Is this colic please help!

[littleBug12345]

I think my LO may have colic, can anyone who has experienced this help me? He seems to be in distress, screaming and kicking his legs/pulling them up to his chest. His head moves back and forth he really doesn't seem happy and goes very red. I know colic is more common at night and my LO seems to be distressed/screams from about 8pm-2am but he is also unsettled and screams during the day too. Can colic affect babies during the day too?
When he is not distressed he also quite often grunts and makes noises like he is straining. He poos and wees OK though and is putting on weight (he is breastfed) It really is distressing and horrible to witness. Sometimes i can get him to stop crying by driving in the car, but around the home it us much harder. Im just worried it could be something other than wind/colic. He is only 5 weeks old bless him. If anyone can help with their experiences it would be very much appreciated x

Hi

This sounds quite colicky! Mine is currently 3 months (12 wks) old and we went through this stage from 1 month old til about 7 or 8 weeks. There is no rhyme of reason for it and it passes with age. I agree that the crying in pain and straining and everything sounds awful and it makes you feel terrible. I know that everyone tells you it passes and you think "but there must be something ELSE wrong here." All you can do is try and relax and know that it will pass. I know that's not much help now. It literally disappeared overnight with my dd!

Hi whereisswampy, thanks for your reply, it is distressing as you say you can't help thinking could this be something else. My LO does not burp or wind too easily and it definately seems to be his stomach that is hurting, when he screams his stomach is really firm. It is odd though as he can be calm on his changing mat whilst i give him a massage then 2 mins later be screaming and really distressed. Did you experience colic symptoms just at night time? My LO is getting hardly any sleep as a result of this (nor am I!) he averages 8 hours in 24. They are usually in hourly/two hourly blocks. I wish i could help him. Is there any way ir special test that can be done to prove it is colic? This would be my mind at rest at least.

It does sound like colic but if you're at all worried I'm sure your Gp or health visitor wouldn't mind checking him over. There are colic relief products you could try like infacol. The grunting might just be wind, he sounds like my DD. For the first few weeks if she wasn't feeding or napping she was crying. It's tough isn't it? It doesn't last forever though, my DD magically stopped the evening crying at 8 weeks and became a different baby, now she's a very happy 7month old! I know it's horrible watching him but he won't remember anything about it soon. Don't forget about yourself too, if anybody can take the baby for a while make sure you ask them and have a break and a rest even if it's just a short time. and for you, a few short weeks and everything will be different.

All babies/humans tense their stomach muscles when they scream, so that's why his stomach is hard then.

When you say he's only sleeping 8 hours in 24...where is he sleeping? If he's not sleeping, even if it's on you, then I'd get him checked for silent reflux. If he's not sleeping because you're trying to get him to sleep in a cot, then that's normal. Newborns do not like to sleep off mum very much at all. Google 'fourth trimester' and get yourself a good sling for day time naps. At five weeks, BFing should be well enough established to try a dummy as well if you're willing.

Thanks for your replies x he's sleeping on me most of the time, he does sleep in the moses basket but grunts and moves about alot which seems to prevent him dropping off.
Last night he slept on me from 8-10 then was unsettled and crying until 4am then 2 hours sleep before wide awake again. I've tried infacol and just started gripe water, I will have a look at the fourth trimester on google. Mumbledore did you BFeed? x

Hi littleBug, i could have written this post myself, my lo is almost 5 weeks and a few times a day seems in agony, pulling her knees up, going red, grunting, screaming, straining etc. Usually a fart resolves the issue but getting one out of her is hard work. I find she feels better if i bring her knees up to her chest.

This morning she lay in bed with me from 5am seemingly suffering. I just kept massaging and moving her legs about to get the odd fart out.

Its horrid isnt it, but i think its a case of riding it out!

Also i tried massaging in a small circle, clockwise, beneath her ribs (on the right side as you look at her) ive found that persisting with that helps. But gently obviously.

Try colief - it's a real fuss when breastfeeding, as you have to express a little and mix in the colief drops and then give it to your baby before feeding, but it worked like magic on my ds2 (hadn't been invented when ds1 was little).

It's a natural product - it contains the natural enzyme which breaks down the food in the gut, so it starts to digest the food for the baby, before it reaches the intestine. DS2 was breastfed and it worked wonders for him - stopped the crying immediately. Every few days I would try a feed without it and he went back to screaming again everytime.

With ds1 we took him for cranial osteopathy, which helped his colic a lot - assisted birth so his jaw had been thrown out of alignment with all of the tugging. Two treatments (more like gentle massages than anything I expected) worked wonders for him (though had no effect on ds2! They are all different!)

Best of luck.

Thanks notquiet i will get some colief this weekend. Last night I only got 40 mins sleep as LO was so unsettled. Thing i find hard is that even when fed LO will not settle just bobs head and seems uncomfortable, sometimes i can get a burp but even then this does not always calm him enough to sleep. It can last for hours and he and I are getting no sleep.

Completely normal newborn behaviour. Yes it's distressing when they cry but it's a phase and at five weeks baby will be going through a growth spurt. Google it or download the wonder weeks app. All young babies grunt and strain, it doesn't mean there is anything wrong with them and they grow out of it. Your baby doesn't need medication, just lots of feeding and cuddles.

Hi OP

How are you getting on?