Help!! Colicky 3 week old

[bubble99]

My DS3 is 3 weeks old and has started having classic colicky symptoms - crying, arching his back and drawing his knees up. This started again tonight after a BF feed at 7pm, no problems during the day. He's B/Feeding well every 3-4 hours but it is impossible to get him to sleep on his back at night. Last night found me on the sofa and him in his carseat where he seems quite happy and will sleep. I'm not happy about him sleeping in a carseat as it can't be good for his spine to be in that position all night and also his airway is not as clear as it would be if he was lying flat. At 3am this morning however I was so knackered that I just needed to get him to sleep.

I don't know what to do, Has anyone else experienced this?

Hi hun

Have you tried infacol? There's another one, but I can't remember the name of it.

Will he nurse again when he's crying? Is he hungry? Some babies cluster feed in the evenings.

Can you try swaddling him?

xxxxxxxxxx

Have found the name of the other colic drops - Colief.

this is a search I did with colic in the subject line on here.

One thing I saw from those threads was a suggestion for cranial osteopathy - could work?

If I lived nearby, I'd do sofa-duty tonight for you, hun. Hugs and if I think of anything else, I'll post immediately xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lots of sympathy - its so early - and very hard at this stage I know. Infacol worked wonders for me, as did cluster feeding in the evenigns. They like to start building up their reserves for the nighttime at a surprisingly early age, so maybe more milk required?......

Hi Hunkermunker

He's trying to suck when he's crying, doing that head turning towards boob thing that they do. If I try and feed him when he's crying he's wriggling and not latching on properly (has no problems latching on and feeding during the day)
He's also full of milk, so much so that he's bringing some back up if I manage to get a burp from him. I gave him some Infacol and a little feed about an hour ago (it says to give before feeds) and tried to put him in our bed on his back. Crying within 5 minutes. Gave him a cuddle and a boob and he fell asleep using me like a dummy, tried again to get him down, this time on his side, same thing woke up 5 minutes later crying. Gave him a dummy on his back in bed, no good spat, it out. He's now in his favourite place, the bloomin' carseat and he's fast asleep.

Do you think it's bad if I leave him in there and get some sleep? Surely this is a phase, he's not going to insist on a giant carseat when he's 18 is he

bubble, ds1 spent quite a few nights (obviously with feeding breaks) in a swing or car seat. It was the only way either of us got any rest at all.

Thanks sievehead

Could you tell me more about the cluster feeding thing? Will he try to feed even if he's full because his body knows it needs to store up overnight energy?

LOL at image of giant carseat!

Can you try getting one of those bouncy chairs that lies flat tomorrow? At least then he'd be flat - I'm with you on the not leaving them in the carseat for any length of time thing. He could fall asleep in it sitting up a bit, then you could lie him down.

Will he settle on his front? I know it's not advised these days, but I do know some health professionals say it's OK if all the other risk factors (smoking, etc) aren't being done iyswim.

Does he have a cot? Can you try propping the end of it on a couple of books and putting him in there?

Just did a quick google and found this:

"What do I do if my baby is still crying?
Sometimes you won't be able to figure out what's wrong. You may have tried everything and the baby won't stop crying. She might have colic, which can last three hours a day, at least three days a week. Colic usually goes away by the time a baby is 4 months old.

Even if your baby doesn't have colic, trying to comfort a crying baby can be difficult. If you've tried everything and nothing works, try these tips:

Swaddle your baby - W rapping your baby snugly in a blanket can help your baby feel warm and secure.
Sound - T ry playing soft music or singing a lullaby.
Motion - Carry, gently rock, or take your baby for a ride in the car (make sure she's in her car seat.)
Rubbing - Rubbing your baby's back or belly may be soothing, especially she's having gas pains.
Suck - Sucking can steady your baby's heart rate, relax his or her stomach, and calm flailing limbs.
The good news is that babies do grow out this phase. By the time your baby is 6 to 8 weeks old, they'll be better able to soothe themselves and much of the crying will stop."

Can you try a dummy? The sucking might help soothe his tummy without filling it with milk (my DS used to want to nurse when he had a stuck burp...cue projectile vomit and a HUGE laundry pile!).

More hugs, hun xxxxxxxxxxxxx

More info on cluster feeding here hun.

It should be a clue, that car seat....something is making him comfortable in the car seat as opposed to his apparent discomfort lying down. I think reflux is often over-diagnosed these days, but in this case, I would wonder if he is suffering when he is flat because milk comes up his oesophagus and hurts him....and it doesn't when he is in the car seat.

Bless him, sitting there all cosy for hours!! No need to worry about his spine, BTW - why would it harm him, lying like this? It's not distorting his spine or putting presure on it.

What does your HV say about the crying?

