colicy baby... any experience much apreciated!!

[eastcoastmum2014]

Hi all!,

Ok first off I'm registering my dd at the doctors tomorrow and I will also be making a Gp appointment for her as well!
My DD is 1 week old and the last 2 days in the evening she wont settle and seems to cry bloody murder if we put her on her back! We have had to resort to puting her to sleep in her car seat as its the only way we can get her off! She is still eating well (about 2oz every 2 to 3 hours) and during the day despite being tired she seems normal. She is too young for gripe water or infacol. Has anyone been in this situation before and have any tips of comforting her or methods of burping that are more effective? Many thanks in advance!! :)

I thought infacol was suitable from birth? Midwives told me to use it!

Have you tried white noise - you can download a free app, music also helps DD a lot - particularly anything chilled with violins or nice guitar riffs.

Also the "tiger in the tree" hold helps a lot. But is worth ruling out silent reflux as a cause.

Also for burping- I can never get anything with the over the shoulder pose, much better is holding her upright on my lap and rubbing her back.

You can defo use infacol from birth.

In regards in colic, my DD went through this phase and used to be bad from about 5 - 9 in the evening. She used to cry and cry! We called it her 'witching hour'

There's all sorts of ways to get wind up. The most effective for us was to sit her up as straight as possible with her head supported and rub her back in a circular motion.

I think they tend to grow out of colic about 3 months ish? Thats when the gut matures.

Good luck, it can be hard at this age but they do get better..mine did anyway x

I suspect she's crying when you put her on her back because of wind... Both mine have gone ballistic due to this. Sitting her upright, supporting her neck/head or laying her tummy down across your lap, again supporting head/neck and ensuring she can breathe. It can take a soul destroying 40 mins or so.

It's a bit early yet but one thing to watch out for over next fortnight is, if it keeps happening, reflux /silent reflux.

My final recommendations, if in doubt, feed; ear plugs; don't feel guilty for hating the crying - I promise it will pass.

Does she have any rash or red spots anywhere on body? Wondering whether it could be cows milk allergy/intolerance.

It's completely normal behaviour for a one week old baby and I have a feeling the GP will say the same. Instead of looking to medicalise the behaviour just accept this is the way a tiny newborn behaves and that it will pass in a few weeks.

My 8 month old dd was colicky for around 3 months.

My suggestions would be

1. if it's crying same time approximately every day/raising knees up it could be wind. We softly did the cycle motion (laid dd on her back and gently moved her legs as if riding a bike), helps with wind

2. white noise app on your phone, stream noise worked well for us

3. infacol-can be used from birth. If this has no effect, return to gp, we used colief in the end, which can be prescribed but only if it is definitely colic which hasn't improved.

4. if your dd begins crying suddenly, at the start of the bottle, and tips her head back in pain (which wouldn't be obvious until she's older and could move in this way), I would look into whether it could be silent reflux (your gp could discuss this with you if dd's symptoms concern you)

It's exhausting having a colicky newborn, so rest when you can, good luck!

Can I just say gently that your baby doesn't have colic. Not to say she won't develop it, but at one week old she is not old enough to have demonstrated the prolonged patterns of behaviour that constitute colic.

What you have at the moment is a restless and clingy newborn. Very often, after the first few days of life where they are quite sleepy and pliable, they 'wake up' to the world and are bloody hard work for a number of weeks. Not wanting to be put down, wanting to cluster feed during the evening, wanting to sleep on a parent, these are all totally normal behaviours at her age.

How is she if you just let her nap on you?

Is she your first? Because in all honesty, what you describe at the moment is either wind, or the shell shock of dealing with a newborn who is nothing like you expect a tiny baby to be.

We sat our DS on our knee with full suppirt of back/neck/head and gently 'corkscrewed' his body in small circular motions, iyswim, to help get up those last little burps.

We slinged him and walked around in dim light. Often singing or huming (didn't have a smartphone).

