Is this the start of colic??

[Chooster]

DS3 was born on the 2nd December so is approaching 3 weeks old. DS1 and DS2 didn't have colic so I dont really know how to recognise it.

DS3 has been very content until about 4 days ago and now in the evening he is very unsettled, cries a lot (sounds like a painful cry if you know what I mean) and is arching his back and pulling his legs up. He only settles if he's feeding, but as I have 2 other DS's I can't feed constantly at bath / bed time etc. I wasn't sure if he may be tired as I can't settle him as well with the other 2 around, so he's often awake from about 5pm to 9pm, thats why I thought perhaps over tired. At night he has a good first stint of sleep but after his 3am ish wake up and feed he's unsettled again and crying out. I can hear the wind in his tummy and its quite gurgly.

I've started infacol yesterday but just hoping if there is any guidance about things I can do to help him? Its having a negative affect on the attention I can give my elder children and I dont want the arrival of their brother to be a negative thing.

Hi

I feel your pain! My DD is 4 weeks today, and had exactly the same symptoms, especially in the evening- screaming, back arching as if in agony, knees up and her lower stomach sounded like a drain! My Midwife said it was colic, and advised infacol, and possibly gripe water from one month. The Infacol took a few days to work but seems to have eased things up.

Are you BF'ing? I've also been cutting down on foods which "might" have caused irritation, ie orange juice, onions and cabbages but I intend to reintroduce them one at a time. I am not convinced that these have caused problems, but DH is certain after speaking to his Dutch family.

Still early days yet but something seems to be working!

Good Luck.

Hi, I am a Wind Guru

My 2 (now 3 and 1) both had reflux. Very similar in some ways to colic, infact colic is one of the symptoms.

For wind I swear, sleeping them on their tummy's really help. Something like 95/97% of cot deaths are in homes of smokers so don't panic at the thought.

It really helps soothe their stomachs, aids digestion, stops the startle reflex wakening them in the first place and you will hear them trumping all that gas out while they
sleep !

Get a sensor pad monitor if the thought unsettles you. Even just try it during the day naps.

Infacol/gripe water/every kind of tea known to man, done nothing for mine but as I said, they also had reflux.

Also, keep an eye on them for arching their backs whilst feeding, pulling away, over fussy feeding. That's the main sign of reflux and it is very common.

Some are sick, some are not. Some loose weight with poor feeding and some FEEEEEED all day and night and puff out like little balls super quick as the breast milk has an instant antacid relief for them. I had one of each, I know, lucky me!

Over feeding a colic/reflux baby makes for really bad colic and wind especially in the evenings.

Try spacing the feeds out so that they have had AT LEAST 2 hours to digest the last feed or they will have terrible pain and wind. I used to walk up and down with the hairdryer on for white noise. Get my DH to walk, any random visitor just so my over feeding DD would wait at least 2 hours for the next feed.

Good luck and and please remember, it all dies down by 12 weeks and you will survive it!

Should have said, if it does seem like reflux go to the docs.

Thank you...I should never have posted that reply it was tempting fate 2 nights of sheer hell since!

Thanks all - sorry for not being back - life is just a bit busy! He does the arching thing when feeding sometimes but the infacol seems to be doing something good!! Fingers crossed! Good luck to you as well Andie and hope your LO is getting better baheved soon x

DD had colic, HV arranged for someone tocome round & show me how to do colic massage (helps the wind out!) Over feeding defo made it worse (I originally thought she was crying coz she was hungry) and I think my diet made it worse too - cutting out onions seemed to help, as did eating numerous bars of Green & Blacks!