Babies with reflux/colic. How do you cope?

[Daisychain11]

I have a beautiful 8 week old baby girl who is very unhappy.

I get some lovely smiles in the morning and afternoon but most of the time she is either asleep or screaming in pain.

Infacol doesn’t work, I have just been given the gaviscon sachets which I am starting on today. I wind her regularly, keep her upright after feeding as much as possible. She is sick a lot but not projectile.

How do you cope with the crying? I feel helpless. Sometimes carrying her around works but she is often inconsolable.

All my NCT group are meeting up with their babies and I just don’t feel up to doing anything as it can be stressful leaving the house, plus I can barely get her in the car seat.

How long does this last?!

Ranitidine

That was the short answer!

DS has silent reflux. For a month or so (around 3mo) feeds were hell till we took him to GP who said “gaviscon doesn’t usually help. Let’s go straight to ranitidine”

It’s the same as Zantac, turns acid to water.

Helped us loads, doesn’t help others but there are other options out there.

Can you go back to GP?

*i should say, HAD silent reflux. He’s 2 now.

Can’t remember how long it lasted but I don’t think we used the medicine for more than a few months.

It tends to ease off as they grow and their oesophagus gets longer.

Hang on in there!

Yep ranitidine. Gaviscon worked for a bit with DS but once his feeds increased it stopped working and ranitidine made him a different baby within a couple of days.

DD is now 11 wks and not as bad as DS. Am going to try without Gaviscon now as I'm hoping she might have grown out of it now like they're supposed to!

With the crying, literally just do whatever you need to to cope. It's hell and you have my sympathies. I promise it gets easier. Xx

I've got a colicky 5 week old and yesterday I resorted to putting my headphones on and listening to music to drown out the screaming! I just couldn't take any more. I've tried using dentinox and anti colic bottles, and trying gripe water now for a few days but nothing really seems to be doing the trick

Omeprazole. DS is nearly 9 and I still look back on that year and shudder. It was utter misery. Hand hold to anyone going through it.

I am in the trenches with you! My 4 week old is desperately unsettled, very unhappy and cries almost constantly. I have tried gaviscon, gripe water, infacol, nothing has settled her. The gaviscon actually did help but after the first dose she decided she hates it and refuses to drink it in any form. Next stop is anti reflux milk, you could try that? Unless your DC is breastfed in which case I'd get on to the GP and be persistent if they fob you off as my GP was funny about giving a baby so young any meds. They will relent if you pester them. Please tell me if you have any luck because I'm tearing my hair out as well! X

Thank you everyone and well done for coping!

I’ve just been to a Cranial Oesteopath today, I have heard lots of good things about it. She seemed very settled by the end of the appointment but we will see if it makes a difference.

I've had 3 of them. I always say that it makes all the stages after they grow out of it seem so much easier, so there's that!

Don't worry about meet ups if you can't face it. Don't feel like you must be doing anything. Walking helps a lot but I preferred to do it on my own as I hated trying to make conversation over unpredictable screaming. Just get through it however you can and one day it will stop.

A sling really really helps, and getting them asleep fast so they don't get overtired. Sling, pram, swaddling, dummy. Whatever it takes.

My son’s screaming was unbearable. It went on for hours and hours throughout the night, he’d seem in so much pain and I would be in tears myself because I felt so helpless. I tried cranial osteopathy and reflux but the symptoms continued and at 9 weeks of age it was suggested that he may have a dairy allergy. I removed dairy from my diet and within 1-2 weeks I had a completely different baby.