Earplugs helped a LOT! Of course we could still hear him, but it wasn't blood curdling.

We tried all sorts of Infacol-ish things, but nothing worked, and gradually he grew out of it. By about 4 months, I think. It did hit between 5/6pm-10pm when he'd collapse with unsettled exhaustion.

I agree with pp ^ that it is a little soon to diagnose colic, but go to your gp anyway for the help and reassurance.

Everything Penguins said.

Your daughter is just getting used to this world. It's a tough time for both of you, but it will pass. Just comfort her through it.

'Colic' is often a case of a baby being overtired and overstimulated and nothing to do with wind. When my daughter was going through this phase, I found the best thing to do was to put her on my shoulder facing a white wall (no stimulation - I picked that up from someone on here I think) and bounce or sway.

Google the 5 Ss Harvey Karp, it's a similar principle.

Infacol is not effective (as clinical trials have shown) and is chock full of E numbers and sugar, probably not the best thing for a tiny baby's body.

Just realised you posted this on Thursday. What did the GP say eastcoast?

I agree that it likely isn't wind. I know when my guy is colicky because he does the screaming, arching his back, drawing his knees up, and all of this stops when the gas has passed. I find laying him on his tummy across my lap and patting him helps, but funnily enough the most effective thing is when I wear him in a front wrap cross carry in a sling. I guess the warmth of my tummy against his tummy and the position he is in helps. Infacol so far is proving to be useless.

Right first off yes she is my first and I'm not complaining about her behaviour I'm just concerned and I really don't like putting her in a car seat to sleep but it is the only way she will sleep. Second off she does sleep better on one of us but I wasn't planning on leaving her to sleep on me while I'm asleep that's just dangerous. Bloody gp wont see us till next week.. Not helpful!! Thankyou everyone who gave us some helpful advice. We have started on dentonol which seems to clear the gas somewhat and we have had some luck with different winding positions! Midwife is out tomorrow so I going to speak to her about it as well :)

Wow. That is quite a response to people who are just trying to help. We have all been there.

Oh goodness i'll get shot down by the mumsnet brigade fundamentalists now probably but in case it helps (feel free to ignore):

1. I had a few maternity nurses. They all said colic doesn't exist. It's probably hunger. And i have to say i kind of agree having seen a number of friends' 'colicky' breast fed babies who improved overnight when switched to a bottle at night/mixed feeding/ff. Shoot me down i know breast is best if you can but a lot can't.
2. If it's not hunger it's probably wind. Tips are picking them up, rubbing back and putting down, changing their nappy, putting them down on the mat to kick, sitting them on your lap and gently doing a twisty thing around their middle (jo frost supernanny trick), tiger in tree pose and leg bicycles. You'll find one thing works for a few days then it's another. But often when screaming blue murder it's trapped wind.
3. They grow out of wind by learning to burp themselves. Doesnt help you at all knowing that.
4. Infacol and Colief ..give it a go when u can according to bottle's instructions. Not sure they do much.
5. Putting them in a sling helps.
6. Do not let them get used to always falling asleep on you. Rod for your own back and they will find it much harder to sleep through the night. Personal choice though at the end of the day but is my own view that the best bit of advice i had from a friend with babies was to put them down in the moses for naps from the getgo. My 9 month old has been a super sleeper.
7. They do go through a witching 5 pm hour phase but it's when they are older i reckon.
8. At this age all they need to do is nap feed and cuddle in that order. Not too much stimulation. They wake they eat as much as possible then wrap them up in the moses and they nap. Put the moses into the cot in the nursery if u can for one nap of the day as really helps them get used to it. Get a monitor. Maybe wait till they are a month old or so for that.
9. Before you know it you will feel like an old pro and this will seem like ancient history. And you will be posting about teething instead

Tapenade, my theory is number 1 is because they are reacting to something in the breast milk, usually something like cows milk, egg etc that they are intolerant/allergic to.

