Is it colic?

[Cilli]

My DS is almost 4 months old and only in the last week has started waking at 12.30am and being unsettled til 6am or so. He cries an obviously 'in pain' cry, draws his legs up and occasionally passes wind.

I have tried feeding him thinking it was hunger but he doesn't feed well. He seems to have wind trapped or something and is finding it hard to get out.
I am basically awake all night consoling him, as no sooner have I settled him than he wakes again crying.

Around 7am he wakes up properly all smiles, and then does a big poo! He is placid and happy during the day.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what it could be or any remedies? I have tried colic mixture (Gripe Water) and even Panadol but he is still in obvious discomfort. Any advice would be much appreciated - hate to see my little boy in pain.

[Rahmi'sMum]

It does sound like colic - my boy wakes at about 4am with the same thing.

The only thing I've found that works is just to help him move his wind by lifting his legs towards his chest, up and down, while he's laying down on his back. I also put him upright over my shoulder and walk around with him as it calms him down.

I use infacol - but its effects are minimal. Colic Relief didn't work for him at all, neither did panadol.

I hope he gets past it soon, it is awful to see your bub in pain!

[elissas]

Hi there,

We had the same problem when Will was a few weeks old, but it happened during the day.

I found that I had too much milk, and he was getting too much foremilk as compared with the hindmilk. The foremilk contains more lactose, which effectively gives them a sugar rush, but the excess lactose gets dumped in the bowels and creates A LOT of wind. I fixed it by expressing about 20ml before each feed, and within less than 2 days it was totally gone and he's the most placid, calm little boy now. That way he got more of the hindmilk, which is the fattier milk. Our body needs fat to help process waste - without enough fats, doing a poo is a major ordeal for them. He still gets wind occasionally but not nearly as much.

The problem is that once the wind starts it feeds itself - they get upset, gulp air, and get more wind. Then they don't feed properly coz they're not relaxed, so they take in more air while feeding, and it creates more wind... Vicious circle.

Expressing first can be complicated, particularly at night, but even if you just do it during the day it helps heaps, because the lactose builds up over the day - you can do it when they start to stir, or preempt it and do it 15-30mins earlier. You get real quick at it! And if you have to do it while DS waits, it's better that he wait for a few minutes, even if he can't understand why - better to have a couple of minutes crying than 6hrs of screaming.

None of the mixtures worked - although Infants Friend helped a little. The only thing I found, other than expressing, which works with bowel movements, is to drink a glass of prune juice every morning. If I miss a day, DS struggles the next day with his poo. When I drink it it's like it's no effort for him at all. Also, make sure you're getting your essential fatty acids. Basically, his body will mimic yours, whatever you're feeling physically, it's like a barometer for him.

Check these out

http://www.breastfeed-essentials.com/toomuchmilk.html

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/foremilk-hindmilk.html

I'm assuming that your bf'ing here, sorry if I'm wrong. If you're using formula, perhaps look at the lactose levels in it.

Hope this helps - it helped me. We pretty much had our happy, contented little boy back the next day.

Good luck
Elissa

[Cilli]

Thanks Rahmi's Mum and Lis for your suggestions.

I was b'feeding and comp feeding with formula up to when DS was 3 months, now he is down to one breastfeed a day, the rest formula.
I will definately investigate the lactose thing with the formula as that could be the culprit.

I bought some Bauers colic mixture today, has anyone tried that? I'm going to give it a go.

Also a book I was reading said colic can be the result of demand feeding ie when the milk is not digested. It said bubs need 3.5 to 4 hours to digest a bottle of formula.....

[elissas]

That's true, it can be premature digestion I've also read, and this worked too. Sorry, forgot to mention it before.

When babies feel full they tend to start to push with their belly. Sometimes their feed hasn't digested enough in the stomach. At the end of a feed Will would start giving me that pushing poo face, which apparently meant that he was pushing milk that wasn't quite ready yet into the intestine, complete with air bubbles...

When he started doing this I'd distract him. He'd keep trying for a few minutes, but he'd stop when I distracted him from it. Holding this process off for 5-10mins actually made a difference.

[elissas]

I'd look into the formula though, if it's only just started and he's getting more formula then he was, it seems a little too coincidental. His digestive system should be getting better, not worse.

Maybe look at everything and see if there have been any other changes, even to non food things - like your routine etc.

When Will became more alert he also got stroppy, like he was adjusting, but until he'd adjusted it was like he was overstimulated, and gave me some colic-like symptoms, including spring legs.

[Cilli]

Thanks again Lis.

The overstimulation thing could also be an explanation as Isaac is now a lot more alert than he was - ie only sleeps minimally during the day. We have been out and about a lot more in the last few weeks and so he is being exposed to different environments and people.

From the reading I've done 'colic' seems like a bit of a catch all term for lots of things that go on with babies that are both explained and unexplained.

If only they could talk and tell us what's wrong! :)

[elissas]

I agree on the catch all thing - I've been telling people that but they still like to tell me that he was colicky... To me he had wind and some digestive issues, refused to say he had colic.

IMO the term is used way too loosely. It doesn't really mean anything really. To me it's what people say a baby has when it doesn't fit neatly into any other pigeon-hole. A bit like "Irritable Bowel Syndrome" or "Chronic Fatigue". Yes they exist, but they exist to cover a particular range of symptoms, not a particular cause.