Both my DS and DD had bad colic/gas and the only things that worked for me were constantly rubbing and patting them and sleeping them on me with their tummies against my tummy/chest. Another thing that worked to get rid of the gas was massaging their tummies in a clockwise direction and cycling their legs round and bringing their knees up their chest and pulling them (gently) straight to release the wind. Both my kids honked their guts up with gripe water but I believe their is a cure called Colief you can use not sure what age from). Dummies can also help as the sucking helpds ease the tummy pains but they don't get any milk which exacerbates colic.

HTH, good luck!!!!

Oh and swaddling, you can buy special blankets:

www.miracleblanket.com/

That makes sense about the position he's in when in his carseat, as soon as he's vaguely upright he's okay and you're right, why would his spine suffer? I assume carseats are designed not to cause damage to babies especially on long journeys. He's got a moses basket but he has never settled in it, he may fall asleep for a few minutes but he'll wake up and complain, even during the day PuffTheMagicDragon, when you say swingseat is that one of those automatic battery operated ones?

I'll try swaddling though if he's crying he flails his arms and pushes the blanket away. He seems to like sleeping next to someone (who doesn't ) maybe because he was a twin. My eldest DS didn't and DS2 wasn't bothered either way. Anyway he's still asleep now.

More from kellymom about reflux

Yes bubble - borrowed it from my brother - it was brill!

Bubble - off to bed now. But - I used to put mine in their car seats sometimes during the day to settle them. Think its really important though to get them used to their cots as early as poss to save trouble later. Re. the cluster feed thing, it just worked with my 2. They would be wriggling and moaning even after a feed. I'd cuddle them, change them, swaddle them, and then in half an hour, they would have another feed, and so on and so on, from 7 - 11 ish at 3 weeks. My mum used to say, "surely, she can't need more" - sure enough she would guzzle 3 feeds in an evening. Then after a bit of messing around for a few weeks, it did the trick, each feed was gradually dropped and they slept through from 8 weeks. So all i can say is that was my experience. I just remember listening to my sisters advice which was about this "storing up" ready for the night business. It worked for me. Hope you manage to sort it out though. Sorry I am rambling now, as I'm very tired! I would be much happier putting them to bed at "bedtime" in a cot (even if they were going to wake up an hour later), just to get them used to it. Good luck!

Agree with sievehead about getting him used to his cot, but think you should get him checked out for reflux first - if it's hurting him to lie flat, it doesn't seem fair to make him.

Once you've checked there's nothing wrong...then make him

Seriously, hun - hope he's settled soon. He sounds like a real sweetie xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

bubble - this was me just a few weeks ago. Try all that has been mentioned, hopefully something will work! One thing that was magic for dd2 was holding her under her armpits in front of me and just move her up and down in a continuous motion - she'd actually fall asleep when someone did this.

It does end - she's 10 weeks now , worst was from about 3-6 weeks (sorry) good luck

Night night sievehead and enjoy your sleep
Wouldn't be without the little monkey though, especially after his traumatic entry into the world. HunkerMunker thanks for the info, that's a good site. Hana, when you say your DD2 would fall asleep when held under the armpits, would she then stay asleep if you put her in her cot?
My DS3 will fall asleep easily if held but will wake up and cry as soon as he's laid down

WestCountryLass

Agree with you about gripe water, haven't tried it with DS3 but with my other two it would only get wind out at the top end and DS3 seems to need help to get it out at the bottom end.

Bubble - infacol needs time to build up in the system it's not fully effective straight away.

IIRC it takes around 2 weeks to be fully effective.

bubble - depended on how long she hadn't slept for - usually the only only only thing that would get her to sleep was bfing for long periods of time. there's a lot to be said for comfort sucking I THINK.

Sympathies bubble

I compiled a list of everything we tried (and many things we didn't but mumsnetters recommended) while we were going through it. Nothing cured outright, but many made life a lot easier and more bearable. Here's the link: Colic Resources - hopefully something on that list will help!!

DD had terrible colic... cure? Chiropractor! There was an improvement after just one session, and by 7 sessions (2 a week) she was fine!

i would recommend it to anyone.

xxx

If he likes being more upright you could try to tilt the moses basket either by putting books or something solid under the head end or rolling sheets or blankets into sausages and putting them around the edge under the mattress. Once dd was bigger we put the basket in the cot and raised the head end of the cot on Ikea step stools.

btw dd spent loads of time in a bouncy chair or car seat because of her reflux and she really hasn't got a posture problem.

Make sure there is nothing spicy going into your diet and consequently into babies diet! Also, my ds1 had tummy trouble and the infacol worked a treat. Also using a massage technique called 'tiger in the tree' where baby lies face down along your arm with the face nestling in the crook of your arm. The slow movements of your wrist on the tummy help to move the wind. I got this technique from the 'The practical art of Baby Massage' book by Peter Walker. Published by Carroll and Brown. ISBN: 1903258103.