Happy stories about colic babies please

[Cafeaulait27]

My baby is 5 weeks and has colic. We’ve just had the worst evening so far for screaming, to the point where I handed him to my husband and literally ran up the stairs and into our bedroom in hysterics saying what have we done to our lives. I’m also now reading horror stories about colic not going away at 12 weeks, and also about colic babies going on to have issues later in life like behavioural and sleep wise.

Please tell me this gets better and one day I will have a happy baby that will sleep at night and I won’t be so tired and depressed all day

I just want to get through without crying all day long

You will - gradually you will look back and realise things are so much better. My ds (now 7!) had horrendous colic and I felt so low as first time mum. I would throw him at dh when he got back from work and hide in the kitchen to do something other than hold a crying baby. Things that helped - chocolate, low expectations, sling, friends that came and didn’t mind him crying, allowing him to fall asleep feeding on me and staying still watching tv and allowing myself some space. I still remember those first weeks now and when friends babies are struggling go with food and happily hold their baby even if they cry throughout! You will get through this and it does get better!

Meant to say 12 weeks was honestly a turning point and gripe water helped massively too!

My DD is now 8 and those early days are a distant memory. It was awful, really impacted on my mental health but we got through it and all is well now. It was being able to move her head a bit and support her neck better that helped so just growing — which must have been at 12 weeks ish

DD1 had colic. It was fucking horrendous. It tapered down around 10 weeks and had stopped by 14 weeks. She's nearly 6 now. I can't say she's ever been a fabulous sleeper, but sleeplessness pales in comparison to the endless colicky screaming for hours every night.

Two things helped us. White noise and using Dr Brown bottles for feeds.

Hang in there. You're almost at the halfway point. It stops eventually.

Ours started sleeping through regular 7 hour nights at 11 weeks, a month later she was up to 9-11 hour nights which she has kept since bar teething. Which felt miraculous as at 2-3 weeks she could do 8 hours straight awake just screaming and feeding.
We had to give Infacol right up to weaning though or bloating and dodgy nappies came back. Dummy also helped in early weeks.

You won’t feel like it right now, but the one single benefit of having a colicky newborn is that everything after seems easier. DS is 1.5 years old and he screamed for hours and hours every night for about 14 weeks. He’s now a gorgeous wee toddler who sleeps pretty well, eats like a champ, gives amazing hugs and looks so proud of himself when he masters a new word or walks backwards (this mornings trick!) He also throws tantrums, is very clingy and has no sense of danger, which is completely normal for his age. A lot of my antenatal friends are finding these traits really difficult with their DC. I just find myself thinking ‘this is still way easier than a newborn!’

My advice would be don’t get fixated on 12 weeks as you’ll be so disappointed if at 12 weeks plus one day it still happens. When you are in the thick of it it feels like it will never get better, but it honestly will. I had some counselling after as it really affected my mental health - if you are feeling really low yourself please don’t hesitate to see your GP. Good luck x

Oh I feel your pain. I felt like the world had played a practical joke on me when my baby was a newborn. The crying is most intense from 4-7 weeks (so my HV said and it was about right for us). It’s not a sudden improvement at 12 weeks but slowly your baby will cry less and less. By 12 weeks we were so so so much better, and I actually went to a&e at 4 weeks as he’d cried for so long without stopping. Don’t focus on 12 weeks (I know easier said than done) just focus on what you can do right now to help you and your baby -

1. A sling if you haven’t got one already
2. An exercise ball, bounce gently holding baby/baby on sling
3. If gassy look up Friday Baby Windi sticks (if you’re UK based they sell them in boots now)
4. Get out, even if it’s just walking up the road and back
5. Ask if someone can look after baby for an hour or two - even if they just take them for a walk in their pram
6. Make sure you’re eating and drinking enough
7. Know if all your babies needs are met there is no issue with leaving them to cry for a few minutes whilst you regroup/make a drink/have a wee

In regards to sleeping through the night we’re 19 months in and no where near there yet😂 but he’s the loveliest happiest toddler so it’s fine x

Oh bless you OP. It’s awful. I’ve been where you are and I remember vividly googling “regret having baby” and “hate newborn stage” just to see if I was the only person in the world who felt that way. I wasn’t. It tapered off for us about 10 weeks. Nothing helped the screaming for us except trying to get her to sleep (we’re not sure if it was overtiredness or something digestive, our DD was quite refluxy). We’d take turns each night to put her in the sling and bounce her in a dark bedroom with white noise while the other got a break. Noise cancelling headphones helped me stay sane, as did reading my Kindle one handed. You’re so close to the turning point where you’ll start to get smiles and laughs and everything will start to feel a little brighter. At the minute it’s a thankless slog and you just have to keep going, one day, hour or minute at a time. You will get there though and you’ll be able to look back and laugh - or at the very least marvel at how you survived it - promise. Our baby is 9mo now and generally a happy, sociable, babbling, giggling delight x

Ours was the same... in fact she pretty much cried all day and I was pretty unhappy and couldn't really go anywhere. But we were blessed she went to sleep well at night and never cried when she woke up for night feeds

I never thought it would end and then it did, abruptly at around 10/11 weeks. Now she just talks and smiles loads!

