Is this colic?

[Vmama]

My DS is 4 weeks old tday and in the last week or so he has started to have a screaming period from around 5 til 8 in the evening when nothing seems to console him and his cries are more like shouts -could this be colic?

He doesn't burp very much when we wind him but farts a lot and he struggles to get back to sleep after feeds at night -particularly the EBM feed that DH does with a dr brown bottle.

He hardly sleeps at all during the day -maybe 2 hours and then cluster feeds in the evning til falling asleep around 8 or 9 then sleeps through til about 1am but is then unsettled after feed til his next feed at 3 or 4 then sleeps again and wakes for his next feed 3 hours after last one.
Also he grunts and sounds like he's clearing his throat a lot after each feed sometimes it takes me several attempts to rock him to sleep before putting him down as he falls asleep on me but wakes as soon as he goes down -almost like he wakes himself with the noises and trying to suck on his hands.

Just wondering if this is colic is it worth trying infacol which a friend gave me? Or is this just normal newborn behaviour? I don't want to start giving him medicine he doesn't need but I would love us to get a bit more sleep between feeds and for him not to be so stressed in the evenings -I hate watching him cry and not being able to do anything.

Have you tried Dr Brown anti colic bottles - really good for wind in babies - used on my DS and still using!!

In my opinion it sounds like colic. I used infacol and found it worked to some extent.

It does sound a bit colicky, although (as I understand it) full-on colic involves even more screaming than you're describing. My DS1 did something very similar to your son for the first 3 months or so and nothing really comforted him at the time - we just kept trying new things (dancing him around to music, taking him for walks in the pram - well bundled-up - taking him for drives, etc etc.) Is there anyone who could look after him for an hour or so each evening to help keep you sane?

As you can tell by my name i am a baby massage instructor and have seen lots of wonderful results when using a baby massage colic routine. It can help to settle baby in the worst times and help to calm as well.
Speak to your nearest baby massage instructor and see what you think.

We introduced a dummy at about this stage for DD. She really wanted to suck, but seemed to have a quite sensitive stomach, and therefore, unlike DS didn't want to just suckle on me. We used an orthodontic dummy and she gave it up at about 3 months. Now that she can suck her hands successfully, she does that to comfort herself. I also found a 'miracle blanket' and some form of 'white noise' were very useful. I don't think anyone has come up with a conclusive theory about what colic is, but I liked Harvey 'happiest baby on the block Karp's theory. He said that some babies are just born a bit too early and it takes a while for their nervous system to catch up with being out of the womb. (His theory is that because babies have big heads to accommodate the big human brain, they have to be born early to get out of the mother's cervix).

We found colief much more effective with DS although more expensive than infacol.

Yes, it sounds like colic, which is usually defined by the rule of threes - a minimum of 3 hours crying a day, usually starting around 3 weeks of age, and there's another 3 which I forget! It doesn't sound like an overly bad case of it though, luckily for you (although expect you don't feel lucky during that 3 hour stint!).

Infacol isn't absorbed into the body like other medicines, so is perfectly safe to use on a newborn. It will probably take a while before you notice the difference, if it actually helps at all. Some colicky babies can react to dairy or caffeine in your milk too (there's a thread running about this at the mo which you might like a look at), so it might be worth limiting the amount that you consume for a few weeks, until the colic eases.

Cranial osteopathy can also help colicky babies, and is IMO well worth the money.

Vmama - your thread could have been us and our dd exactly at 4 weeks. I think it is colic and also quite common newborn behaviour (although my antenatal friends didn't seem to experience it). Stick with the expressed bottle of Dr Brown, I think they're the best bottles there are and we tried them all.

Colic seems to slowly get easier and easier until one day around 3 months you realise that it's gone. Just to give you some positive information - my dd was sleeping through the night (ie 11-12 hours without waking) by 12 weeks so there is light at the end of the tunnel. But even if your ds doesn't do this, once they get to the point when you can feed them and put them straight back down, you feel totally normal again as you can get a good 7 hours sleep.

