its colic

We tried the mylicon drops too and BOY did that make it worse. Instead of getting some of the gas out, it made the acid reflux go crazy. Aaaaand did nothing for the gas. Boy did we drop that fast.Storm, if you're still trying out bottles, you might pick up a Playtex Ventaire. That's what we used when Dr. Brown's didn't do the trick. They worked well for us.

Those ventaire bottles worked great for my one that had collick. I had to use the drop in bag kind for my reflux baby.Colic is rough. You will make it!I had to hold my ds with his leg at a certain angle and his stomache against my arm and that is the only time he was not screaming. I can't really describe the position to you. It's not really football. I guess you'd just have to see it and since I can't show you, it would be kind of hard.He had one knee draped over my arm and kind of hung on my arm with his back against my chest. Wow, that sounds horrible! It really wasn't, but man, I need to figure out how to describe that!

One of the things I have come to understand is that when he's not colicky he is still a baby and I can't assume it's gas. He starts to hyperventilate when he's anxious so I put a pacifier dipped in gripe water in his mouth. Helps him focus. I have driven many miles to keep him calm. I so resent it though. Trying to take naps in parking lots and then he starts screaming ...no nap. I know it's not his fault! Doctor changed us to soy. He is done with the Augmentin which might settle his stomach. I am sticking wtih Dr. Browns for now. We are doing our anti-gas exercises a half hour after he eats and the massage. I got this heat thing for babies and he hates it. Still hates the swing, the dryer. Loves to be outside looking at the sky but still has to be moving. Does better in new environments with new things to look at. Don't know why this is? Still can't get him in carrier and my arms are about to fall off from holding him. He's actually napping I'm going to close my eyes for a while but why bother. DH is so not up to bat. Couldn't wait to go to home depot this morning.

At least you have made a little headway. I was also told to keep Kelcee sitting upright for at least 30 minutes after feeding and to keep her as upright as I could during feeding. I highly suggest, if you have a Sprout's store or any organic food store near you to go check it out and see if they have any other holistic remedies you could try. Hang in there. I know there are days you just want walk away because of pure exaustion. IT WILL GET BETTER!

It takes me so long to put him down and even though it might not be the right thing to do, I'm so desperate to sleep I let him fall asleep on the bottle and then (is this the most horrible thing I feel like a bad mother) I just let him stay asleep (when he can, if not I burp him) but then it probably makes the colic worse but if I pick him up to burp him it will be another hour to get him down! Also, he's very difficult to burp in general. I can't do the across the legs thing because he'll lose the formula but about half the time he just spontaneously burps... Still, how long do I try. He's so squirmy on my chest. He kicks me and pushes off me and sometimes I just feel so weak from all this I can't keep trying. I know this isn't healthy. When I was in the hospital in Michigan I saw baby nurses who were so good at putting him down and burping him. OH and here's the other thing. He was a swaddle baby, I'm talking tight swaddle and sometimes a pacifier too. Since the colic he needs to be able to bend his legs and FREAKS OUT in the swaddle so I loosen it and of course it ends up falling off him and when I check him in the middle of the night his gown is up and the blankets are kicked off. But the reason I bring this up is he does this thing where he's falling and his arms flail but that's because he's used to the swaddle. I now hold him down gently over the blanket so when those flailing things happen he's grounded. I usually do it for about five minutes or so. We also leave the real light on now in his room. I keep reading about his immature nervous system and never to leave a baby like that in a dark room etc. Anyway, I digress, I know I'm skipping burps and does anyone have advice A. how to not skip burps and B. creative ways to put a "difficult to soothe" baby down. He doesn't like pacifiers anymore except to lick the Gripe water off. He hasn't found his hand yet though I sometimes see him start to. Today he fell asleep on me! And napped in our bed! We have made great progress physically with the closeness thing. OT His birth mother called me today and left four frantic messages. She sounded high. She hasn't called or written since we left Michigan. I feel sick that some of the money we gave her (legally) for the adoption might have been used for drugs. I am so upset. I don't know what she wanted. DH thinks she might want to come here. I think she's moving around a lot and not in a good way. She kept leaving new messages and saying don't call the old number. Sorry for the rant. I just like this thread.

Another thing we were told to try for a colicky baby the the white noise and white light. The noise being a c/d with the soothing sounds and facing Kelcee towards a white wall to help her find her inner calm. Kelcee wasn't a great burper at times either. If she were to have fallen asleep, sometimes it helped if I just kept rubbing her back in circles and the air would be forced out. Not a lot of help I know. If we heard it and it didn't sound dangerous we tried it! LOL. Sorry about your bmom having difficulties too. I'm sure it just ads a little more to the stress level.

My 7 year old had colic when she was a baby. My dear dear friend would come over to hold her so I could get a minute or two of rest. I agree with the football hold. That helped her a lot.One more thing that helped was one of those big exercise/yoga balls. :disco: If you sit on that and bounce ever so slightly, it's soothing to the baby. Make sure his head is really really supported. Just don't fall off!

