Crying Windy/Clolicky Babies Support

[Metrobaby]

I thought I'd start this thread off for anyone suffering with windy/crying/colicky babies. Maybe someone has some tried and tested methods - or failing that we can sit here and count down the weeks until they grow out of it.

Anyone care to join?

Well I've got to the "don't care anymore" stage and dug out the free dummy that came with the avent starter bottle kit.

Took an hour (and had to hold the dummy in at times). I've just noticed that he seems to have drifted off.

Me: I think he's asleep!
Dh: are you sure?
Me: He has his eyes closed and he's stopped crying, who the fuck cares if he isn't!

Apologies for the swearing, it's just been that sort of evening...

Hope things are a bit better today GA (saw your chat thread last night too). DD seems to be colicky whenever she hasn't had a poo - in this house we always celebrate when she manages it .
Morocco, it's nice to hear your ds didn't get any wrong sleep associations from being carried a lot etc. We have been talking about this on the April babies thread.

i found with both ds's when colicky to put them in a sling which stopped them crying. you can get slings which you can wear the baby around your back aswell as front so you can cook etc. best money i ever spent.

here are some sling sites: ergo carrier and lots of different slings

Sorry to hear about your ds GeorginaA. Is he getting any better ??

I've been giving Colief for the past 2 days now and it does seem to have made a difference (So far). Ds has actually settled down easier this evening. However being bf, its a right pain to give as you have to mix it in the breastmilk before giving a feed. This means I have to sterilise and make sure I express every day. I've been giving him it via the bottle top (used like a cup) to save on cleaning and sterilising 6 or so bottles.

Yesterday was better. He had the second cranial osteopathy appointment and slept for ages afterwards so was a bit worried we were in for another nightmare evening and night. True to form he wouldn't settle at 7pm (I guess he knew it was the Angel finale on Sky 1 last night!!). However, he was happy enough to suck on a dummy until his 10pm EBM bottle so it wasn't quite as fraught as the last few nights.

He downed 4oz of EBM then needed a top up from me (thus defeating my early night plans, but never mind!) but surprisingly settled straight afterwards. Woke again at 1.30am, settled straight back afterwards and 6.20am (he's now in bed sleeping peacefully). Miraculous! According to the osteopath I shall probably have a bad day today, but at least I got a break last night to recharge some batteries ready for the onslaught!

It also shows that the cranial osteopathy is doing something at least. I just hope the effects are a little more permanent this week.

Forgot to mention I'm also using infacol at every feed, spending at least 5 minutes on burping him, and using a sachet of chamomila granules (Nelson's Teetha) at 6pm and 10pm. So they also might be having an effect.

I found my ds was always worse the day after, or sometimes immediately after the CO treatment and then got better too.

So far ds has had infacol, gripe water, colief and CO treatments (although not at the same time obviously). I feel like a real bad mummy trying to give him everything available under the sun !

Well we did really well today - regular naps, calm baby.

Ds1 just had a tantrum outside ds2's door just after I'd settled him for the night. Ds2 now wide awake and screaming the place down. sigh

scream

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What I can't work out is ... if the wind is much less, why the hell isn't he sleeping?!

Hello,
Can I join you? my DD who was a angel has now discovered crying.

I dont know whats causing it. During the night shes fine and goes 3 hourly between feeds and goes straight back to sleep, she wakes ocasionaly for a moan but drops back off. However the days are a different matter. She cries all day unless she is in your arms and even then shes hard to settle. She throws her arms about and kicks. I think shes full of wind as she never burps or anything after a feed and sometimes looks as if its causing her discomfort. I can wind her for 20 minutes with no result. The tiger hold works sometimes and also another hold where you carry her outwards with an arm between her legs and one across her chest. But as soon as she drops of to sleep and you put her down in a rocking chair or moses basket she screams the place down and then takes ages to settle again. Ive tried a dummy but she hates it and have resorted to letting her suck on my little finger which seems to stop her crying. MY DP goes back to work on Monday and im dreading it as I just know im not going to be able to do anything as I cant put her down. Today she has slept for 20 mins this morning and 1 hour just now while sucking my finger on my lap. She looks knackered but just wont lie down. What is the cranial osteopathy, how would I go about getting it doen and what is it supposed to do.
Also anyone know why shes only like this during the day.
DP wants to try controlled crying but I havent got the heart to as her crying is so painful to watch I dont think I could face doing it.

oh georgina - it's shite isn't it. I really understand how it feels,

a) it's nothing you've done and you are doing everything there is to make it go away(but then you know that)
b) it will go away (although 12 weeks feels like 12 years I know)
c) no one can appreciate how awful it really is unless they've experienced it.

My DS had colic for 12 weeks, screamed for about aprox. 6/7 hours per day and never ever ever slept, used to wake up at 2am and that was it. Not saying this as a "my cat is blacker than your cat" but to really say that I understand how awful it is.

hang in there. He will be a trouble free toddler. promise.

kbaby - how old is your baby?

kbaby - cc is not suitable until around 7 months , def not two weeks.
What about a sling?

Thanks katierocket... it's hard to believe point a) in your heart even though you know it in your head, though, isn't it?

BTW does anyone know the difference between reflux/colic? I'm suspecting that it could be a combination of wind and reflux that is upsetting him (he's been particularly possetty just now and has got himself really worked up as a result) - he's also pretty hiccupy in general which I'm sure I've read somewhere is a sign that the digestive system hasn't finished developing properly.

Is it worth going to see the docs with him just in case, or is there generally nothing they can do anyway?

Yes! Especially if no other mothers around you have experienced it.