My best advice is 'accept it'. That's what someone told me to do and it made it better. Also try and get your baby to nap really frequently during the day as overtiredness definitely made it worse!

The Huckleberry app is really good to track sleeping

Also, on occasions a few of us would go round to a friends house for drinks... somehow baby was happy in different surroundings and being with different people. And wine helped

Sorry we had bad colic up to 6 months 😩 back and forwards from gp etc it was really tough and feel for you, if poss try and get family to look after little one and have a sleep or a long hot bath, keep telling yourself this shall soon pass xx

It got better at about 3 months for us. By 6 months he was totally happy. It’ll feel a longer than that, but it will happen.

I so feel for you. Colic is horrendous. My first was terrible with it but from about 12 weeks it started getting better and he slept through the night from about 4 months. He is now 2 and a half and still an amazing sleeper. He takes himself to bed. I didn't realise how badly the horrendous hours of screaming affected me til I recently had my 2nd and have been so worried about going through colic again. However at 4 and a half weeks he is such a settled baby so hopefully that continues.

Hang in there, it will get better. My health visitor recommended infacol colic drops. They worked in a few hours and we could always tell if we missed a dose. Worth every penny!

omg....I have just read the other posts...did none of you try colic drops from the chemist etc??? I believe fennel water can also help. Nobody should go through the colic stage without some form of treatment...my baby is now 26 years old and we had at least four different remedies to try but the infacol was the sweet magical one for our child. We even bought some for our second child before she was even born!

@Pixiedust1234 errrr yes, tried everything. Great that it worked for you, didn’t for us. Google “purple crying”. It’s thought to be a developmental thing for some babies and not always some digestive issue that can be solved with some drops. Colic isn’t even a condition as such, just a catch-all description for unexplained inconsolable crying

Check on them having reflux - it was the case with my baby who screamed constantly until he was 12 weeks old. I'd be wheeling him around outside miserably and people, twatty people, would peer into the pram and say, "oh isn't he cross!" and I'd want to kill them.

He's 10 months old now and a sunshine baby. He's the smiliest, happiest little fella in the world and just seems to love life. It gets better, I promise.

@Pixiedust1234 we used infacol. But to be honest I don't think her digestion was any different to a normal baby. I think she just hated everything and wasn't used to the world yet so just cried all the time! Colic is a term used for excessive crying and not necessarily digestion issues

Our boy is 5 months now, suffered badly with colic till around 12/13 weeks but hes now the happiest, funniest, cheekiest little chap who sleeps 6.30-7.30am (8 yesterday!). I was fecking miserable during the colic but now its fabulous and hes like a little best friend!

Thank you everyone, I needed to hear this! Xx

My DD was like this but she is also a twin
What I will say is it is nothing to do with your parenting. It is just how they are. Her twin (my DS) was the most contented baby and slept 8 hours a night from 6 weeks.
If they had both been colicky I don’t know how I would have coped. I had lots of family around luckily to come round and hold her or take DS.
She had severe reflux so it took her a while bless her so while it got better after 12 weeks she was still very needy until she could sit up and was having solids.
They’re 11 now and both super affectionate - she’s still quite attached to me though! I’m making the most of it as the teens are not far off!

I've been through this. The fact that it was our 3rd baby made it better (we as parents weren't doing anything too wrong) and worse (couldn't take the baby out for long evening walks).

@Cafeaulait27

'helpful' advice like from Pixiedust above just made me feel exasperated. Yes of course we tried every medical remedy and going for a drive and all the swaying/singing/ shushing in the world.
Of course we did! But nothing stops the crying.

It will ease off and stop. Just not yet.

If you can tag team with dh and get you or your tiny baby out of the house your ears will thank you. Just hang in there.

@BlueCowWonders agreed! Yep we’ve tried everything- infacol, Colief, different formula, different holding/rocking , dimly lit room, literally everything. People who have never had a colic baby don’t understand that the crying is inconsolable no matter what you try.

Agree with @R1cciteddy that it’s actually nothing to do with their digestion, they just get upset about normal stuff until they’re older and able to cope better. Our baby does normal poos and wees, feeds normally, and is healthy. It’s just that in the evenings he cries and cries and won’t stop until he’s finished!

Thank you all for your positive stories XX

www.babydoc.com.au/faq/colic-bore-your-baby-to-sleep/

Solidarity here - it's really tough. I think a lot of coping comes from accepting that it is normal for some babies who struggle more with the 4th trimester transition. I hope the above article is helpful.

My baby had colic. And silent reflux (she was not silent!). We spent many a night in hospital- had various medication (one beginning with D, another beginning with R) plus gaviscon and infacol.... the reason I'm vague is because it's such a distant memory! It got markedly better around 16 weeks for us and by 1 year she was fine - we did wean early on GP advice.

She's 13 now and absolutely fine- academically VERY able, model behaviour (today she's leading a remembrance parade with scouts, next week attending a high profile funeral as part of scouting group), sporty- plays rugby and sails... honestly, she's perfect.

My youngest, who didn't have colic, is a total nightmare - hates school, doesn't listen, couldn't be bothered to catch a ball.... they are polar opposites (love them both equally obviously- youngest takes after me!)