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.

hi, i also found that if i put my lo to bed with a slighly raised head end, with a tel. directory, this supposedly helps displace the wind...... good luck and keep telling yuorself that it should only last a lttile longer ( 4 mths in my case)

My ds cried and screamed for the first 5 months, we were really struggling to cope. Tried breast feeding, then formula (in case he was not getting enough from me), infacol, colief, gripe water, cranial osteopathy. Nothing worked and he would cry all day long as well as much of the night.

Eventually we switched over to lactose free formula milk (on prescription from GP) and he finally started to improve. The first night he had it, he slept for about 5-6 hours without a gap and it was so unusual I woke up in a panic thinking he might have died! THankfully he was just enjoying his first proper sleep.

Lactose intolerance doesn't have to display the 'classic' digestive symptoms, my ds was a whopper and appeared to be thriving, clapping on weight. But it is worth checking out, a simple stool sample can diagnose it in a day or two. I was on anti-depressants before he got his diagnosis and I really wish we'd managed to get it sorted sooner.

PS He is 2 and a half now and no longer lactose intolerant, eats anything, sleeps well and is huge.

Same as twnetythree here, DS started crying after each day feed (but not at night...?!),getting all upset and red in the face. Tried Infacol, cranial osteopath etc but nothing reaaly worked until HV & GP suggested we try him on lactose free formula. It didn't eradicate colic but helped a lot with the crying. Note: it got him quite constipated though, so I started alternating normal formula & lactose free bottles and it worked quite well.
Colic gradually disapeared & was complete;y gone after 5 months.
Good luck!

I don't know if this is of any help but I found that encouraging a good feed at regular intervals helped with better digestion and reduced build up of gas. Also homeopathy was like a miracle cure. one tablet stopped it in seconds.

Really manuka? what did you use and was it safe for any age -DS is only 5 wks old

today he's been feeding every 2 hours for up to an hour at a time compared to normally every 3 hours so maybe he's doing that himself

had the same problem. raised moses basket at head end slightly so that baby not lying flat. used infacol but didn't like the idea of using medicine all the time. mum said to use a little tepid bolied water with a tiny bit of sugar in the mixture ( i would make up a 5oz bottle with 1/4 tsp of sugar in it and use throughout the day after a feed or between feeds.) did this for a couple of weeks. lying baby on back and bicycling legs always helped baby burp. then discovered baby whisperer book - fantastic!! realised that all baby needed was a good routine. ie feed, play/activity, sleep. feeds normally every 3 hours and baby normally can stay awake for 1 - 1, 1/2 hrs before wanting another sleep and cat nap at tea time(gradually increasing as gets older) routine helped me establish what crying meant. if you want more info please let me know. donna