what constitutes colic?

i looked it up and all i could find were a conglomeration of a million different reasons a baby could cry

my son cries alot...ALOT. its getting a lil better but i often cant put him down or have to do dishes with the ergo on. he sleeps well...but not on his back. he only sleeps well on his belly. sometimes i can change a diaper without him crying...and yesterday was the longest he's been on the play mat before crying.

where is the line between normal NB crying/ behavior and colic?

Colic is the rule of 3. 3 hours a day at least 3 days a week and starts at 3 weeks of age.

You may want to call your pediatrician. I thought my DD was colic but it turned out to be silent reflux and milk protein allergy.

Are you BF or FF?

Colic is also described as inconsolable crying. I know people will say to try the 5 S's but they didn't do sh*t for DD

Message edited 9/2/2011 4:58:31 PM.

Re: what constitutes colic?

is that 3 hours total? or continuous?

Re: what constitutes colic?

check out the happiest baby on the block. they made it clear. i have the book....you can have it if you want it...i'm in wantagh. my dd1 had horrible colic (and some reflux, but colic still). cried every waking minute for weeks.

It does get better. DD is 11 weeks old. When we first came home, she would cry at 1am EVERYDAY for about 2 hours. The only way she stopped crying was being held vertically on my chest or DH's chest which equals being on her stomach. It got better around the 3 weeks mark and it went away by the time she's a month old. I started off breast feeding and it turns out that she had acid reflux going on. My breast milk will come out of her mouth all curdled from day one. I didn't know what it was until I told my dr. My dr. first said she is just colic and then around 6 weeks, he finally said that she has acid reflux by the description of her symptoms. I have to say though, swaddling her does help!

Message edited 9/2/2011 8:28:03 PM.

Re: what constitutes colic?

My dd had colic, horrible colic that started around 5 weeks. She had what they call witching hours, so around 4pm she would start in with uncontrollable screaming and would usually go like that until midnight. The screaming was horrible, her face would go bright red. The first night it happened I took her to the ER because I thought something was majorly wrong, and both peds who saw her said its textbook colic. This is going to sound nuts but the vacuum helped. I would run it for hours, until she would calm herself down. Also my ped showed me how to shhhh her, so what I would do would be to hold her upright on my shoulder and rock and just keep saying shhh shh until the screaming would subside. Other tips, if bottle fed make sure the baby is propped to a 90 degree angel, tummy time and massaging the gas out, I also found letting her sleep in the swing helped a bit. By the time she was 4 month she started to get better.

Re: what constitutes colic?

the 5 s's worked for us for the first month. and then suddenly it just stopped working. now if we try to swaddle him he just wiggles and cries until he can get an arm out. he screams bloody murder. the shushing does help but doesn't eliminate the problem...it only gets the decibel level down a notch or two. or quiets him for a moment and then the screaming is back. alot of times he screams at the top of his lungs even with the paci in his mouth. the only thing that truly gets him to stop is me holding him pressed against my chest...but I can't get ANYTHING done that way. he does sleep well though if i put him on his stomach. I just wish i knew how to make him a happier baby in his waking hours.

I'm hoping he's reaching a turning point bc yesterday and today he's been a bit more calm...but something has got to give bc soon I have to go back to work...even though it will only be PT like 10-15 hours a week...hubby doesn't have a quarter of the patience I have for DS and his crying fits. I'm afraid that on my first day back to work DH will call me up and tell me I have to quit! (he's already told me i can't go back to work bc I have to watch the baby and i had to convince him we can't afford for me not to work at all...even if all my paycheck does is buy food for the week or pay my car payment...at least its one less thing.

Re: what constitutes colic?

Re: what constitutes colic?

send me a FM if you want to come by to get it! colic sucks!

Re: what constitutes colic?

My second and third babies had colic. Eliza would cry all day it seemed. TJ cried every night from 5-10.

Colic or not, it sucks. But I WILL say this: it seems the worse the NB, the sweeter the infant/toddler. Both Eliza and TJ have become the most laid back easiest kids once the colic subsides. Both were out of it by 10 weeks.

I found that probiotics were quite helpful for TJ. I really think he would have cried all day every day had we not started on them.

Message edited 9/3/2011 10:59:55 AM.

Re: what constitutes colic?

First of all, hang in there! It is so hard when the crying just never seems to stop.

I agree that a probiotic can be really helpful. I find my girl is -much- gassier (toooot!) and writhes a bit when she doesn't take it for a few days because we have run out. About a week after she started on it, I noticed the improvement. Our pediatrician says that basically all babies have some reflux/GI issues.

We use the BioGaia drops. They just reformulated them so you don't need to keep them refrigerated anymore. They are not the cheapest things in the world (a bottle is 29.99 and lasts about a month) but I really -do- notice a difference and it is a small price to pay for a happy, comfortable baby. Not all pharmacies stock it but it isn't that hard to find (and one that I know of in Mineola also delivers).

Our pediatrician also recommends giving tiny little doses of Maalox to soothe their innards when the baby seems irritable/uncomfortable. You can FM me for the dose she recommends if you want to run it by your doctor.

Good luck!

ETA: We watched the "Happiest Baby" on DVD. The Nassau Country library system had several copies floating around. It was much faster than reading the book - and I am an English professor, but with a new baby...

Message edited 9/3/2011 12:12:48 PM.