Please tell me colic gets better

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I could literally cry everyday. My nearly 8 week old will never settle in the day if he’s awake and he’s a nightmare to get to nap. Then the past 2 weeks he just screams for hours come the evening and tonight is the worst it’s been. I’ve had to leave him in his cot in the nursery to cry because I can feel so much anger coming on I could scream.

I’ve tried everything, fed him, nappy change, winded, has infocol and gripe water, was giving him colief drops and now changed to comfort milk on recommendation of hv but he wont stop screaming! And it really doesn’t help when my friend who’s baby is a week later than mine is an angel apparently 😫

please tell me it gets better as I seriously wish I could go back to a year ago when life was so easy ☹️

It did for us! keep going I think 12 ish weeks was the turning point (yrs ago sorry)
He was worse early evening - 5pm til 7.30pm every day. He slept well from 12 weeks - 7-7 without all the fussing. I was on my knees- you have my utmost sympathy! DH worked 2pm til 10pm or nightshift as well so was not around- I called my in laws at 6pm sobbing once! you can do this - it will pass and one day you can tell him all about it!
Keep going with trying the napping routine as well - once 12 weeks he got used to being put in his cot at 12.30 and slept until 2.30 each day and it did wonders - I also got to nap at that time as he was the PFB and it saved my sanity.

Yes it does. With mine it stopped at about 11-12 weeks. You’ve done the right thing - breathe deeply and when you go back in remind yourself that there isn’t much you can do, you just have to get through the bad crying times. We used Dr Browns bottle with DS2 but we can’t say for certain that they
add a difference- it’s possible that he didn’t have it as badly as DS1 did.
Are you on your own? DH and I used to take it in turns. Is there anyone who can help you?

Try R37 drops. Can be got in health shops. 48 hours later I had a different baby. It is tough going, it gets better stick in there

Have you tried a swinging chair? That's the only thing that calmed my colicky baby in the evenings. It does get better but it's bloody difficult when you're in it.

Could it be reflux? What is he like after feeds?

It does get better eat about 12 weeks. I'm so sorry, the utter despair at the screaming and not being able to do anything is so awful.

Mg ds would start screaming at about 2am like clockwork. The only thing that helped was to sit up in bed and hold him upright whilst he slept from 2-6am (was so hard to stay awake!)

It does get better xx

Thanks everyone. I do have my partner to help me he’s currently holding him as I type this before I have a breakdown! He likes his bouncer in the day but come the evening even that won’t settle him. I’ve just tried the dr brown bottles too.

he did have reflux as he was throwing up a lot but he’s also on baby gaviscon and he’s not been sick in weeks now. I’m just lost cause it’s killing me him crying all the time in pain but the sound constantly winds me up so I just want to scream! Rant over sorry it’s 1am I should calm down lol

Best advice I was given was to get a beanbag. After 8 weeks of what felt like torture…worked like a charm.
You can buy specific baby ones. I just bought a normal one. Placed baby on it. Never left them obviously but it stopped the screaming.
Hang in there, this won’t last forever. You’re nearly there!

Just had a quick Google to see what is about these days. There’s absolutely loads of choice for baby bean bags these days that you can fasten babies into. They may be worth a look.

I don’t think they existed when I needed one. But you wouldn’t have to stand over them the whole time with one of those I suspect.

It does get better. Mine is 13 weeks now and have after weeks of crying evenings is now so much more settled. For your sanity, I strongly recommend getting some ear protectors.

I had the same with my daughter, we changed her bottles to avent bottles put her on comfort milk and made each bottle one at a time using the kettle as we found the prep machine made her so gassy as it get so many bubbles in the milk where it cools
it down too quickly.

When we changed to comfort milk we found where the milk was thicker we had to change test size as the milk didn't come through quick enough so she was sucking more air in but once we changed to next size up so we went to size 3 test on comfort milk to completely changed my daughter.

It does get better as she is now 6 months old and we are back to suing prep machine normal milk and bottles now. Keep going it's all worth it but felt the same!

It's so hard but I remember holding dd crying because I couldn't help her just remember you are doing amazing

I remember this, it's so upsetting. It will pass that's all you can keep telling yourself.

Sometimes giving baby a drop of cooled boiled water helped bring up trapped wind for my DD.

Also the tiger in the tree holding position calmed her quite a bit.

It's perfectly Ok to put baby down and step away for a few minutes, colic made me really not enjoy having a baby. But hang in there it does get better, promise xxx

DS was the same, it's brutal. He did grow out of it but I think it was around 14/15 weeks. Although evenings were still unsettled for a while longer but not as bad. Very loud white noise helped. I used to sit under the extractor fan in the kitchen holding him for hours. He did have relux too.

I remember one of my nct group said her baby doesn't cry, I wanted to bang my head against a brick wall.

