Share your tips for coping with colic - £200 voucher to be won

[CeriMumsnet]

We know dealing with colic is very challenging for parents and it can be hard to know how to help your baby. If you’ve experienced colic, we’d love to hear your advice for dealing with it. Whether it’s little tricks that helped soothe your baby, product recommendations, or coping strategies for parents, a little support goes a long way. 

• Post your tips and advice in the thread below to be entered into the prize draw
• One lucky Mumsnetter will win a £200 gift voucher 

Here’s what MAM has to say:

‘We’re MAM and we love babies. We believe that only the best is good enough for them! That’s why for over 45 years we’ve been developing extra-safe baby products that combine attractive, innovative design with proven medical benefits. Our Easy Start Anti-Colic bottle provides parents with the best possible protection against colic and makes it easy to switch between breast and bottle feeding. So, parents can feel confident, and babies feel good.’

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!

MNHQ
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[Flipflipmania]

Take up every offer of help

Accept it’s a very very difficult time but it will pass

be very kind to yourself. When you get time to relax, take it.

[Leo227]

I do actually use the mam anti colic bottles as I find them to be the best with slow flow for my baby.
I also ass Dentinox anto cplic drops which has helped get wind up easier.

I alsp started using biogaia probiotic drops daily after reading some positive studies.

we wind him every 30ml and pace feed, keeping him quite upright.
I make sure he stays upright for 15-20 mins after a feeding and then at around 5pm which is usually the time of day things really started to kick off, I've found going for a long walk with him in the sling (ergobaby 360) makes him most comfortable and seems to get us past the worst period of the evening.

when he's crying, often lying him on his side seems to help.

[Nursemumma92]

Using a sling to keep them close but keep hands free

Tiger in the tree hold across your forearm

Being kind to yourself and knowing that this isn't your fault, you aren't doing anything wrong

Take up any offers of help, even if it's meals made for you, anything to make life a bit easier

[sjpkgp1]

It's very hard sorry. It does eventually pass, in my case I had about 9 weeks of it with my 4th, started around 4 weeks. What helped: White noise CD, baby swing set on high, tight swaddling, sling (otherwise your back hurts from the constant carrying and rocking) and other people to take the effort needed by your older children. Patience. Batch cooking in advance as it easy to forget to eat. What didn't help: any sort of concoction orally that was said to be a cure (gripe water, infacol etc,). People are often say their baby has colic due to gas and feeding, I'm not completely sure this is true having tried everything. My fourth was delivered 3 weeks early, my first 3 (no colic) were delivered late. No medical experience, but all brought up the same. Best wishes for anyone going through it, it's a hard jig xxx

[Laserbeam24]

I had a very colicky baby and it was EXHAUSTING. Take every offer of help you get. Someone offers to take baby and pat their bum for 5 mins? Hand them over.

Speaking of bum patting, I found rhythmic heartbeat like pats were somewhat effective. Even now she's 6 months, I still do it.

Know it's okay to leave baby in a safe place for five minutes while you gather yourself. It's a lot and it's overwhelming.

Gentle vibration. We used the babocush pillow and it provided some comfort. We also put it on her mamaroo chair - on the highest setting. Seemed to settle her best!

Regular burping breaks when feeding (if baby allows! 🤣)

[OHVanessaShanessaJenkins]

It was the distressed, pain and screaming for 2-3 hours continuously that I found the most difficult.
I knew my baby was in pain and nothing I did helped.

Things like keep upright, don’t lay flat.
Moving helped, upright in a sling.

Shifts, take it in shifts with other people.
Very very tricky when this goes on for weeks. But I would do 20 minutes, my husband would do 20 minutes and so on.

Regular burps during feeding.
Infacol helped somewhat, gripe water did nothing.

Mine was exclusively breast fed, and teeny, (5Lbs) so fed A LOT to gain weight, when feeding, was not screaming so I fed very much on demand.

Seems like it is never ending but it does end and a calm and content little baby came out of it the other end.

Finally, really really important, I kept telling myself that it was not anything I was doing wrong.
I wasn’t the cause of it, this happens to baby’s a lot.
I was the source of comfort and love, not the source of this awful thing that happens.
Mum guilt was extremely acute during those dark dark days.

[JanS17]

Frequent burping after milk and between meals
Anti-colic bottles (we use the mam ones)
Infacol or dentinox before the bottles

Also just accepting that she was safe and loved and that was the best we could do until the colic improved.

The anti-colic formula was rubbish and made her pops really stinky and gross - avoid!

[sheeplikessleep]

Colic is so all consuming and stressful, that I think my advice would be to both support the parents and tips to maybe help baby (though I’m not sure if they worked or just felt like I was doing something) …
Keep baby upright after a feed with gentle patting
Walking motion
White noise … washing machine, extractor, hairdryer … whatever works!
Trusting yourself when they’ve had enough food that the crying isn’t hunger (I think in hindsight I interpreted as hunger and overfed which more milk I don’t think helped)
Take every offer of help
Reduce anything you don’t absolutely have to do - this is about getting through the colic weeks and first few months
Ask family members to come over and pace the living room for an hour with baby during their crying hours
Listen to your baby and take their lead on what helps
Swaddle
Cranial osteopathy really helped my baby
It passes … at 11 weeks, my DS1 went from 5 hours of screaming daily to sleeping 11 hours every night … so you never know when the corner is

[1of2]

I often think of how hard having a colicky baby was (and that was 13 years ago!)
It seemed such an intense, stressful, never ending period of time. I now know that is doesn’t last forever (from about 4 - 12 weeks old in my DS’s case) and would be quick to reassure parents that it will pass and to be kind to themselves during the colic phase as I felt at times like I was losing my mind!!
As above posters have said, pass baby onto dad or anyone who offers baby snuggles so you can have 5.
Also, we found our DS loved being held with his tummy on our arms (laying lengthways on our arm), it seemed to sooth him lots.
Lots of rocking side to side.
Lots of white noise (I wish Alexa was a thing back then… hello hoover/fan/hairdryer noises!)
And lots of snacks and drinks for mum!

