At the end of my tether-colic? What is it?

[victoriascrumptious]

DD2 is 3 weeks old. She is breastfed (not sure if that's relevant). Since she was 7 days old she has been screaming after feeds. The screaming takes the form of her writhing about in what is clearly agony. I am careful to burp her but regardless of how many burps come up she is still screaming her head off. I can hear and feel wind chugging about in the lower part of her and she does explosive farts from time to time.

When she is in the middle of one of her epidodes she scratches at her face and her body goes rigid. The only thing that seems to make her calmer (for a short period) is putting her on her back and massaging her legs and feet.

She doesnt vomit and rarely possets.

The screaming isnt just in the evening-it can be any time of day.

Swaddling doesnt work
Swinging doesnt work
vibrating chairs dont work
slinging doesnt work
Infracol doesnt work
Coliac (or whatever its called) hasnt worked yet (we're on day 3 of this).
All variations of winding fail to work
She wont tollerate tummy massage
She's already sleeping on a slight incline at night

What the hell do I do now?

[victoriascrumptious]

Just to stress-this is high pitched hysterical screaming and not whinging or normal hungry/tired crying. She sweats while these incidents are going on and her whole body is tense.

[MudandRoses]

My DS had colic, but not as badly as this. I was advised t give up cow's milk and also anything 'windy' such as cabbage, beans. I found giving up dairy made a substanstial difference (was never sure about the 'windy foods' though). The colic phase passed after abt 3 months when his guts were more mature. Keep going with the infacol I have heard it takes a while to take effect? And maybe you should mention all this to your GP, just incase there's something else going on?

[butterscotch]

What sort of birth did you have? I had an assisted delivery and my daughter ha colic! I tried averything for 10 weeks we battled finally intok her to a cranial osteopath only took one session and she had massively improved! I was told that assisted and c-section babies don't sometimes have damage/get misaligned hence the term colic! Whick is more commmon in the western world than in other nations. There is an excellent book called the happiest baby on the block by dr Harvey Karp which has a theory about a fourth trimester this kept me sane! Basically the first 12 weeks the baby is adjusting to new life etc. If you google your find more info onthe five S's they helped me prior to the cranial oseopath!

Agree ref the foods bland diet to try to see if it something your eating might be worth keeping a food diary to look for a pattern and if you start it now by the time you can get to the gp you will have started somwthig they will probably recommend anyway!

[bethylou]

I'm afraid I've promised to turn off the laptop now as DH is starting to get cross with me but please look up reflux and I'll come back on here tomorrow if I can (as have 6 week old in a growth spurt).

As a starting point (while DH distracted):
get to the gp on tuesday and ask for gaviscon. It didn't work for us but they can't give anything else until 1 month and 4.5 kg. Then they can prescribe stuff that has worked for us (Zantac).
Feed as upright as poss
Rub don't pat when winding
don't jiggle the baby
give up caffeine as it can aggrevate it apparent;y (and all I want is a diet coke!)
Neither of mine are very sicky and both gained weight - called silent reflux - but both highly distressed with it.
Prop the baby on its side to sleep if you feel comfortable to do this or sleep it in a car seat for two hours and then set an alarm to wake it up and lie it down when it is comfortable - suggested by my health visitor when I was getting no sleep.
Got to go .. sorry and good luck. I know how miserable it is

[victoriascrumptious]

Butterscotch. She was born at 42 weeks via cx. Will look at cranial osteopathy

[victoriascrumptious]

Bethylou, I assumed it wasnt reflux as she doesnt seem to be bothered by being on her back and she's not sicking up

[bethylou]

Our DS2 doesn't seem to be bothered particularly by being on his back (although DS1 was) and he is not sick anymore than a baby without reflux (though nearly got the MIL's new designer sofa today to prove me wrong!!) We went for cranial osteopathy with DS1 and that did seem to help for a while.

Does your DD sneeze a lot, choke/retch from time to time? The Baby Whisperer book also suggests that babies with reflux are very hard to burp and it regularly takes me a good hour to put DS2 down after a feed in the night (and day but it doesn't seem to matter then and can sit him up). DS2 doesn't scream with it yet but the screaming with DS1 was almost unbearable and went on for half an hour at a time after feeds and often in the middle of feeds.

Obviously, babies get colic and the worst cases don't just have it in the evening, but the bit that caught my eye in your description was that she goes rigid - the Baby Whisperer (not that I'm a follower or anything!!) suggests that wind makes babies draw their knees up while reflux makes babies go rigid. I have to say that DS2 does a bit of both alternately, just to keep us on our toes!

Our health visitor told me all was normal and fine with DS1 as he gained weight well (as is DS2) and all babies cry. It took till 4 months to get a diagnosis, by which point I was at my wits end and crying throughout each screaming feed. When the gaviscon didn't work, I assumed we were wrong until the GP gave us something different and within three days we had a different baby and I started to enjoy motherhood.

I would say, whatever the cause, don't suffer in silence: get to a gp that you trust and ask for some ideas. In the meantime, be kind to yourself in whatever way you can and get someone else to hold the baby sometimes during the screaming spells. Let us know how you get on. Good luck!

[victoriascrumptious]

Thank you Bethylou, very helpful advice x

[victoriascrumptious]

and everyone else who took the time to reply. Many thanks. Cranial oesteopath appointment now booked

[MissusRabbit]

definitely look into reflux more too....ds had it and wasn't actually sick for the first few weeks. 'silent reflux' it's called.

good luck

[beccagrace2]

my dd2 is now 5 weeks, i could have written your op myself, she was exactly the same!! i took cammomila remedy, one 30?dose and she is like a different baby!! we still have some probs with trapped wind, her latch is not great, but the screaming and redness has stopped.

good luck

[Pancakeflipper]

I was going to suggest Cranial osteopath. My YS had awful colic for 4 months. He's now 18months. I didn't take him. He's always been unsettled. Since December he's been hard work and just a miserable child.

Took him to a cranial osteopath a month ago out of desperation and my baby is a much happier soul. I am falling in love with him all over again.