Newborn with Colic and New mum HELP!

[CharrinCornwall91]

My little boy is now 5 weeks old, is breastfed and in last 2 weeks has developed colic. Infacol and gripe water are doing the trick (I think) as he does still get pain and cry but nothing like they describe with colic (screaming for hours at a time) but in the last week he has developed this “habit” of barely sleeping in the daytime no more than 10 minutes at a time, and as of 2pm in the afternoon he’s really unsettled, crying and is generally overtired (I know they say colic is worse in the evenings) at night he’s not too bad, 2-3 hour stints of sleep sometimes less, with feeds which I expect. But as of 6am he’s wide awake and not having it! But I can’t shower/chill/clean do anything, without him waking up or wanting to be on me. I’ve tried everything as I said, infacol/gripe water, baby massage, cycling his legs, lots of winding, swaddling you name it. Now if this is all normal and I just have to get a grip then call me out on it but has anyone got any other tricks up their sleeves?!

Colief Drops were my saviour for my oldest DS.. GPs are reluctant to prescribe due to cost but mine prescribed most of what I needed per week and I bought any extra.. Mind it did take him knowing I had tried everything else first. DS used to hardly sleep unless in car or being walked (walked miles) would scream 7-10 each night then wake hourly from midnight.
Also I had to change milk from C&G to Aptimal so milk change may help...

We also... used to bath each night to try and settle stomach, massage stomach, cycle legs, lay over knee and have back rubbed, crib tilted so head end was higher..

He improved as soon as he started on solids.

Good luck xx

Long walks out in the pushchair. My baby always had a 2-3 hour nap which helped improve his mood. It does pass fairly quick I promise. It’s awful isn’t it. What about a sling?

A second vote for colief drops, our GP only prescribed one prescription worth and then advised they were no longer available by the NHS. I continued to use it none the less as it was definitely worth it.

It is such a tough time dealing with colic, but it does pass and establishing breastfeeding can also be tough as you can feel like you are doing absolutely nothing but feeding.

I have no advice other than this really as we just had to ride it out, we did all the leg cycling, baby massage, baths.

Good luck and stay calm 💐💐💐💐

My baby never napped in the day at the age either and I couldnt work out why!
Turns out she needed me to get her to sleep with either a feed or cuddle and I was making the mistake of putting her in her moses basket/crib that is kept downstairs once asleep and she would snap awake.
Ive since discovered she clearly doesnt like the downstairs crib and will happily sleep in her swing and sometimes even sends herself to sleep in it so maybe try a different place for the daytime nap x

DS is 7 weeks and we are experiencing a lot of the same problems. I literally cannot put him down without him kicking off. Even when asleep, he notices we've put him down and he'll wake up and kick off screaming.

The Colief drops were a nightmare for us when using in every feed. His poor bum was like a tap! When changing him one day, his bum was literally just dribbling water out whilst still changing him. Instead, we switched to adding it to two bottles a day which helped keep him regular.

We also give him an ounce of cool boiled water 1-2 times a day. I'm not sure it aids the wind but again, helps soften his poop and keeps him regular.

With the wind etc., I'm really not sure what extra can be done to help!

I think it’s quite normal that they don’t like being put down. I lived with my dd in a sling, that way I could still walk the dog/cook dinner/hoover etc and have a happy baby.

@IDontDrinkTea At what age did you begin to be able to put them down for a while? I've just bought a sling but I'm worried it'll enhance his dependency on being attached to me. I can't see there being a day where I won't have to hold him 24/7 right now x

See how you get on but we had same symptoms and tried all of the above. Colic and reflux are similar. Midwife and HV were saying colic, consultant at hosp said reflux, turned out dd had reflux and we were prescribed ranitidine best thing ever wish I'd of known sooner!! Plus colief gave her diarrhoea and stomach pains.

This could be me writing this post!

My 5 week old has colic and has the same day time sleep pattern as your baby, it's exhausting not being able to do anything!

My health visitor suggested comfort formula so we changed a week ago and he is much more settled. He stays awake all day but doesn't cry anymore, besides maybe an hour (at most) in the evening When he is tired and wants to go to bed.
And he's doing longer stretches at night now since changing the formula. Before he was waking every 2/3 hours, now he'll do 6 hours then 4 hours.

We had ranitidine too. I couldn't put my son down without milk coming up and running out of his mouth. It was awful. He's 4 now and I think he still has the odd bit of reflux.

This was my son. He's 9 months old now and amazing but as a newborn he was awful. He wouldn't nap at all so became chronically overtired. In hindsight I should have given him a dummy earlier. This saved me/him. He wouldn't go in the sling until he was old enough to face outwards. Pram walks also saved us - I went for a walk with him every 1.5-2 hours and once he wasn't chronically overtired he did actually get used to napping in the pram well. In the middle of winter this was rubbish but at least the weather's nice at the moment for you to do that! Eventually we got him used to napping in his crib.

Btw my boy also had silent reflux and cmpa and a tongue tie, so worth considering.

Sympathies OP. It's hideous.

My 10 week old has just stopped crying (actually turns out he was suffering badly with reflux and is now medicated- this alongside normal colic made for an awful few weeks) the difference is amazing. They say it usually peaks around 7 weeks and then gradually improves mostly by 12 weeks.

The website Purple Crying is very useful. It can just be one of those things. And colic is referring to the crying- not digestive issues. So if infacol etc. help that's great..but often there is no problem as such to solve.

Also look up the fourth trimester. Carrying baby in a sling can be helpful so they feel close but you still have hands free.

Seems like your doing everything you can possibly do I had the same issue when my baby girl had colic, I know it’s stressful but it passes just deep breaths & carry on what your doing x

Thankyou for all your feedback and help. Saw GP today and thinks he may have reflux so we have been prescribed Gaviscon Infant which with BF looks like such a faff to try and make especially in the middle of the night. Have read several methods online, am going to try mixing a small amount even if it’s a bit more than a paste and do every other feed as I’ve read it can cause constipation. Is giving them warm water every know and again a good idea to keep them regular? Any other tips re Gaviscon?

MyDD1 had this with the infacol and then baby Gravis on combined. Took a long time to be correctly diagnosed and treated so I was just grateful to have an end to weeks of torture for us both. Express and bottle in portions for night time, add gsviscon and mix (can't remember the full instructions for mixing but you'll know obvs it's on the packaging). For day time I would be tempted to do the same but if you really want to feed directly and naturally then ask advice from the GP on that. I bottle fed after the gsviscon worked so well as it made her happier and was easier but expressing and mixing in the bottle is just as effective. Good luck!