I would say now would be a good time to try and introduce a bedtime routine ie bath then feed in low light then bed. It may be at a different time everynight at the moment but within a few months, you'll be doing at the same time every night (if you want to that is).

thanks babybore i really needed some light at end of tunnel excuse my one handed typing am expressing!

i know its not as bad as it could be i just hagte seeing him upset when i cant stop it is it worth trying infacol?

thanks also cantslim wont slim

My dd did exactly the same at this age and it stopped miraculously around 8 - 10 weeks old.

We used Infacol, it won't do any harm, though I'm not entirely sure how much help it does either.

One thing it might be worth considering is if he's particularly tired at that time of the day. I found that sometimes my dd was nuzzling round for a feed which she didn't really want, in fact she was over-feeding as a kind of self-comfort because she really needed to sleep but the over-feeding was giving her more and more wind so she couldn't sleep. I can't remember now how I sussed this out (she's 4.6 now and it all seems a distant memory) but at some point I realised that if I walked round with her humming kind of boringly she'd eventually stop the writhing and fussing and just zonk out without having to keep going on and off my breast like a yoyo.

Is he sleeping well in the day?

I tried infacol and gripe water (once she got to 8 weeks). I don't think either of them made any difference at all to be honest. I think their little digestive systems just need to mature a bit. Was your ds quite small when he was born? Mine was 6 pounds 6 and just from observation, I think the smaller they are the more time it takes for their digestive system to sort itself out.

I remember my dd crying between 5 and 8 as well. We had to constantly jigg her, a sit-down dinner was out of the question and I just remember thinking how difficult it all was and how upsetting it was to see her so upset. Honestly though it won't last. It'll just get easier bit by bit and gradually he'll want to go down earlier and you'll get some semblance of an evening again. The first 8 weeks are def the hardest so you're halfway there already!

Like Madameplatypus, I too used the tecniques to calm a an unsettled baby out of the Dr Harvey Karp book (The Happiest Baby). They worked for all three of mine.

hi there - this sounds exactly like my ds2, now 8 weeks, and things slowly seem to be getting a little better this week. I was starting to get a bit desperate! I spoke to a lovely lady from LLL last week who suggested the following: if your let-down is quite strong (if it squirts of its own accord iyswim), try letting the squirty bit go into a muslin and then re-attaching your baby - he might be taking too much air down if he can't cope with the speed of the milk flow. Also, after feeds, just sit him on your lap, maybe stroke his back to get a burp (mine doesn't burp much either), but don't pat his back as this might make him more sick. I try to start the night feeds when he starts rootling around (ie before he starts yowling), and I've also taken to turning the light off once he's attached at night to keep things really calm and quiet and he is dropping back to sleep more easily. Finally, I've taken to wearing earplugs - you'll still hear him if he cries, and I even seem to hear him when he starts fussing for a feed, but it blocks out some of the grunting and helps you get back to sleep. Hope this helps - I know how distressing it is when they seem so miserable, but I'm sure it'll pass before too long. Good luck!

Midnight express - I took to wearing ear plugs to drown out the grunting too. My dd is now 8 months and has been in her own room since 5 weeks and I'm still wearing them! They're very addictive...

We tried Infacol, gripe water, dummies, the lot. Interestingly, the one thing that did help was replacing his teat with a latex one rather than a silicone one. NUK do an orthodontic latex teat (as used in maternity hospitals) and it really helped our ds. He also drank more.
HTH

Baby Yoga is great for relieving colic. Just a few basic moves that that ease the wind out. (My DD2 always did a poo half an hour after the morning yoga session, so it did help with other things too). Look up a baby yoga site, it's sure to describe 2 great moves.
HTH

Gripe water doesn't work like it used to when my parents used it as it no longer has brandy in! It was the brandy that relaxed the stomach and let the wind pass.

