Tips for colic

[Mamabear04]

Please please please give me your tips for helping your baby through colic!!! DS is 6 weeks now and is just constantly full of wind and just so unsettled in the evenings and even when asleep is so noisy at night I can't sleep well. I am sooo tired!

We resorted to taking our baby on long walks in an ergo baby carrier in the evenings, as that's the only way she'd fall asleep without hours of crying. It didn't always work, but did enough times to make it our go-to! We also found that colief made a small difference. Not sure if this is comforting but our baby seemed to grow out of the colic almost overnight at about 14 weeks, and is now a happy 6 mo! Good luck, it's TOUGH.

Also the snuffling overnight was constant, but that also disappeared!

Warm bath just before bed that covers their tummy, cycling their legs and pressing them up (tucked position) into their tummy slightly to put pressure on stomach to help the gas escape, and try putting a very slight wedge under the top end of their mattress so their not completely flat (but very very very little!) to let gravity help with digestion! It's a tough time, we had it with DS so you have my sympathies!

Dr Brown’s bottles and colief.
We held ours with the back of his legs against our chest, our arms supporting his back and head and bend him up and down slowly bringing his head closer to our face-and then away so he bent in the tummy . That seemed to gives ours some relief but it’s hard going on your arms.
They do get through it. Ours stopped at about 11 or 12 weeks. Don’t plan on doing anything in the evenings and be prepared to eat your evening meal in stages swapping him between you and your partner.

Ours was so unhappy in the evening that our HV suggested bathing him before his late feed at about 11 pm. I didn’t want to do morning baths because I was going back to work a few months later and I didn’t want that routine. Folks thought we were mad but it worked. He was more settled then, bathtime. was calm and we just got through the evening horror as best we could without bathing him then.

It's old fashioned but worked for mine.
Lay them across your lap and, supporting head, neck and shoulders, slowly bring their upper body up to a vertical position.
This usually resulted in a very loud and satisfying burp.

I am not into woo stuff (genuinely) but cranial osteopathy was the one and only thing that made a difference in DS1. No infacol, holding baby like a tiger on a branch, changing formula and dr Brown's bottle made an iota of difference. Cranial osteopathy did.
It was life changing, overnight. And it took one shot.
For what it's worth, I took DS2 there when he was born and colicky and the osteopath sais she could not do anything for him. She was right; in his case, it was the formula that was not right for him.

My DS is 10 weeks and seems to be mostly growing out of it now. Some things that helped:

• taking turns with my DH to hold, rock, soothe so that it wasn't just me trying to bf / snuggle for hours
• sometimes a car ride would let him sleep long enough that he would be calm enough to feed them sleep when we got back (not always)
• I massively prioritised daytime sleep/naps for him for about 2 weeks. Could have been coincidence, but I think it stopped him getting so overtired and gave him practice at settling to sleep?
• My DS also likes to suck as a way of self-soothing. At first he was too young to distinguish between this and wanting to feed, so would stuff himself until uncomfortable or want to feed but then scream because he was already full ... Which all made the gassiness and writhing around at night worse. Letting him suck on a finger helped to get him calm enough to either feed (because he was actually hungry) or start to calm down and sleep (because he was tired). He now has a dummy to suck on because hours of him sucking my finger was getting tiresome!
• Once he started getting less agitated in the evening, a bit of a bedtime routine with a bath and then a feed is nice. But this was utterly impossible when he was really colicky so don't worry about this if it's just not going to work yet. Someone I follow on social media posted in the peak of DS's colicky period about how they were sure their consistent bedtime routine was what helped their baby to sleep 6 hours straight every night at 6 weeks and it gave me the absolute rage ...
• I tried giving up dairy and caffeine and it did fuck all except take the remaining joy out of my life
• one time, my Mum (who he loves when not distraught) held him for 2 min in which time he got totally beside himself. She gave him back to me and he was so relieved he fell asleep instantly. Not sure that shocking your baby to sleep is the way to go though!
• Colic is tough and exhausting. Remember that it isn't your fault or something you are doing wrong. It's just something that some babies go through. It will get better and just being with your baby and soothing/rocking them is enough. Solidarity because it really sucks!!

Work towards full feeds with 2.5 to 3 hours between them. Most important if you are bfing, as they don't get to the hind milk with the extra fat until they've sucked off the thinner thirst-quenching milk.

If they are just snacking / little and often-ing then they never get properly full!

If they are falling asleep on the bottle/breast, keep them a bit cooler (just feed in vest + nappy?) or plonk them on a towel on the floor until they stir and can take some more.

Agree about giving them your finger to suck for comfort in between feeds.