My 5 Weeks Old Baby Boy Is Colicky

My son, when he was little, had gas problems. What I always did was lay him belly down on a pillow or across my belly and pat and rub his back. Walmart has a formula that is for gasiness that is just as good as enfamil and is cheaper. I did still use the mylicon drops.

My son screamed for 3.5 months straight. I was breastfeeding, mylacon didn't work, neither did most gripe waters. We were on the verge of perscriptions when I found Colic Ease Gripe Water. It worked the very first time I gave it, and my son loves it. To this day, if he has an upset tummy, it works...he is now over 2. This gripe water works..you can find it online or at some health food stores.

I am so sorry to hear about your son. I have a friend who went through the same thing. I know this probably sounds completely crazy but have you researched any on goat's milk? It is the closest to mother's milk, even closer than cow's milk. Ask around and see if you can find somewhere to buy it raw (not pasteurized). If you are serious about trying it and can't find a contact, email me. It is illegal in GA to buy unpasteurized goat's milk for human consumption. However, my friend gave it to her daughter and she is perfectly fine now. She had an immediate improvement and was a totally different baby. I know SEVERAL people who drink it. Email me if you have any more questions. Best of luck.
S.

Alternative.....I'm all about herbal remedies instead of medicating the child when it can be easily fixed. I'm assuming that you aren't breastfeeding (if you are, lay off the cow's milk...biggest culprit with colicky babies). A lot of babies, just can't handle milk derived from a cow, it taxes their system way too much.

I'd take him to a chiropractor. Make sure that they do babies. Most of the time, this helps out a LOT! When I brought my last baby home, I called our chiropractor and he came over and adjusted her. The oncall pediatrician was doing something to her and she heard her 'pop' and mentioned it. Well, hello doc....if you try to bend her the way you did, of course. Anyway, the chiropractor got her back aligned in just a minute.

You and baby (which is painful) don't have to live with colicky babies and you can actually fix the problem instead of 'masking' them with medication.

Also, there is something called Kid-E-Col that you can use to help aid in this. I buy it online, but you can also go and get a different brand from a local health food store. www.worldhealthdepot.com is where I would order the Kid-E-Col from. But to get something faster, you can go to a wonderful, wonderful, health food store and get some help from them at "Good Nutrition". There is one off of Beaver Ruin and one off of McGinnis Ferry. Good luck! I hope baby feels better soon! That can be quite painful!

Chiropractors are great for colic babies! Any babies at that! You may want to try an organic formula. When I had to substitute for my breast milk, I used Horizon oranic infant formula and would also sub. with goats milk. Someone else suggested that and its not crazy! It truly is the next best compared to mom's milk, however you shouldn't use it by itself because it does lack a few elements. You can also use the powdered form of the goats milk if you cant get it raw. I used the powder and it worked great. The Horizon formula was also excellent. I did have to order it but it was worth it. Best of luck!

My kids both had reflux issues so if you are not able to "fix" the problem using home rememdies please take him to the dr and have him looked at for reflux.

I would try probiotics in his milk. Also, a warm hot water bottle on his tummy could help.
I took my two to the chiropractor too.

In addition to trying to calm his tummy, try other soothing techniques....such as a good tight swaddle (even if he fights it. It may take a few minutes for him to calm after he has been fussing a long time). Also a sound machine with white noise in his room or where ever he is fussing. Sometimes I would use a vacuum cleaner outside their rooms. The white noise in combination with the swaddle should help him calm.

You poor thing--I know what it's like and will never forget the constant, inconsolable crying, the endless lack of sleep etc. It WILL get better--I promise! We felt like it created a really tight bond with our daughter, almost like war comrades who've been in the trenches together:) Look into the possibility of milk allergies or reflux first. However, colic hasn't been figured out yet, so sometimes you can't fix it--you just have to wait it out until it resolves itself. What helped us was The Happiest Baby On The Block book--he advocates a 4th trimester for babies with problems transitioning from womb to world (aka colic). He says to recreate the womb with the 5 S's: Swaddle, Shush (white noise--we used the vacuum!), Suck (pacifier), Swing, Side (sleeping on side--I know it's a no-no, but we did it and it helped) The book explains it all--it saved our lives and our sanity. Good luck--this too shall pass.