[Herecomestreble1]

My son is now 11 months old and I'm still very bitter about how the first 4 months of his life were filled with discomfort and distress. Nothing could have prepared me for the mental stress of colic. I know it's no one's fault but the timing of colic just feels so cruel, right after you give birth when you and your baby are your most vulnerable and when your emotions are already all over the place. Countless times I had to take myself away for five minutes to absolutely bawl only to then pull myself back together and go and try something, anything to soothe my baby.

I have no advice apart from do whatever you need to do to survive and remember it DOES pass. Reach out to other mums, let your partner and family help when they offer, and be kind to yourself.

[Theimpossiblegirl]

It's hard as you think you should be able to manage it but it's exhausting and can be relentless.

Talk about it, get as much help as you can and be kind to yourself. It's not forever.

I agree with putting the baby in a safe space and taking a few minutes if you need to.

Regular winding and anti colic bottles can help but aren't a guaranteed fix.

[MrsPatrickDempsey]

Colic is often attributed to something gastric but there is little evidence for this.
What the increasing evidence about infant neuro development says is that persistent crying is related to overstimulation and overtiredness. Babies need more regular sleep and the biological norm is short sleep cycles with more frequent small feeds which goes against our expectations.
They are social creatures on the one hand but on the other their brain can't cope with too much conversation, noise, TV, bouncing, rocking etc.
Hold them still tightly in the dark to mimic the womb.
A greater understanding of normal infant behaviour is needed without assuming that challenging behaviours means that something is wrong and needs to be fixed with special formula, gaviscon, omeprazole etc.

[OutsideEveryday]

White noise machine, blackout curtains/very dark room, make it cool with window open or fan as they’re often hot after crying so much.

Follow baby’s lead and hold them in their favourite position (curled up on your chest, on their side, up on your shoulder - whatever they like).

Hold them for a while until calm and make shushing noises and gently tap their back if they start fussing again

[Wavescrashingonthebeach]

Take them outside in the fresh air. I was in and out that front door alot in the first year of his life.

[LCUK]

My main comment would be that it is just really really hard. ‘Helpful’ advice is likely to just be everything you can & have already googled yourself.

Realising that some babies just are a lot harder than others & it doesn’t make you a bad parent, in fact, as a mum of 2x formerly colicky babies I would say you deserve a medal. Many well-meaning people just won’t understand the brutality of colic on parents & the main thing we can offer is compassion and understanding.

[Binningtonianrose]

My son is grown up now but those colicky few weeks were the worst in my life.
The ONLY thing that saved me was an electric swing I put him in, in moments of sheer exhaustion and desperation.
Speed 3 stopped him crying.

[AmberM2022]

Colic totally ruined our ‘newborn bubble’ and as a first time mum it caused me to have PND. I think understanding that it WILL pass, at the time it seems like it will never end - but it certainly will.
Speaking on mums net to other mums going through the same helps lots, understanding you are not alone in this.
Using anti-colic bottles, gripe water and baby massage can help lots!
Keeping baby in a wrap sling also helped me!
Accepting help when it is offered not only helps your mind and gives you a break, but also is good for baby too, so they are not with mum 24/7.
I would also say if you can visiting an osteopath can be a godsend for some, and did help us a little bit!

[Wavescrashingonthebeach]

White noise played very loud helped soothe mine as well then as he calmed I'd gradually lower the volume

[YourNameGoesHere]

Don't be afraid to stand your ground with healthcare professionals or busy body relatives who think you should just get on with it because it's common or worse still that there's no such thing as colic. Chances are they have never had a baby with colic and don't understand the relentlessness of it. If you need to leave baby for a while in a safe space, overuse the swing or drown out the noise for a while with white noise then do it and feel no guilt your baby won't remember.

[Helena1993]

My baby was horribly colicky and I’m very sure it was because she was tired all the time. I recommend a sling and keeping baby close at night so she feels safe. Pretty sure it doesn’t have anything to do with digestion. Especially since it happens equally often in breastfed and formula fed babies.
Oh and the screaming bouts happen in the evening when baby is most tired from overstimulation. It all makes sense. Baby is tired.

[Helena1993]

This!!!! Every new mom should know this and get a wrap sling.

[NewMum232323]

Oh I vividly remember those days...
What we found helpful was preventing more air being swallowed and medicating for the build up of gases. So we got some green bottle add on (we used Philips Avent bottles) to make sure there is always milk in the bottle and DD can't suck in air. Before every/most feeds we were preventatively giving a pump of Lefax, anti-colic medicine we got recommended by a friend doctor. And we also switched to Hipp Comfort for most feeds, which seemed to work well.
Funnily enough, by the time we tried it all the colic period just somehow naturally passed away and didn't linger for long. But knowing it's just a phase was such a relief!

[jellybeanpopper]

Take turns, make sure you have a break. It’s tough, different things for different babies so trial and error

[Yayhelen]

My youngest had colic. Recommend Tiger in the Tree Hold (Google it). We also bought a RockIt Baby rocker and just let him nap in the pram - got something similar for the cot.

[violentknight]

Get some gripe water from the chemist - it works!