colic

If you haven’t already heard or found out on your own… colic is horrendous.  Some babies have ‘it’ for a long time, but most only show signs of colic from about 1-4 months (4-16 weeks) old.  If your baby is older than that and you just assume it is colic, go to the doctor.  From what I’ve learned, it could be something more, usually reflux.

My littlest, Jaxen, had colic.  If my oldest had had colic, I most likely would never have had another child.  It was awful!  He would scream like clockwork.  Certain times of the day, I just knew he was about to have another screaming fit.  If I can remember correctly, it was 5am, 10am, 3pm, 8pm & 11pm.  Each time the screaming lasted anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours.  By the time he got done crying, pooped, ate and then slept for a few minutes, it was time to scream again.

He didn’t want anyone else except for me to hold him.  It was awesome.  For the pity party crowd… my husband was laid up for 10 weeks with a bad case of gout in his foot ever since I was in the hospital delivering Jaxen, I was recovering from a c-section and taking care of a 3 ½ yr old and a colicky infant.  JOYS!

There are tons and tons of links to homemade remedies for infant colic.  I, of course, found and tried most of them.

Here’s what I found worked for Jaxen:

~Boil 1 cup of purified drinking water with 2 fresh bay leaves and/or ½ soft peppermint stick.  Bring to a boil and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.  Turn it off and let it cool down.  Put it in a baby bottle (1oz or whatever they will take) and give it to your little screamer.  (*bonus* your house will smell amazing!)  My baby would not take a bottle; I actually had to give it to him in a dropper.

~During my research, I found that overfeeding can make colic worse.  Well, for some reason I had enough breast milk to feed a small nation.  Jaxen would choke a little when feeding because of the amount and urgency of my milk expressed.  So, I pumped for about 10 minutes or less, then breastfed the baby.  He got fuller because he got more of the hind milk, which seemed to help him sleep.  And he wasn’t getting water boarded by the overflow of milk anymore.  Win, win. 

~Heat to the tummy.  [*ALWAYS PUT BABY TO SLEEP ON THEIR BACK*  I hate even writing this because I don’t want to anyway be liable for anything happening to your children.  Watch your babies!  I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE.  This is just what I DID.]  I read several articles that mentioned putting a heating pad on the colicky baby’s belly; that it might help with digestion.  Call me crazy, but… I’m NOT putting a heating pad on my infant!  So I figured there were a couple ways I could add heat, my hand or by using his own body heat (by lying on his tummy).  When he was lying on his back, I would hold my hand on his tummy, rub it a little.  Sometimes when I was holding him and he fell asleep, I would transfer him to his bed and put him on his belly.  Take note!!  I watched him like a hawk always making sure he was still breathing.  If I couldn’t see his body moving up and down from his breath, I held a mirror up to his nose and watched for fog.  It made me nuts worrying about him!  Constant checking on him made it virtually impossible for me to get anything done!  However, it was pretty much the only way I could make a successful transfer from my arms to his bed without him waking up.

~Gas drops.  Find some infant gas relief drops; I just used to buy the store brand.  This really seemed to help my little man.  I gave him the recommended dosage after every time he ate.  After a little while, you could tell he knew as soon as he tasted it that he would start feeling better soon.

~Pacifiers help a little… the sucking reflex helps them calm down a bit.  Jaxen would only take the pacifier for a few minutes at a time.

~Walking in circles holding the screamer.  Jaxen would sometimes calm down a little if you held him and walked around.  However, notice I used the word “sometimes”.

~Basically, if your infant has colic, just figure out how to do everything one handed.  Figure it out.  It might be your savior.  Don’t worry about spoiling them at this stage in the game.  As long as you can figure out the limit for holding baby all of the time, and when the colic is over, you break them quickly.

My suggestion is to try everything to help your baby settle down.  Try to remember that colic isn’t your baby’s fault.  Try not to get so aggravated.  If your patience level has reached its limit, ASK FOR HELP!  Family members & friends are in your life for a reason!  They would LOVE to help you, especially if they know you are at your limit.  Don’t be afraid to tell someone, the last thing you want to do is hurt your baby out of aggravation and frustration.  CALL SOMEONE.  If there is absolutely no one, let the baby cry in his bed.  Go take a 15 minute break, go somewhere where you can’t hear the crying.  Take some deep breaths, relax for a second.  If you’re lucky, baby will cry himself to sleep.  He/she is actually physically uncomfortable and can’t do anything except let you know that they are uncomfortable.  So try home remedies, old wives tales, whatever you need to do.  Your baby just doesn’t want to hurt anymore.   And, of course, you don’t want to hear constant screaming anymore.

As soon as Jaxen’s colic was gone, it was almost immediate relief.  He has been the sweetest, happiest baby ever since!  He really made up for the lack of sleep those first few months too.  I just assume he’s so grateful that he is not in discomfort anymore… I know I am!