The hardest time of my life (Coping with Colic Babies)

Member Name: xjenniex2008

Product:	Coping with Colic Babies
Date:	20/11/08 (28 review reads)
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Disadvantages: All of it

Our little girl started with Colic, I would say from 1 week old. As soon as she was born her eyes were rolling and she was blowing bubbles...both signs of wind.Our first night at home (2 days old) she was screaming and we didn't know why.

By the end of her first week she was so unsetteled and so began Colic. We had nights of no sleep, I would be on the phone to my mum at 6.30 in the morning whilst hubby was driving her down the motorway and I was asking my mum if she will watch her so I can get some sleep. My mum was a godsend from this time.

She would cry from 4pm until 11.30pm nearly everynight, on the other nights it would go on all night. She would just cry and cry and at the beginning there was nothing we could do to help her. I didn't know it was colic until I started reading up on it. She would just be kicking her legs upto her tummy and back out again, arching her back. I can honestly say it was the hardest time of my life, seeing your baby so upset and you don't know what to do to help her.

When I eventually figured out it was colic I called my aunty who's little boy had also really suffered. She brought me her Baby Bjorn carrier as Alice just wanted to be upright on my chest all the time. This way she could be like that and i could get stuff done. She also reccomended Colief drops for her bottle. The next day we went out to buy them, £10 for a teeny tiny bottle but we were prepared to pay anything if it made her better and we all got some sleep. Straight away they worked! I was so relieved, then 4 days later they just stopped! This was the night of no sleep and sending her off to her grandparents at 6.30 in the morning. Nothing worked, infacol, colief and I couldnt get gripe water down her. I took her to the Dr and he thought the colic had brought on reflux which was why she was so bad.

Eventually we worked out a routine with her colic, we would bath her, give her a massage rub her tummy and cycle her legs, I put some gripe water in some cooled boiled water in a bottle and we would rock her "upside down" in our arms - her head facing down in the crook of our elbows. We also used a vibrating bouncer, a swing, the pram and when it got too much we took her for a drive in the car. All this worked but it was hard work. In the end i got to my wits end and took her to a cranial osteopath. The first session was very interesting, Alice got stuck in labour and her head was very bruised afterwards. The osteopath told me her skull was still a bit out on the left handside (which it is I can feel it, its not noticeable but it is to me) and babies like to suck to remould their skulls after their birth. She reccomended I use a cherry soother (one of the big round ones) for her as they are better. She cried all the way through the first session but when we got home she slept for hours. The next few days I could see a slight improvement. She had her second appointment the week after, she was very calm and afterwards again slept for a while. She improved so much, I never took her to another appointment. She was 6 weeks old when we started it, by 9 weeks she was loads better and was sleeping through the night (she had slept through the night before this but only from 11pm) by 12 weeks she was in her own room sleeping 7-7.

I will be more prepared with my next baby and I know what to expect. But figuring out what was wrong really ruined my first few weeks with my new baby.

My top tips for dealing with it are:

Try infacol first, this just made my baby constipated but I know it works for a lot of them.

I changed my daughters milk to Cow and Gate comfort, to help with the reflux as she was very sickly but as it is easy digest it shouldn't give them bad wind.

A dummy really helps a colicky baby.

Colief does help some people, but it is expensive.

Try different bottles, we started off with Avent bottles, these were no good so I tried Dr Browns which were specifically made for colic. These were my biggest waste of money. In the end I tried a Tommee Tippee Closer to nature bottle that I had in my cupboard all along and this worked.

Gripe water is amazing stuff when you can get it down them. Putting it in some water in a bottle is a good solution.

Baths and baby massage. I couldn't get on my baby massage course but when my Health Visitor came round and I told her how bad it was she asked her colleague to come to my house to show me the technique. It helped Alice's colic and it was a lovely bonding time for us both. A bath warmer than it should be (obviously not TOO hot you dont want to scald your baby) was good for Alice she loved it and I guess it helped her tummy.

If it gets too much, speak to people. If you are ever loosing your temper, put your baby down in their cot - it wont do them any harm. And go and spend 5 minutes in another room have a cry if it helps. If you need to speak to someone try Cry-sis http://www.cry-sis.org.uk/ Or if you are lucky enough (like I was) to have a mum who is very understanding phone them. Mine had lots of 1am phonecalls of me crying.

And the biggest thing to remember - It does end! It might not be that magical 3 month mark but eventually it will go and when it does you feel proud of yourself for getting through it.

Summary: A horrible thing for mummys and babies