Just a theory

Oh wanted to add...everyone thinks their babies have silent reflux and/or cow's milk allergy. Including me. Went to gp, consultants etc...all said prob cow's milk allergy. Had meds. Went on special formula and had bizarre green poos. Then switched back to normal formula and was fine. In hindsight i think it may have been trapped wind. Or maybe he just outgrew it. But probably worth investigating though the signs are so hard to read it's almost impossible to know. Loads of info on the web about it.

Pps OP just keep in mind that by weaning time all of this will be resolved. It seems like a lifetime away but will flash by. In fact next week things will probably be different. They change so fast and you just replace one worry with another

Thanks guys :) she is bottle fed... And I probably am just being an over worrying first time mum but I cant bear to see her in pain ... We had a very difficult birth where I nearly lost her and we were in hospital for 5 days so I'm a bit over emotional I'm afraid!! I will speak to my midwife today but I'm sure its bad wind as she screams until we give her dentinox and then she starts making all sorts of funny burping noises bless her at least it wont last forever!!

If it is bad wind, the good news is that it improves really fast normally. Even in a month it will probably seem a distant memory.

We had ''wind issues' with DD1. I used Infacol, but to be honest in the end I concluded that I agreed with the studies that have found it doesn't really do much. What really worked was finding a good winding technique. The walking around patting their back thing doesn't work for a lot of babies. One of mine liked firm circular rubbing. DS liked a kind of up and down jiggle on your knee (supporting his head, obviously ). It is worth trying lots of things. And they find it easier to get wind out the top than leaving it to come all the way through . Also, time upright after a feed sometimes just pops the wind out.

The reason I asked if she was your first was not to be an arse. It is that very few of us have experience of tiny ,tiny babies. Even my nanny friend had rarely spent much time around a baby younger than about 6 weeks. In my NCT group we were all convinced our babies had silent reflux/serious wind issues/CMPI, etc, etc. In reality, they were all perfectly healthy and we just had no idea just how hard a brand new newborn could be.

I have a friend whose baby is now 5 months. The other day she said to me "You worry all that time that they will only nap on you and you can't put them down. Now he won't sleep on my anymore and I know that if I have more children I won't have time to sit with him sleeping on my chest for two hours. Why didn't you warn me how fast it goes". And it's true. You don't realise how fast newborn will flash past. The good and the bad. It's gone in the blink of an eye.

Sorry to hear about your difficult delivery. I hope you and your DD are recovering.

Oh eastcoastmum2014, bless you! . Mine is 14wks now, when she was a week old she did exactly the same as yours, the nights seemed endless and you are exhausted! I agree with others her that it isn't really colic, it is just a cruel fact that babies are born before they are really ready to cope with life. At first DD wasn't able to be sick, burp, fart! Gradually over the first few days and weeks she developed these 'skills' and the trapped wind improved, but I too felt so awful and helpless seeing her in pain. It does pass quickly, and it doesn't do your baby any harm, and she will have forgotten all about it long before you have so try not to worry.

My tips such as they are: this will probably be what happens every night for a little while and you need to ride it out. We took shifts so we could get a little rest, so DH looked after DD from 9-11pm while I got a bit of sleep, then I took over for an hour or so and so on until we got her settled. Also remember that you are not doing anything wrong, and there is likely nothing wrong with your baby either (although by all means see the GP to make sure), this is just how it is with a newborn and you are doing a great job!

Lastly, it says on the gripe water bottle that it is for one month up, we used it in desperation from 2wks and DD was fine.. It was the only thing that actually seemed to help her, although if you are having results with dentinox then that's great .

Sorry for the long post! Get some rest when you can.

Mie was like this. She turned out to have tongue tie which was making her much, much windier (which in turn meant she didn't want to be put down, wouldn't sleep much, got overtired, etc). Have you had DD checked for tongue tie?