colic?

[Samraves]

Hi there,

This probably has been done to death but... my DD is just over a week old and beauiful - but she cries a lot, and there have been nights where in total I may have just got an hour of sleep if you add together all the 15 min snoozes.

I think it may be colic as she doesn't like being down, wants to be fed constantly but doesn;t stay latched on for very long and keeps raising her legs up to her tummy. I am breastfeeding, and have cut out caffine now.

Someone suggested I try infacol, which does seem to have helped but we've nearly got through the bottle in a couple of nights and it will be expensive to carry on plus doesn't completely work, plus not sure about the additives in it (some E numbers). Can anyone recommend other 'better' things which could help her? (and us get some sleep!)

I now feel sick continually because of lack of sleep which means I am finding it even harder to care for her or eat enough...

Any help would be great, thanks

Sam

Sam, you have my sympathy. I remember this stage well, and if it is any consolation it does pass.
My health visitor advised me to cut out caffeine, chocolate and orange juice. She also suggested camomile tea which took a bit of getting used to but dd is 9 now and I am still drinking it!
We also did a little gentle massage which proved very effective, especially in the stomach area. I don't know if you can go to a class, be shown it by your health visitor or watch a video on youtube or something. We found it very "productive" which usually calmed things down for a while.
Another thing we did was feed cooled boiled water from a spoon which also seemed to bring wind up and ease the problem.
My health visitor also recommended salts which I got from the chemist. We put them on her tongue and they seemed to be soothing. I can't remember their name but another mum might have less porridge for brains than me and be able to tell you what they were - or your chemist. They were homeopathic.
I can remember gently bending dd's legs up towards her stomach and that being "productive" too, which always calmed her down. We sang a little song while we did it which was calming too.
I feel for you both as it is a difficult stage. Good luck!

i can second the camomile tea suggestion though we used it directly as DD was FF. worked wonders for us.

I would also try swaddling her. At that age just being held tightly is a comfort and you cant do it all the time. A good swaddle will help her settle especially if she is in discomfort.

HTH.

Dexterrocks - I think you are talking about colocynth granules - the homeopathic remedy? They are not always readily available - I tried 5 local pharmacies before one ordered them in for me. We did not think they made any difference, but DS was later diagnosed as having reflux too, so it wasn't just colic.

Camomile tea can help, but we also use fennel tea (DH is German, and bsbies over there are routinely given it from a week or so old), which seems to really help our DS.

big hug to you Samraves - DS is now 4 months, and trust me you will get through it, even if sometimes you can't see how.

Amiable, now you mention it, My health visitor did also suggest that I drank Fennel tea. I didn't like it too much but 2 friends swore by it.

If it gets any worse over the next week, get thee to a cranial osteopath. I was a right old cynic beforehand but DS went from screaming constantly between 5-9pm and being a much happier little chap.

thesugarplum is spot-on about swaddling- I used to fold a muslin into a big triangle and do it that way- nice and snug.

A muslin? Mine were way too small. I used a cot sheet.

Try

It really does work.

I second the chamomile tea (get a variety mixed with anise or something if you're not keen on the taste). It relaxes you, even if it doesn't have that effect on your LO!

And the massage. Our DD had lactose overload for the first couple of months, so gentle massage to ease the gas out of her colon was very helpful.
HUGELY rewarding when you coax these enormous farts out of them, too

Good luck - it WILL get better. Lack of sleep's crappy, isn't it?? Big sympathy, I know what it's like.

Thanks for your advice. I may try the cranial osteopath... And def will be looking into the massage too. Lol at the 'being productive' I have never been so relieved to hear farts!

I know it will pass and I will look back at these days and smile and prob wince too, but while I knew I would be sleep deprived I didn't realise it would be this hard :(

My daughter is 9 wks +6days and has had severe colic from wk 1. Although I've tried a lot of different things includeing baby massage, infacol,colief, warm bath, boiled water. I think it does improve once there a bit older the colief seems to be the one that works for us. Not sure how you would go about using it as I use formula and put it in her bottle. Hope it settles soon :)