Colic - please help - at my wits end!

[snapped1234]

A huge cry for help - no pun intended

My DS is nearly 4 weeks old and has the most horrendous colic - he is my first baby and I'm honestly losing the will. He cries continually for 4-5 hours a day / if he is awake, he is crying. It's breaking my heart. For the first 10 days he was a total angel and now this awful thing is causing him so much pain and I feel worthless for not being able to stop it for him. My husband goes back to work tomorrow and I have the worst anxiety at the thought of getting through the next 8 weeks alone with him until he starts to 'grow out of it'

At the moment he is exclusively on breast milk (following a gruelling pumping schedule) as he was never able to latch after a tongue tie - we had it snipped but by this point he was used to a bottle and won't latch despite me trying.

I guess I am just hoping for some advise on how to help him and any snippets of help that people have from experience - I have tried lots already - will list below what we've been doing and I think I know that the answer is to wait for him to grow out of it but I just feel so overwhelmed and sad that I've been robbed of his newborn days :(

• I have taken him to a cranial osteopath - another visit booked in for Tuesday. Seemed to help for a couple of days but was short lived - but will try again

-visited the GP twice (second time in tears) no support really offered

• using colief in every bottle (bloody expensive!)

• infacol or Dentinox used before every feed

• switched to dr browns bottles

• using a sling with him to keep him close to me and upright

Does anybody else have any other suggestions? I'm willing to try anything to see him in less pain and save my sanity :(

Thanks for reading

My eldest was fine during the day but cried/screamed his head off all night every night..dh used to carry him up and down the stairs for hours. It was awful, try videoing the crying for a little bit to show gp (not that they can do anything).

Infacol seemed to work for a few nights but then nothing else. He just grew out of it. He was then an excellent sleeper and still is so I hope that happens for you!

I thank the Lord dc2 didn't have colic although he is a far worse sleeper.

Get some infant gaviscon. People will tell you you will need a prescription. I walked into the pharmacy and just said my dr has said I need it. Got it. Crying got much better.

Get friends/family in to hold him whilst you have dinner/a bath some time WITHOUT FLIPPING CRYING. If they’re good friends they won’t mind other people’s crying babies aren’t a worry really, just your own.

Hang in there it will pass and you will forget this all ever happened (nearly) xxx

Sympathy. I too wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Ds2 cried and cried for hours, every night. Was truly awful.

Sorry, havent read all the replies so apologies if im repeating this.

I currently have a colicky baby and, after being adamant I wouldn't use a dummy, I relented. The sucking motion really soothes him and has felt like a miracle. Like you, I tried infacol, gripe water, etc. But it's been the dummy that works. They say to wait until baby is 6 weeks old before introducing a dummy, but i think thts if baby is breastfed. I also feed LO in a more upright position and keep him up for 20mins to aid digestion.

Forgot to add. You may need to try the dummy a couple of times. My LO spat it out in disgust at first and I had to slowly put it in and hold there. He now has the dummy on evenings only and will quietly suck away.

We thought DS had colic, but later after seeing other things, we thin’ he had silent reflux. Our biggest life saver was a take along swing. He really struggled with settling, and some nights I had to sleep, and the only way I could put him down was in the swing.

My 5 week old son also has pretty intense crying periods in the evenings so I feel your pain. What's helping us is to take him out of the bright and noisy living room and into our bedroom where it's much darker and quieter. We can get him calmer and off to sleep quite quickly. He does really suffer from trapped wind so we're trying him on gripe water now. I didn't think Infacol did much for my boy. I've heard Colief is excellent.

My baby isn't colicky HOWEVER had horrendous tummy pains at feeding time and refused food, it was AWFUL. Like you I tried everything, bottle switches, colief, infacol etc etc nothing worked, I got prescribed stuff for reflux which helped slightly but didn't really make a difference, when he was born I asked about the possibility of a cows milk intolerance as he was ridiculously windy, like all the time and nothing helped. I know youre breast feeding but I switched to neocate formula which has no cows milk and he's a totally different baby, so much happier, I'd maybe cut out the cows milk from you're diet as it might be upsetting lo s tummy xx

I hope that helps, like you I went to GP crying and they were SHITE, sorted it myself now, let me know how you get on x

Newborn days are horrible! Don’t worry about being robbed of them

Have you tried peddling his legs? What I do is put my hands on the back of his knees/thighs and push one at a time into his lower tummy over and over, and then I push them both up at the same time and if he has gas it will always push a trumpet out. I can get a lot out this way

Also have you tried gripe water?

