds positive so far - let us know how you get on

Good morning, Am now slightly disconcerted to report that dd slept in her moses basket (unheard of) for 5 and then 4 hrs last night! DP tells me to relax and believe that what we are doing is working. She's still feeding well, filling nappies, normal colour and tone. And I'm right that a pimply face and neck is normal at this age? Since it has crossed my anxious mind that she might be ill. If this continues how long is it reasonable to leave her between night feeds? (One month old today). Thanks...

MsPea ,spots are normal. Your baby is not ill - at least nothing you have said here makes me think she is. She is settling into a more contented pattern because you changed the way you are feeding her. This is perfectly physiological - and it's why I suggested the changes I did suggest.

I don't think going 5 hours and then four hours at night is anything to worry about at a month, with a baby who is clearly thriving, and with a mother with a clearly abundant milk supply

Really pleased MsPea - hope it continues!

22 years ago my first baby was exactly like this. It was dreadful to see. We were doing nothing wrong. I would feed her and we'd leave for work and it was such a relief. I don't think I could have stood it at home all day. Then I'd get in at 6 and feed her and it would seem to be all that kept her happy was feeding. At 10 I went to bed and her father had her over his shoulder every night until 12, 1, 2am some nights, then she'd be up in the night etc again. It did wear off. It always does. You just have to get through it.

Some people try cranial osteopothy or something - head massage which can work I think.

The trouble is completely normal babies can be just like this. It is unbearable at the time. Even now 22 years later I can still remember exactly how it felt.

Well, she continues to be more settled. Thankyou very much for the support and sympathy. She still seems to have one episode of full-on screaming almost every day, but this seems to me to correspond to her being overwrought (too much going on in the house or unable to get herself to sleep) rather than in pain.

MsPea, I am glad things are going better. Many babies have been helped with the one-sided feeding, and it is always worth trying in cases like yours where a generous supply seems to be contributing to the baby's discomfort. It is such a simple thing to try, too - wish HVs knew about it, instead of advising all sorts of stuff.

tiktok, what's the longest I should let her go between feeds at night? At the moment I wake her around the 5-5.5 hour mark but don't like disturbing her and I think in the end it makes for a worse night as her natural cycle is upset. But it seems a long time for her to be without calories. She's 5 weeks 2 days. Thanks.