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?

hi everyone - and welcome kbaby.

GeorginaA - my ds would hiccup after every feed too. The osteopath said something about the diaphram being out of sync or something or another as this was an area she worked on. At 7 weeks now, ds' hiccuping as seemed to have died down so maybe you might see a change in a couple of weeks too. Thanks for the link GeorginaA. I've noticed when ds is relaxed I can bring up his wind much easier. When he gets stressed its so difficult to bring it up, and then the viscious circle begins ..

In addition to GeorginaA's excellent list Kbaby you can also try colief drops, and gripe water - although you can only use gripe water from 1 month. I wouldn't do controlled crying at this age as I don't think babies understand it at that age. There are points in the day when I have fed, changed and winded my ds and he is not tired he is really quite contented and doesn't fuss at all so I believe when they cry at such at young age it really is for a specific reason.

katierocket your 7.58pm post made me

Last night ds cried from 5pm all the way until 10pm whereupon he did a huge burp and then was as happy as larry. He then had a feed, went to bed around 10.45 and I couldn't believe it as he slept thru till 7.30am Mind you I really think this was due to him being completely exhausted as he was really windy during the entire afternoon - getting worse at 5pm so I reckon that was a one off thing.

Tonight ds kicked off again at 6.45pm. In desperation I gave him 1/2 tsp of holy water, said a prayer, and do you know I think it worked as he did 2 huge burps and settled down by 7.30pm! So who knows

metrobaby - I assume by holy water, you mean the gripe water? Is that instead of or in addition to infacol (i.e. would it be bad if I use both ... not that I'm trying to drug my son into submission you understand )

Well, I thought junior was asleep... he slept about 30 mins and woke up again . Popping out for "holy water" tomorrow methinks... hey, it's something I haven't tried yet.

Errrmmmm - Well georginaA I think I am drugging my ds into submission as during the day I use a mixture of either gripe water, infacol and colief. So I might on one feed use colief and gripe water, next feed use infacol and gripe water, next feed maybe just colief and so on. Depends which one is the nearest one to hand.

And by holy water I meant the real grade A stuff - my parents are catholics and have great faith in it, and gave me a bottle of it this afternoon. So I thought tonight - well why not - such is my desperation, and as I said it seems to have worked as ds is still sleeping (btw I am not a religious fantatic, nor barking mad promise )

PMSL!

Hey, something else to add to the list of haven't tried yet

Anyway, do you recommend the gripe water - any more/less effective than infacol?

Err - the holy water is probably very old and stagnant. I really wouldnt advise giving it to a baby if you actually did.

I reckon gripe water is better than infacol IMHO. I use Boots own branded one. Although I think there are some people that frown on gripe water anyway as it contains a lot of E numbers.

I forgot to add this link kbaby about cranial osteopathy if you want some more info. It was started by GeorginaA not too long ago. Which reminded me also that my CO didn't recommend using infacol at every feed due to its ingredients. Although I do know of some people who did.

Anyway here is a summary of all the remedies I've come across so far (I hasten to add I have not personally tried all of them)

1. Cranial Oestopathy
2. Infacol
3. Colief
4. Gripe Water
5. Swing
6. Sling/carriers
7. Car rides
8. Colocynth granules
9. Teething graunules
10. Fennel tea
11. Sugar water
12. Onion infused water !
13. Routines
14. Baths
15. if b/f avoidance of certain foods such as caffiene, OJ, onions etc. Although a search on the web I found that you would have had to avoid pretty much everything
16. Types of feeding bottles
17. blanket/cuski thing with mummys scent
18. Grade A Holy water
19. Calendar (to mark off weeks to get to the magical 12-14 weeks when it disappears hopefully)

Any others ?

2 more ...

20. Change in formula milk brand
21. Windypops

I started using windy pops today. It was recommended to me the other night by a friend who'd used it for her son and she swears by it. So today I went out and got a bottle of it. dd2 was 3 weeks old on Friday and the colic kicked in on Thursday night, exactly the same stage as dd1 developed colic, weird.

anyway friend recommended windypops and dd2 has had it 3 times today and seems, touch wood, to be a lot better. She's always managed to burp after a feed in fact seems better at burping than her big sister was, but seemed to be having real trouble filling her nappy the past couple of days. the windypops seems to have really helped that. She seemed a lot more settled tonight.

I sound like an advert and I'm not trying to but I'm just so amazed at the difference between yesterday and today. With dd1 we tried infacol and it seemed to help for a while but she was always windy afterwards which continued until she was about 12-14 weeks old. Georgina with dd1 we used infacol and gripe water at the same time.

It's so distressing when babies can't seem to be soothed in anyway for both the babies and the parents. I just wish I'd known about the windypops with dd1.