Our dd had the same - she basically cried every evening from 2-4 months. She was only comforted by being walked around the house. It was really upsetting. Everyone said "colic" but I didn't get the feeling that there was anything troubling her tum, she had no wind and fed really well (if all the time) so I didn't bother with infocol, though I know others who swear by it.

I recently read that theres been a study that concludes that the nervous system kicks in in babies of this age and this can be a reason for the evening crying. I really felt this was the case for us. But then every baby different...

hi this is my first time on this site so you will have to excuse me as i don't know the abbrivations. my ds is six weeks old and is doing exactly the same but unfortunately for me and him it happens at different times in the day as well as at night sometimes all day. i also cannot put him down as he screams this is when the colic wakes him up so i have given up and just cuddle him. i had a baby massager come out yesterday to show me what to do so i will be trying that tonight - anything is worth ago.

I have someone coming to show me baby massage tomorrow so fingers crossed that will help

to be honest though I feel lucky it's always the same time every day and only lasts a couple of hours -that makes it copable with

hope it settles down for you soon Kellmarie

I the same problem with my dd.She screammed from mid morning until the evening. I tried infacol,colief,my hv suggested cutting out caffeine, citrus fruits, spicy food and certain veg.i think all i was eating at some point was chocolate. The baby massage did help a little as i think it relaxed her. It was awful as could not go out anywhere and could not speak on the phone due to constant crying.She finally fell asleep through sheer exhaustion.She finally stopped the crying of her own accord around 4 months so hang on in there.She is like a different baby.

Fennel tea is supposed to be good for increasing mothers milk and also it is the equivalent of gripe water as a digestive aid so that may help. Massaging the base of baby's feet near the waist line of the foot down to the heel, very lightly, which is the intestinal area in reflexology - definitely helps for the constipated babies too. My daughter had colic and it magically stopped at around 3 months. I used to beat myself up that maybe I hadnt burped her well enough, but it didnt seem to make much difference at the time. It is very stressful & heartbreaking to feel so helpless whilst they cry, but you are showing you are there for them by cuddling and trying to ease their pain and the calmer you can be, the more reassured they will feel. Good luck and dont let it get you down, it really does pass by quicker than you probably think right now.

oops I meant to also say that my friend swears by the book Eat Right For Your Blood Type by Dr Peter Alamo (I think that was his name). When she stuck to eating only good foods for her blood type, her baby didnt have colic. As soon as she had foods on the 'poisonous to your system' kind of list, her baby got dreadful colic. Worth getting it from the library and giving it a go.

I am an Infant Massage Instructor with IAIM (international Association of infant Massage). I have worked with many mums whose babies have shown the same symptoms as your wee one. I also have a 2 year old, who although did not have colic, was very windy but was unable to pass it. You will probably find that your baby boy holds his legs up to his belly or lies on his belly but doesn't like it being touched - understandable really when you think that there may be a lot of trapped wind in there! There is a specific colic routine that I could send you for s small fee, but your best bet is to find an instructor in your local area. Many Health Visitors and Nursery Nurses run baby massage classes as part of the post-natal groups. If you don't have one in your local area, contact www.iaim.org.uk for more information. If you wish to contact me, my email is [email protected]

I wish you well

Hi there I would most definately recommend have some holistic treatment called "Bowen Technique" I had my DS diagnosed by the doctor first as having colic. We started with infacol and it wasnt really easing it then we found colief which at £10 a bottle and lasting us no more than 2/3 days was very expensive eventually the doc gave us it on prescription and it was helping but not that much... Sooo we went and got the bowen technique done on him basically the treatment consisted of a couple of fingers placed on his chest and his back took no more that a couple of minutes and it is non intrusive then the fella carried out a bit Reiki treatment on him too and the colic went and left my son realllly chilled out. Havn't looked back. Recommended it to a friend of mine who's baby had colic and they had it done and their babies colic went too!!
The average fee is in my area "North East" about £30 although he never charged me. But I would'ave paid anything.. Good luck x