How do you hold him? I found mine was comfiest held upright against me on my right shoulder and I give him jiggles (pregnancy ball bounces during the early days).

I know it’s horrific, soul destroying stuff but honestly in a few weeks/months you won’t remember quite how awful this is. My DC3 is currently 12 weeks and has had horrendous colic/reflux/gas/whatever and just now he’s settling and it’s wonderful. It’s been much better since about 8 weeks but now there’s a massive difference in him. My first DC was even worse and he was the loveliest most placid child you’d ever come across. IT DOES END!

Have you tried headphones? I know it sounds awful but sometimes I would put headphones in and watch something on my phone or listen to lovely calming music whilst he cried and I held/rocked him walking around. It saved my sanity on a few occasions

Oh yeah he had milk protein intolerance by the way, in case you’ve not thought of that yet. It’s very common. No milk protein or soya will sort it out, but it takes awhile to get out of your system. It’s in a lot of things but eventually you’ll find lots of things without it

I found that my diet had a huge impact on my DS1's colic. Especially if I ate something with garlic or chilli in it.

@MrsPatrickDempsey that’s very interesting. I read an article the other week about babies in Africa, they are wrapped up completely and aren’t even seen until they are at least 6 weeks old. “Colic” isn’t really a thing there and they believe it’s because during those first weeks they are out of the womb they are in a fake one attached to their mothers sort of speak. No big stimulation at all other than when their mother breastfeeds them or takes them out etc.

I haven't read the comments so may be addressing something already mentioned..

My daughter had colic and can totally sympathise with you! The endless crying and little sleep for you is horrendous!

We tried absolutely everything!
Bottles- seemed to help a little
Drops- did nothing whatsoever! Even colief and Infacol!
Sling- helped me to get around the house but that was it!

The 2 things I can honestly say helped and I don't even know how are "womb sounds" on YouTube and the "I love you baby massage" I swear by these two things! My health visitors didn't want to know and I was actually told "we tend to say that colic doesn't actually exist anymore"

Wishing you all the best! It does get better! Sleep when the baby sleeps! Forget housework! Xx

I haven't read the comments so may be addressing something already mentioned..

Why haven't you read the thread? There are only 39 comments before yours. Why not read it first to check whether or not someone has already addressed the points you're making?

It will pass! Our first few months were like this - bad enough to give you PTSD to be frank.

Speak to GP re: reflux and referral to paediatrician. We also ended up weaning early (5months) on advice from paediatrician and I would say from 3-4 months onwards, things improved a lot and then loads loads more after weaning.

Is the pumping going ok? I also pumped due to bf issues for months but in the end I gave up as decided the strain it was putting me under wasn't worth it. Beautiful DD is fine despite switching over to formula

Yy to white noise- try the app on your phone/Ewan the dream sheep/summer sleep projector thing to mix it up a bit.

I also found reading Sears' fussy baby book really helped me realise I was not alone (despite the super-US slant to it) and had some useful tips for the crying.

Some people just want an argument

1. As you can clearly see I commented at 20 past 12...
2. So what?
3. It effects you because??..
4. I was addressing the OP not anybody else

Not entirely sure why I'm lowering myself by even replying but have a great, miserable, bitter life. Yawwwwwn

No, I'm not looking for an argument, and nor am I miserable or bitter

I just don't understand why people don't bother to read the thread. Presumably they think their words of wisdom are going to more insightful and unique than the tens or hundreds of posters who have gone before them.

Okay.

You presumed wrong. Simply read the post and gave my reply, whether it had been said or not. Like I said I hope the OP gets it sorted.