I wondered the colic/reflux thing too but TBH I think it's all academic, I went to see docs in desperation and they prescribed me infant gaviscon but it didn't do anything. Actually I think she gave it me out of sympathy knowing that it probably wouldn't help. Sometimes you just need to think that something might make it stop (even if that belief only lasts for couple of hours/days, it helps get you through!).

Does driving him in the car help? Could your DH do that while you get DS1 to bed? Sorry, not sure of your situation and sure it is miles harder with a child too but driving was the ONLY way we could calm DS. Once asleep we'd very gingerly transfer him to moses basket, like handling an time bomb!

and TBH and in my humble (and non medical) opinion, I was never convinced about the colic/wind link. I had a horrendously long labour and forceps delivery and DS came out shouting! I know there is a lot of ancedotal evidence that difficult births can cause colic and/or unsettled babies and to me DS just seemed really angry and uncomfortable, that's why I thin the Crainial O helped.

kbaby: here are the things I've tried and had some success with. Consider it a pick and mix of things for you to experiment with

cranial osteopathy - not cheap. see if you can get a cranial osteopath recommended in your area - you should look for one who has particular experience with babies. Mine cost £32 for first visit and £25 for follow up visits. Had two sessions so far and seeing some improvement in reducing windiness.

infacol - can buy in chemist/large supermarket and you give a dropper full before a feed. Helps the air bubbles to be burped up more easily.

dummy - gives them something to suck on and be soothed by. I'm trying to limit use just to calm him down then remove, rather than let him sleep with it partly because I don't want bad sleep associations, partly because I'm not sure if it's creating more wind.

white noise/womb sounds - ds2 has a bear that emits womb sounds when he cries or for 5 mins after you press it. Not sure if it's doing anything, but hey, it's worth a try.

blankie/cuski doll - something with your smell to put in the cot as extra comfort.

burping - I have 4 different burp positions I work through for about 10 mins after a feed. The first sitting up, chin in my hand and gently rubbing his back in a circular motion. The second over my shoulder again rubbing his back. The third lying over my knees (similar principle to tiger in the tree hold, except he's too long for my arm!) again rubbing in circular motion. Fourth on his back and I bicycle his legs.

crying - recently his cues for tired/in pain/hunger have become a lot more obvious in the last few days. As a result I'm more prepared to let him have a short cry (5-10mins max) on his own to settle IF (and only if) I'm 100% sure he's just overtired and fighting sleep not in pain or hungry.

Damn, and I was pinning hopes on some anti-reflux med... oh well! Might go anyway, as you say, it's something else to try for a couple of days!!!

Unfortunately, he seems immune to the car on one of his crying fits. One time we took him and ds1 out in an effort to get ds2 to sleep. We were driving around for a couple of hours and ds1 was out like a light - couldn't rouse him. Ds2 was still wide awake... not crying, but not asleep! I have the incredible non-sleeping baby...

oh georgina - flashback - you could be me talking (why is there not a empathy emoticon?!)
try the anti-reflux avenue, it could work for your DS.

remind me how old he is now?

katierocket: 5 weeks on Tuesday. Thanks for your messages, btw. It's a big help knowing someone else has been there even if there's no magical solution other than time.

kbaby: Almost forgot - another thread reminded me. Ace stuff - Nelson's Teetha granules. It's Chamomila (homeopathy) and it's meant for teething but also can be used for colic. You can either give it as and when they seem to be in pain or I tend to use pre-emptively one hour before I know he's going to start being fussy, with a follow up sachet 2-3 hours later (just before the following feed basically). Something else to try at least

well I guess you are nearly half way there

honestly, if you want to talk about it post or email me through 'contact another talker' I always sound a bit evangelical about colic but only because I know how vile it is when you have to live for it. I used to have a pathological hate of mothers who said "ooo, he's a bit colicky today" when the reality was their babies had cried for half an hour after a feed. I wanted to march up, grab them and shout "THAT IS NOT COLIC LADY, YOU WANT ME TO SHOW YOU COLIC?!"

LOL. Have to say, I've mentioned colic to a few people and they've sort of nodded and said "oh yes, mine was a bit unsettled at that age"... I would love to have "just" an unsettled baby!!!! Or worse, they see him looking angelic and think you're exaggerating the post 7pm hell! (although, I think we got off lightly tonight... he appears to have gone to sleep ... yay! Well done that dh)

For the people still living through it, I've just found a good site about the causes & symptoms of colic: Dr Levy's Corner

The bit I found most interesting was this:

(5) Why is my baby so gassy?

Interestingly, your baby is gassy and his tummy gets distended because of the air swallowed by crying, and not because baby is having trouble eating or digesting formula/breast milk. In other words, it's the crying that is causing the gas, not the gas that is causing the crying! Expelling the gas is actually providing them relief!

It's a frustrating and nerve-wrecking cycle. Here's how it works:

• The baby gets over stimulated and begins to cry. Crying contributes to the baby swallowing a lot of air.
• This air then causes distention and leads to discomfort and more crying.
• What looks like a digestive problem is actually the swallowed air creating some pressure in the intestines.
• The intestines need to move the food and the air forward and this may result in cramping.
• This combination of cramping and distention only causes your baby to cry more.
• The fussiness after feeding, the gassiness, the lifting/pulling up of legs, and spit-up is not all because there is excessive air or "wind", as the British like to refer to it. It is the way a colicky baby responds to this sort of over-stimulation, internal and external.

It's the swallowed air that generates the big burps and loud farts: you're witnessing, not the baby's intolerance for the food you are giving him/her.

That makes perfect sense to me Georgina. I always felt that DS was just angry and uncomfortable but that the more he cried the worse he felt. And he was (relatively) OK in the mornings, he got worse during the day and as he's got older overstimulation was/is definitely a trigger.

Of course he is now a child genius as your DS2 will be They just don't like being babies.