Full Blown - out of control COLIC!!!

We wer up from 1 - 3am last night withthe screamies but she seems a little more comfortable today. At the last Dr. Appt she suggested maybe a little rice cereal in the formula to thicken it a bit might help it stay down. In my desperation I tried that in the wee hours this morning - I may stick to it for a couple of days - she seems to be having a better morning/early afternoon and hasn't spit up much. As far as the baby across the knees thing, that makes her miserable. Whatever position she is in it needs to be at least a 45 degree angle for about 30 minutes after she eats or she is miserable or spits a bunch and is miserable. Things I've tried: 1) Regular formula - gave her gas and a big bloated, distended abdomen. 2) Soy formula - made her horrible constipated, added prune juice, gave her horrible stomach pains 3) Mylicon drops - not sure they help but they give me something to do :-) 4) Tylenol - made no difference 5) Zantac 15 mg/day in 2 doses - not convinced it's done anything Currently using: 1) Nutramagen with a little rice cereal (only for the last 12 hours - not a bad day so far but I'm not counting my chickens yet:-) 2) nipples with smaller holes to slow down the feeding. Burping her in the middle just makes her mad and she screams til you give her back the bottle. 3) Frequent feedings of only 2 oz at a time 4) a couple of warm baths a day - she really likes these but her skin doens't too much - I just grease her up after each one. Sorry this is so long, thanks everyone. Martha

Martha, Are you saying your baby is spitty, is that why the doc suggested the rice cereal to help "keep it down?" (Which shocks me, by the way, that a doc would suggest that for a baby so young.) Burping mid bottle may make her mad, but if it helps overall you may have to. Our baby was the same, hated burping mid bottle and otherwise, and would actually launch out of the position. I have video of me in the most contorted position trying keep baby from being flung off my lap. Sometimes it's the position of burping they object to. But I know, there is that fine line when burping mid bottle, more cries equals more gas, but even if you can get a quick one in, or even just a break in the sucking to let things settle for a minute it might help. I forgot to recommend a good pair of head phones, the kind folks who use leaf blowers and power tools use. Forget the little whimpy ear plugs, they get lost and can end up as a choking hazard later if baby finds one.

hi martha, glad to hear everything is starting to turn around. Do watch the cereal in the formula, however. In some babies it can cause constipation, and you've already been there:-). If it does, maybe just adding it during her worst times might avoid the clogging effects. since dd has that history of constipation, we were told that rice cereal to the formula would be contraindicated. btw, we were told that the zantac took a while to work, about a week to see any effect and maybe longer. For my own heartburn/acid reflux, the continual taking of it makes it better over time. Oh and stress (ie crying) can make it worse, so she may just be caught in a loop. If one aspect calms down, then you can probably get a handle on it. and the bouncing with the knees makes those with reflux puke-as you've found out:-). isn't this fun :D ? It will get better, but right now it just feels like you're going insane. We were about to go to a priest for an exorcism when dd started to turn the corner (at 5 months i might add). We joked that we'd call her Damienne (after Damien in "The Omen") if she kept this up. I hope this continues to improve for you, LisaCA

Our son had colic when he was an infant as well. Our ped. put him on Similac LF It worked like a charm. Going for a drive in the car also helps. I did not read the entire thread to see what others have suggested, but a bouncy seat helps too. Good luck..... :)

Hi, I'm a RN and have cared for kids for 26 years. The thing I have found that helps the most with these kids is to feed them like this: -sitting them up at a 90 degree angle in a seat -holding the bottle straight on with care to keep nipple completely full of formula -feed half of the bottle and do not burp. Walk away and let her wiggle around and burp on her own. Listen carefully for the burp. It may take a while feed second half of bottle and repeat the "walk away" -Do not mess with her for at least 40 minutes. Let her sit straight up. - Do not prop bottle (of course) The down side is you don't get the holding during bottle bonding BUT the upside is after they have had a good forty five minutes (they usually sleep) THEN you can have some peaceful bonding. I have done this for years and it worked with nearly every colic baby I had. They rarely ever spit up. Worth a try?? Nan

Hi there. I'm sorry you are having such a rough day! Sometimes when it rains, it pours (literally in your unfortunate case), doesn't it? Well, I just want to suggst you call DH and have him stop at the book store on the way home with the girls and pick up the book mentioned above "Happist Baby on the Block". We haven't faced collic yet, as we are not aparents yet, but we both read it and were very impressed. We will try to use some of the strategies like swaddling and shushing (i.e. white noise) with our baby w/ or w/o collic as they sound very comforting. Good luck. Hang in there, Nina

I remember the days of cholic. Ugh! The good news is you will eventually survive it! I also had to deal with sleep issues. He would only sleep at night next to me in the bed and I had to lay in a certain position next to him. If I moved, he woke up crying. He also wasn't much of a sleeper, which made life even harder. JJ

For 2 whole days now Addy has been an absolute JOY! I was afraid to post this because I thought I might junx myself. She is smily and happy and sleeping for nice long naps and a good 6 hour stretch at night. The pediatrician took her off the Zantac because everyone agreed it wasn't helping and DH and I were wondering if maybe it wasn't even making things worse. She is going to stay on the nutramigen for at least a couple of months. I am in NO hurry to make any more changes at this point. Anyway, just thought I'd share after all the wonderful advice and support I got from everyone. THANKS AGAIN! Martha

Hurray!!! I'll keep my fingers crossed that she has outgrown the colic and will continue to feel better! I hope you can get some rest now! Enjoy your sweet daughter.... Cheryl

Yay! Hooray! Now you understand why we call Nutramigen "Liquid Gold". Expensive, sooooooo worth it. So glad to hear she's returned to her wonderful self and y'all have gotten over this with minds intact. BTW we didn't transition Ryan off the stuff until he was 6 1/2 months old. He did fine, went to lactose free, then went completely off formula at 12 months with no lasting issues. Best thing at Christmas is a happy baby. Yay! Regina

martha, I'm so thrilled that addy is doing so well! as regina says, that nutramigen really is liquid gold. By the time you buy it you're ready to pay anything just to get a good night' sleep-bingo! they have you :) . So far it is costing us about 50-60 dollars a week to feed her. We tried to transition dd to lactose free about three weeks ago, but it didn't work :( - We were back to tummy issues. we are hoping to try again in another month or two. my fingers are crossed that this hideously expensive formula continues to work its magic! LisaCA

So glad to hear that things are better! JJ

Lisa/Martha and all other Nutramigen users. Check eBay, was able to get some unopened, unexpired cans for $13-$14 each from other parents whose children transitioned b/f they used all their supply. Oh, and if you do go, be sure to check typo listings "Nutramegen, Nutromigen, etc." Got 6 cans from one of these for $8 each - I was only bidder and got @ minimum price. Yeeha! :) Regina

Read up on the primal wound. Much of it can explain why your child is colicky.

The only thing that worked with our son was putting him in his carseat with the hood up and throwing a dark colored blanket over it. NOTHING else worked. He was nursed, I changed my diet to baked chicken breasts with no spices, white rice(not even salt) and filtered water. Drops from the doctor helped a tiny bit. Swaddled, not swaddled, carried, laid down, Time-he out grew it by about 9 months. It all started after a so called "friend" took him for an afternoon so I could get some rest. I also read this resourceful article on whattoexpect, that was helpful in understanding what colic is.