The crying is so hard to cope with. I tried ear plugs or put headphones on with music to reduce the noise a bit while holding and rocking him. I think I've blanked out those weeks/months. Hope it calms down for you soon.

Another baby who would wake at 2-3am, cycling legs, screaming, wouldn't settle again - basically slept 4 hours a night for the first 3 months, then like a switch it went and she slept 12+ hours
Hang in there it will change

For us (around 12 weeks too) it helped switching from powder formula to pre-made liquid milk. Expensive but worth it.

Are you BF? Could it be CMPA? If so cut dairy out. I'm so sorry you're having such a difficult time virtual hand hold x

Thanks again! Eventually he got to sleep just after 1 until 6, then until 8, he sleeps good when he’s asleep it’s just getting him asleep! Last night was the first night using comfort milk so we shall see how he is on that. He wakes up happy smiling so I don’t get how he can go from that to screaming 12 hours later ☹️.

I did wonder if he had a cows milk allergy slightly but doesn’t have enough of the symptoms apparently although when we switched to kendamil as I’d heard good reviews he was the worst ever screaming in pain and I wonder if it was because it was a full fat milk 🤔

Hes on sma comfort now instead of pro if anyones used that before x

Also has anyones babies always had liquid poo? It makes me think a milk allergy and it’s always come out like water no matter what formula and what he’s had 😬

I honestly could have written this myself!

my DS had horrendous colic from 2 weeks old until I’d say 7/8months it finally got better. I honestly didn’t enjoy the first year of his life and people who have easy babies just don’t get it. I have another son now who is coming up to 6 months and he is the complete opposite so I can see why some people don’t realise they have it so easy if they’ve never experienced a true colicky baby.

a few things we tried- we had started on aptamil but it didn’t seem to agree with him, wouldn’t poo for days and used to get so upset trying and when he eventually went it was just liquid explosions. Switched to hipp organic and that did make a difference in that respect. we tried gaviscon for reflux but that just made him constipated even more so stopped that. Tried colief drops and they seemed to make it worse than ever. We ended up on a combo of hipp organic, carobel milk thickener to help with the reflux and then gripe water. Infacol worked for about 2 weeks then stopped. I mean in all honesty I don’t know if anything made a huge difference tbh.

he also never napped during the day unless it was in a car, never slept/sat in his pushchair. Like clockwork every night it was hell from 4.30-5pm until he finally gave in around 10pm after his last feed. A couple of nights we had to put him in his car seat to sleep(lie flat) as we were so desperate.

trouble is that colic/cmpa/reflux are all pretty much identical in symptoms which makes it harder to know for sure.

just know that it will come to an end but it’s know it’s so so difficult to see that when your in the thick of it. Especially when most professionals just tell you they’ll grow out of it and friends babies are angels. It’s so so tough.

also don’t feel bad about putting him down im a cot or safe place if you need 5 minutes break!

It does pass eventually. What I found helped:

• a yoga ball to very gently bounce on, which stimulates the feeling of walking, with less effort.
• ear buds. You can see your baby is crying, it's ok to try and drown out/muffle the noise. If baby wont be comforted, and all you can do is just be there for them, theres no advantage in you feeling stressed.
• go for a sling walk in the evening.

-Try skin to skin contact when upset

• it may sound ridiculous, but when doing skin to skin contact make an active effort to relax. Slow your breathing, see if you can slow your heart rate, close your eyes if necessary. Your mere presence in giving a cuddle will be soothing your baby even if they don't seem soothed, and you calming the situation and relaxing may help them.

White noise worked a treat for us. We used to put it on YouTube and play beside the baby within seconds would stop crying....didn't always last but gave much needed breaks.

Also swaddling. Baby loved to be swaddled in a blanket and held close.

And finally.....a dummy for baby amd earphone for me.

It does pass...12 weeks seems ages away but before you know it will have passed.

Yes white noise or for us we used to have to play hoover noise. Only dyson he didn’t like anything else 😂 and rock him quickly backwards and forwards

Definitely play loud white noise and shush loudly behind his ear while deep bouncing on the exercise ball. That settles my little screamer (thankfully).

Here is a great white noise track: open.spotify.com/episode/2iOqNDvQuv1RyU5SEG0FN0?si=SLecIn92QNGhVymRej0ywQ&utm_source=copy-link

Play it loudly and commit to the deep bounces (or squats) no matter how much it burns (and it will burn). The additional shushing must be louder than his cry. Shush with the force of all your frustration over and over. Do this until he eventually falls asleep. It is easier if you put him in a sling/carrier though he may hate it (mine does until he eventually passes out from all the intensive soothing I'm doing).

Mine isn't hugely colicky but does have his moments. When it's really bad I get in the shower with him. It's the only thing that stops the crying. Skin to skin and warm water. Kind of acts like a reset. Sometimes the crying starts again as soon as we're out but more often it helps calm him down.