Babies magic tea was our lifesaver to settle our colicky newborn.

If you are breast-feeding in addition to formula, it could be something you are ingesting. You may try switching to a Soy based formula. We had a similar issue with our little one and between switching to SOY and the gripe juice it solved the issue. A nurse friend also suggested brewing catnip tea and mixing that with his formula.

Hi P.. GO TO THE DCT and tell them you want prevacid. My baby started acting the same way, and they told me it was colick,except she was acting that way 24/7. I went back 4 times and they kept telling me its just colick, deal with it. Finally I said look something is wrong, my baby can't poop without being in pain, her tummy is hurting her. FINALLY they gave us prevacid and she's been a totally different baby. Save yourself the months of pain, tell your dct you wanna try it. Good luck

Your son sounds just like all three of my kids. They were all allergic to milk. None of their doctors every even mentioned that milk allergies could be the problem. Two of them that I was breast feeding I had to cut every single product out of my diet that had even the slightest bit of milk in it. You would be surprised how many products do once you start looking. For my third child who didn't want to breastfeed, we used soy formula. At about age three all of them were able to tollerate milk products. A friend of mine recently sent me an email saying that her new grandbaby was having the same problem and the doctors were going to put this tiny baby on loads of medicines. I suggested that her daughter try cutting the milk products from her diet first to see if that would take care of the problem before subjecting the child to all the medicine. It was worth a try. IT WORKED! Try it, it can't hurt.

My daughter took the same formula. she still doesn't drink milk till this day. (she is 2 now)

The only thing that tended to soothe my daughter was warm bathes. I would also use heated washclothes and water bottles on her stomach at night.

The only other thing I can say is...this to shall pass. He will out grow it with time. Hang in there!

P.,

You may want to consider pumping milk from your breasts for him. Hydrolysate formulas (Nutramigen, Alimentum, Pregenstimil, etc.) are known for causing problems. There is even the side effect of some babies going into anaphylactic shock from these formulas. Soy formulas aren't much better. If you absolutely can't give him your breast milk, you may want to see if you can get some from a breast milk bank (ask your pediatrician). OR as a very last choice, choose another formula. Did you try a formula without iron? Iron in formulas is almost not digestible anyway; it only causes problems.

If you have switched to breast milk and still have this issue (which is very rare with breast milk), post again. I have some other ideas.

D. S (Certified Lactation Counselor)

The hard as a rock part really concerns me. Has your pediatrician examined him specifically for this issue? I would definitely do that.

My daughter had colic for months when she was a baby. One of the things she used to find very soothing were car rides. Also, try lying her across your lap, tummy side down, and gently bounce her. (The alternating pressure on the tummy can ease gas pains.)

Hi P.,

My daughter was colicky too however I didn't learn these things until after she suffered miserably. Mylicon will neutralize the acid but will cause a rebound effect and make it worse the next time (The tummy is supposed to be acidic in order to digest food, so if you neutralize it it will work overtime to replace the acid).

I know of a prebiotic/probiotic to add to the formula and that has worked for several friends of mine. It's called Florify. It's from an online company that someone has to refer you to but I can tell you how if you are interested. I trust this company because, from personal experience, it has lived up to everything it has ever said.

If you change formulas, DO NOT use soy. There is too much estrogen for a baby, especially a baby boy. Rice or Goat milk formula would be best but even an organic cow's milk formula would be better.

Hope I helped. God bless!

M.

try giving him Fennel Seed Tea, boil water and about 1 tsp of Fennel Seed to make a really weak tea, helped my daughter out, also Soy can be constipating as well, check the gripe water to make sure it doesn't have soy in it. Also with my son I did the Hollistic therapy with a chiropractor, and it was well worth the money I spent! he benefited greatly just from going for a month! something to try, I was informed babies have problems sometimes coming through the birth canal or just in general where the spine can get mis-aligned and cause problems like yours! good luck!

My daughter was very colicky when she was a baby, and we had to put her on a low iron formula. The colic stopped within 24 hours. It sounds like your baby is constipated if his tummy is hard as a rock, and too much iron causes that in some people. About the only place the baby will be getting iron is the formula, so I would start with a low iron formula. What in the world is "gripe water"? I thought it was a type of "grape water" but then I saw it repeated...just curious! Good luck and Thanks!