HELP!! any advice on colic?

[NannyJo]

My 6 week old son has got colic. during the day he seems fine but at night he just lies awake grunting for ages going red in the face and straining eventually turning into a cry, resulting in about 3 hours sleep each night. He doesn't settle in his cot at all well the only way to get some sleep is to sleep with him on my chest which I don't want to encourage. how harsh should i be with him when leaveing him to cry (all depends on how much patience you have as well!!)

I bought a battery oprated swing with ds2.....a complete godsend. And colief drops in his bottles. You can get them from boots. They break down the lactose to make it easier to digest. HTH. I know what a nightmare it is.....been there 3 times now.......

Baby massage is EXCELLENT for colic. Have a look here..... www.lalecheleague.org/NB/NBJanFeb98p13.html it works for a lot of babies, but not for all of them.
Fran
xxx

we eventually resorted to Dr Browns bottles after trying everything else. Colic drops, massage, cycling legs. Hope you get through this ok.

NannyJo - my full sympathy, my 16 day old has colic too. So far the drops are working quite well as is the leg cycling. He really prefers to be held and I think the warmth helps. I am unsure about encouraging "bad" habits but I have decided that normal rules are suspended if he is in pain and he just needs his mum.

I suspect there are a number of threads on this so am going to have a good rummage....
Good luck and a big hug to you - boy is this a miserable one and so early in too.....

Both mine had colic badly so I sympathise.

Personally I never left them to cry at that age, especially if I thought they were colicy and so in pain. My personal belief is that bad habits are not formed at 6 weeks, so I let mine sleep where they could when they were colicy, but I know other people disagree.

nannyjo - more you.
see here previous threads
cranial osteopathy worked well for my DS (although not a miracle cure) - not much else did sadly but it will end. Do have a look at the other threads - some very good advice/info there

Have you tried Colief? Its expensive but a friend of mine said it was a Godsend. When my DD had it, I cut out dairy, caffeine, onions, garlic, alcohol etc from my diet and that helped a lot (I was BFing). Personally I think the only think that helps colic is constant patting and rubbing and cuddling during the fussy phase. If your patience is wearing thin then can your SO help?

If you are b'feeding try drinking some fennel tea or giving him a little weak solution if bottlefed. Otherwise keeping track of your diet may help cut out the worst.

I know Hausfrau - how awful it is!
There was a really good thread that has disappeared that was something like "support for colicky babies" and GeorginaA (I think it was here) collected all the possible info abotu colic and put in on one fab website. I can't find it now though.Agree with WestCountry that walking and patting and gritting teeth is about the main bit of it.

this is the website you mean, i think, nasa

I found this position to be good when dd was colicky