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Hi all. GA, I looked at that site you mentioned yesterday - it's interesting that 'Dr Levy' doesn't believe that colic is a digestive issue (I always thought it was with ds). I haven't heard of windypops. Gave my ds infacol for a while but not sure it did anything. TBH, I think one of the most important things to remember is that colic WILL end, and to try to arrange lots of support while you and your baby are going through it. I have strong memories of dh and I just passing our crying ds from one to the other through the nights when he was small.

not only will it end really really soon but in no time at all the worst of the memories will have faded away - all you poor loves have huge hugs from me
while I would positively un-recommend controlled crying as not only is it not going to work at that age but also maybe cause your ds or dd to swallow even more air I wouldn't feel bad if you have to just step away for a few minutes to clear your head either. I know with ds2 I did that almost every day at one point when he screamed regardless of whehter I was there or not anyhow and I just wanted to throw him out of the window.
have I said this somewhere already? strap him on and do the hoovering - worked for me every time whereas pram:car never did
hugs

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I think actually he does say in the rest of the site that colic can be caused by many different things and they need to be ruled out (reflux, food intolerance etc). I'm not relying on him, but I found that paragraph in particular to be interesting because in retrospect that matches what I see with ds2 - that he gets into a vicious cycle by crying increasing wind, making him cry more etc.

I'm fairly certain that it's not food intolerance in our case because I think it would be spread more throughout the 24 hrs rather than specific times. Overstimulation/tiredness matches because I see him flinching at every single loud noise. Yesterday I could have shot next door's DIYer, the dog across the way, the postie who rang the doorbell, etc...!!

Incidentally, ds1 also had the same issues with loud noises, just not to the same degree. He's still terrified of the hoover even now whereas many babies will go to sleep with the sound.

morocco - agree totally re: controlled crying vs. having a breather. Yesterday was a bit like that, and I do confess to "escaping" a couple of times. I don't think it did ds2 any harm, and certainly did me a lot of good.

thanks for you kind words morocco

Yesterday ds had another bout of crying. DH was not impressed as it interrupted the Englad game. Poor mite cryed from around 7 till about 11. He is like your ds GeorginaA in that he gets into a vicious cycle of crying, taking more wind, burping etc. He is now 7.5 weeks so I am counting each day as it passes. I am so envious of those babies that don't suffer with it.

Robinw I haven't checked out the links but I am bf and every day have a fish oil supplement, an Actimel and some bio yogurt and unfortunately I haven't noticed any difference

Where do you get Windypops from. I haven't tried that yet

I also notice that Dr Levy suggestes giving baby some Fennel tea ! Is this safe to do ? I thought babies this young should only drink milk and water.

Not convinced about the fennel tea myself either, Metrobaby! Maybe it might help, but not sure it'd do their digestive system much good long term!

I am having fennel tea myself in case it gets through in the breastmilk (not sure if it does though). Metrobaby, my dd cried all yesterday afternoon and all yesterday evening (through the football too!). She is still not right now. She seems to have these 24h colicky episodes rather than be colicky every night. Maybe it is a vicious cycle of crying/wind with her.

If you are breastfeeding arent' there certain foods to avoid - oranges and citrus fruit being one. Can't remember the others - anyone ?

My little one loved the dryer, we used to put him to sleep in front of the dryer at night in his chair ( strapped in ). If he woke up in the night first thing I would do was turn the dryer on, often worked ( unless of course he was hungry

Probably have heard it before and it might not be your answer but with DD we always took her out in her babybjorn carrier for a brisk walk - bumping her about a bit more than we striclty necessary but it seemed to dislodge air bubbles and sorted her out so that she was comfortable again!!

SCREAM

Okay, I know there is nothing I can do about this and this is a totally irrational rant, but please... can I?

I can get ds2 to sleep. IF I get the right 5 minute window and IF nothing disturbs him for about 15 minutes after that 5 minute window. And I mean NOTHING. No cars going past, no sibling whinging next door, no dog barking, no doorbell ringing... you get the picture. The slightest sound and his eyes pop right open and he's wide awake again.

Just thought I'd got there tonight and a neighbour starts drilling. ARGH! So close to going over there and screaming at them to stop the fucking noise. Which is insane. Of course they can drill - it's not overly late, they're perfectly within their rights. I'm just turning into an insane mad woman over this...

I posted this on another thread recently, I was reminded of this at work today when a customer popped in to say the avena sativa had worked for her twins (and she had tried loads of things before this with no success).

you could try Avena Sativa, a herbal remedy which helps calm child down. it doesnt work directly on the colic as such but helps relax and calm the baby, the more tense they are and the more they scream, the worse the coliky pains seem to get. i have several customers with coliky babies who swear by this.

Also at night you could use Valerian-Hops, it helps them to sleep better, and also relaxes them.

we use both of these when either of our 2 are teething...i wouldn't be without them these days as both are currently teething

both remedies are made by bioforce and available in most health shops and some chemists. you use 1 drop for each year(eg 0-1yr old=1 drop; 2yr=2 drops etc). use avena 3 times a day and valerian at bedtime. add to bottle. if bf mix with little water and give with spoon.

My DD had bad wind (in the bottom department!). I tried fennel tea based on the advice of other mums from here and it did help. I then found a special nursing tea from the herbalists Napiers, based in Edinburgh. I drink 3 cups a day (one at night) and it has really helped - she still farts but it doesn't hurt anymore and there is no screaming. You'll need a teapot and strainer as it's leaves (incl. flowers). But the teapot will make more than one cup so I bought a flask for the rest, which is great when us mums no longer have the luxury of making a cup of tea when we want one!

Here's the website: www.napiers.net/d-commerce/mother.html

georgina - much sympathy and understanding from over here. I personally turned into an angry, bitter, irrational cow when DS had colic and I know EXACTLY what you mean about external factors disturbing them. Swearing viciously to yourself in a darkened room might help...