Just wanted to let you know that Ethan's colic is a lot better since he has switched to Soy. Also I've been very very diligent about massaging him and he loves it, even the tummy part. I know it's not as bad because I can soothe him mu ch more quickly and also he doesn't clench his fists anymore. My theory is the Soy does give him gas but the bubbles are smaller. I think we got off pretty lucky. In fact, I have nobody to help me and I don't mean to be rude but DH does nothing except hold him while I take a shower. He has been complaining about HIS lack of sleep (just hearing me feeding Ethan) and hasn't changed a diaper yet. My sister lives nearby but she has a very demanding job and is not a day to day person. Also, we just found out we may have to get rid of our dogs because I seem to have developed a severe dander allergy/asthma and it's really bad, I cough about thirty times a day and it's violent. I can't read to Ethan without stopping to cough it's just a nightmare! Has anyone else had to get rid of pets due to your or your child's allergies? Does anyone else have a husband from the dark ages? I feel like a zombie I'm not napping when he naps I clean the house and wait for him to wake up. I'm crazy to do that but it's hard to just drop to sleep like that!

Husband from the dark ages here. Never fed a bottle or changed a diaper. Once babe started to do more though, dh became better and better. Babe is 3 1/2 now and says daddy is his best friend. I want to (but don't) remind him that I'M the one who wipes his little butt. lol.

One thing my pediatrician said is to lay the baby on his/her tummy (while you are right there) to help soothe the colic. Colicky babies seem to like the tummy position better. I also use the homeopathic colic tablets available at most drug stores. It is amazing how fast they work. Right now I have 2 babies with colic that the tummy position helps with. One does great with the colic tablets and the other doesn't need them yet. Massaging the tummy, beginning with your fingertips in the lower right (baby's right) quadrant of the abdomen and gently moving up to bellybutton height, across tummy and down the left side to the lower right quadrant helps the gas bubbles to move through the intestines. This can really help to calm the wee one. Another thing that works is to support the baby in a warm bath. This tends to calm down the entire system and let the little one relax. A heated and wrapped rice bag against the small of the little ones back and another against the tummy also does wonders. Just be sure that the rice bag is not too hot and always have a towel or blanket between it and your little one. I have also slept in the recliner, when things are really bad, with the wee one on my chest (on their tummy) with a warm water bottle between him and I and a fleece blanket over the top of him. To be honest, this worked the best for him, but was hard on me during the hottest nights of the summer (not to mention having hot flashes - lol). I would spend up to 6 hours a night like this. He is finally beginning to outgrow the colic so he is sleeping a bit more. Thankfully, as I am single and have 2 colicky little ones. Best of luck.

How are you alive? I guess He gives us what we can handle but I sure couldn't handle that. Your advice was great. I learned most of it through trial and error and reading and all that. But what works best is my intuition and my really "hanging in there" with him. empathy is a very powerful healer.

How's Ethan been doing? Still better? I was glad to see the switch to soy made a difference. I hadn't posted on this thread yet but had read it... Our first was colicky and nothing worked until she hit 3 months.

Glad it's getting better. Don't know what to tell you about the husband from the dark ages. - Except maybe sit him downa dn explain what you are going through and ask him what he is willng to do to help out. Maybe have a list of ideas handy to go over with him. My hubby was willing to help, he just didn't know what to do. So we made up a list, and he did the things on tht list. It isn't the same as having someone who is totally clued in, but when I saw the dishes done, or garbages - or something else from the list, I knew he was trying to help me. You mentioned the swaddling - and how he liked it, but couldn't do it all the way, and his arms were flailing now. My son was a swaddler, but eventually liked his legs out. But with his arms loose he'd scratch his face, flail his arms and wake ihmself up. He seemed to not like his arms so free. So we just swaddled his upper body, leaving his legs out. Worked SO great for us! He slept so much better. (Tip: If we used a blanket, he got loose and didn't like it, so we ended up using the wide ace wraps, just around his arms an body. Worked well.) Anyway, good luck!

i'm going to try that arm swaddle!!!!!! You guys I hope you don't laugh at me but I got that cd the dunsten method and basically I can figure out if he wants to sleep, eat, burp or have lower "wind" and everything is so much better in every way. The fact that I can meet his needs so quickly has totally given me so much confidence. I don't care if anyone makes fun of that thing but I do understand him and I am always right even if he needs a burp between meals. I feel like Dr. Dootlittle., it's BRILLIANT. Did I write about this before? i sent a few people two thank you note how embarrassing I'm forgetting a lot of things these days ...THANK GOODNESS the soy works but his doodies are scary so I'm not sure we can continue They are Forest Green (dark dark) and the first one out is big and dry and he SCREAMS it's a scary scream I haven't heard it makes my hairs stand up. TMI? Sorry! Otherwise he's really quiet and sweet and smiles and coos Ga Ga etc (only to me though!) Nobody believes me LOL Feeding him right now sorry for mistakes.

Yeah - probably TMI... But that's what forums are for, right? Heh-heh! I do remember the green stools on soy formula. And my little one had a problem with constipation, too. (I actually had to "help" her get them out... KWIM?) Not fun. How's THAT for too much info? LOL! I'm going to have to look up the Dunsten method if, I mean WHEN, we get our next child... :) I have heard of it, or something similar, and it sounds like such a great thing. My daughter just screamed 24/7 for a few months, and my son never cried once. Okay, maybe once or twice. And maybe my daughter did come up for air a time or two. :) But I think it's great that some parents can learn to better understand their babies' primitive languages. I will look into that (as soon as my next child decides to grace us with their presence!! - no impatience here.)