I Hate Colic!!!!!!!!

[jiminy]

Hey,

just thought i would pick your brains for a bit as i am at the end of options.... here goes.....

My beautiful baby girl is 4 1/2 months old and for the first 16 weeks of her life cried ALL the time, when she was awake she cried, and not just sooky la la cry, screaming, i have tried everything.......

Brewers remidy, zantac, infacol, a natural colic mixture, rescue remedy, i have taken her to 2 pediatricians and they seem to think that it is silent reflux, she would scrunch up in pain, pull her chest kick and SCREAM in pain all the time!!!! it was the most horrible thing ever to experiance, now she is a little older she is better well better for her but still crying ALOT, i have been to the osteo, pediatricians none of which worked, she sleeps through the night and has done since 9 weeks, but its the UP ALL DAY, maybe 2 catnaps 20 mins each and the crying that sux!!! they say that nothjing is wrong with her but i would love to have a happy baby!!! i love her to bits and she smiles and it is all forgotten but to calm her would be great!!!! i have to carry her around the shops as she hates the pram..

Basicly to explain it i feel like i am consoling her all day, it is really very tiring........ and i just thought that maybe any ideas would be useful, she hated the osteo screamed the whole time so badly that i would have to leave.....

she is definatly getting better, but its not much compared to "normal" babies,

a girl in mothers group saw an acupunturest to bring on her labour and she ssaid that if you have an unhappy baby bring her back and she can help....she comes highly recomended from a few people i have spoken to , but i may just speak to her as i dont know if i could do the whole Neddles in my baby thing...,but if it helps....i am out of ideas.....

so any help would be great!!! oh she is on solids, well 1 little feed of apples or vegies a day and on thickened formula to stop the reflux...........

thx for listening!!!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[W & T's sleepy mummy]

Hi Jiminy!

Sorry bout your bubs! My 4 year old was like that as well and at 12 weeks he was diagnosed as lactose intolerant. Has any of the health workers investigated that? Will would only sleep for an hour out of 24 and wanted to feed all the time. He would use the remaining 23 hours in the day as screaming practise. A neighbour (a stranger) from 4 houses away bought me flowers coz she heard him screaming all the time!! After the paediatrician diagnosed it, he went on to lactose free formula and was a normal (if a little bit more grisly) baby after that - hurrah - it made such a difference. I kind of found it hard to bond with him before that, but after we made up for lost time!

Hope you find a solution really soon. Good luck:)

[cosmic]

I was going to say the same thing. My friend had the same prob with her bub, except her bub was fully breastfed and the mum found out that if she cut all the dairy out of her diet, bubs was fine. It was hard for her because dairy is in everything!! But it worked perfectly. She found as soon as she had anything containing dairy (even the tiniest bit of chocolate) bubs would scream again.

Anyhoo... I know it's different in a bub who is on formula but could be basically the same issue?

[Frazzled]

Is she better when she is upright rather than lying flat? Our 8 week old is quite the same with reflux and we have raised his basinett so he lies at an angle, put a cushion on the change table so he is not flat and i breast feed him at an angle so he isn't completely verticle. It has helped a fair bit? Hope it gets better. x

[reAllytee]

**** HUGS ****
I know what your going through !!!!
I would sit & cry holding my bubs as he cried/screamed all day & to have anyone come up to me when we were out asking if he was a good baby would lead to more tears.
Its not easy & its sometimes hard getting sympathy as not many people know what your going through. Oh & i so hated people i knew or friends with babies who would whinge when their bubs had a bad day like they thought their problem was worse than mine i was like swap ?
I was often at the clinic with the CHN just for a rest they were great but prob was bubs didnt want anyone else but me so this often made things hard. Have you tried a carrier or sling ? as when i got a carrier this settled bubs as it meant i carried him around the house etc made it a lot easier on my arms etc otherwise he slept in a rocker if not with me as he liked being rocked.
My bubs suffers from silent reflux but not as bad as some so im not too much help but maybe try propping your little ones bed up as KateP suggested or if you do want to try a rocker like i did then you can have it so it doesnt lay completely flat as mine had various positions.
Also make sure after feeding bubs you keep her upright for say 15mins after her feed & also change her nappy before the feed as lifting her legs & bum up afterwards causes the reflux to hit.
It could also be wind my bubs also suffered from this so a bath during the day as well as before bed helped calm him & putting him across my lap after also helped as the pressure on their tummies helps the wind pains.
If worse comes to worse id talk to someone about changing her formula as this may be whats causing the probs as the others have suggested she may be lactose intolerant.
I hope things settle for you soon try to remain as calm as possible even if it means leaving bubs in her room while you take a few minutes to compose yourself. Babies also pick up on how stressed we are & react accordingly so try to give yourself some time to relax at nite maybe giving yourself a nice bath & having your other half look after her.
Keep us posted to how she goes.

[Caitlin's Mum]

Sounds familiar!:) My bubs was the same, crying all the time and always seemed in pain - and yep it is very hard to bond when they are like this. He was eventually diagnosed with reflux AND is lactose intolerant so maybe you could investigate this. As soon as we changed to lactose free formula he was a different baby. Good luck and hang in there.

[Wish_Bear]

I have had a refluxy/colicy baby who is now 3 and I have a 5 week old who is also refluxy/colicy and has silent reflux. It is the pits! I can relate to what you are going through. My 3 year old was the same, she would sleep at night but not at all during the day and all anyone could say was "well at least she sleeps at night!" They didn't understand how hard it was to live with a baby who never slept and had to be occupied all day. She got better at about 6 months so there is a light at the end of the tunnel ok. But I know it seems a long way away when you are trying to calm a screamer! Hang in there and I hope someone can give you some answers.

Big hugs to you!

[jiminy]

hey ladies,

thanks for the advise, I am going out of my mind!!!! well more than usual anyway...hehehehehe

I have had her bed on an angle from the start and always change her nappy before a feed aswell, she likes her rocker somewhat but only to that point then 1-100 decabells in 1 second, i think she breaks the sound barrier!!! hehehehehe

i am leaning towards the lactose in tolarent thing, I must go and see if the Karicare AR thickened formula does a lactose free version..........

thx again for all your help , fingers crossed that it works, to make things worse she had her 4 month injections yesterday so has thrown up 3 of her 4 bottles today...not happy jan!!!!!!!

anyways thx again i'll give it a crack and see how she goes, the poor little poppet!

Luv
Jiminy!!!!

[reAllytee]

Oh poor bubba ! :(
Hopefully she settles down soon & you both get some rest *hugs*
Take care. :)

[Caitlin's Mum]

i am leaning towards the lactose in tolarent thing, I must go and see if the Karicare AR thickened formula does a lactose free version..........

Hi Jiminy, Karicare have a Lactose free formula but you have to buy the thickener to put in it. You don't need to use quite as much as they say on the tin either - unless you give it straight away - the longer it sits, the thicker it gets!!!

Good luck. Let us know how you go.

[Kim2008]

My DS is now 12 weeks old and at around 7 weeks or so, he changed from being a happy baby who would sleep well to a screamer who we could not be put down or have his nappy changed without howling. I ended up just carrying him around all day long, rocking etc trying to get him to sleep. He was not vomitting, so it didn't cross my mind that it could be reflux. The other main problem was that he would just not sleep during the day for more than one sleep cycle of around 30 minutes or so. He would perhaps have two 30 minute naps during the day, but that was all I could get him to sleep !! At night though he was fairly good.

I ended up seeing a mothercraft nurse who diagnosed him with silent reflux. She told me to see a paediatrician and get him onto zantac and losec. I was really sceptical, wondering if this could really be the problem ??

Anyway, the paediatrician put him on losec. It takes at least 5 days to work and throughout that time I was going out of my mind - mainly because I was out of options and had this screaming baby !!!

On day 6 of taking losec everything changed. He just suddenly started sleeping more than 30 minutes and he has maintained that till today (this was a week ago). Apparently the way that losec works is it inhibits the stomach acid which is refluxing into their oesophagus and burning them - thus causing the pain !!

I've also raised his mattress, feed him on an angle and am careful not to give him tummy time too quickly after a feed.

In summary, whilst I'm not happy that he's being medicated, I know that letting the reflux go without being treated can only make things worse for him.


Kim

[jiminy]

Hi ladies,
just thought i would jump back on to let you know the progress of My poor little bubba luka!

I have swapped her formula to Karicare De-Lact, and from within 24 hours later she was a different baby!!!!!!! it was amazing!

I can now put her in the pram when at the shops and she may even have a nap!!!!!

she is sleeping during the day.......not crying hardly at all!!!! its just wonderful!!!!!!

within 24 hrs of changing she was rolling on her tummy...as she would only ever go to the side as it hurt on her tum tum.

so to all you ladies out there who suggested the lactose free stuff!! HOORAY to you, thx heeps, as none of the doctors mentioned it!!! losers!

i told my doc what had happened and he seems to think that it is a coincidence.....yeah whatever doc!!!
biggest coincidence i have ever seen if it is!

but all is good, we only have to deal with the vomiting the morning bottle now, and its only half the time so its not to bad!

so thanks again ladies i would be totally off my rocker if it wasnt for you guys by now!!!!!!!!!!!

Luv
Jiminy!