Your Colic Tips

Has your baby had colic? what you you do for your baby and you to survive. Let us know your tips and We'll publish the best on the website next week.

My son had really bad colic. We also noticed that we never got those yellow mustard poops, but yucky smelly green ones (which we were told by both midwife, plunket, doctor, and pediatrician that 'some babies just get). However, once we completely cut every from of dairy from my diet (I was breastfeeding) he was a LOT happier, and we actually got normal baby poo - got very good at reading the ingredients on all foods, as milk products are often used where you don't expect it.

My little girl had really bad colic from bang on five weeks of age, we tried everything. Weleda Colic Powder definitely seemed to help along with alot of love and many days just spent on the couch with her cuddled up on me. I used to sit in our recliner with her lying up me resting her head on my shoulder. I wondered if we would ever have a happy baby but she eventually grew out of it and we now have the happiest little girl who just lights up the whole room. You've just got to be positive and stick in there, things will get better

-gentle massage waterfall hands alternating down the midline of the tummy and then circular motions clockwise around the tummy 2x a day when baby is settled (first wake and early afternoon worked well for me)
-afternoon bath with me (added a few drops of camomile to a cup of milk and put that in the bath)
-weleda colic powder (free from synthetic preservatives) in a teaspoon of breastmilk
-gentle foot pressure when baby is crying to ground and get them back into themselves
-carrying baby in a sling and continuing about daily activities so they can watch and be a part of life
-singing to them!
-baby acupuncture and cranial osteo treatments
-practicing deep breathing myself and recognising this shall pass and all baby needs is to be held and loved through their expression

My son had terrible colic and silent reflux, from about 2 weeks our nightmare started. He screamed ALL day every day until around 10 months when he started walking, he slowly got better from there on. He would barely sleep, we were lucky if we got 20 mins out of him. We spent countless amounts of money on natural remedies, special diets (I was breastfeeding), doctors, specialist pediatricians, chiropractors, osteopaths, acupuncture, different slings to carry him etc. Every time we heard something different we would try it in the hope that we would have our "miracle reprieve" only to find things didn't help, or if they did would only help very marginally. He ended up on omeprazole until around 6 months, which helped very slightly. We were constantly told he is a "high needs" baby and that it will eventually pass. At 6 months he was diagnosed with lip and tongue tie which would have made things so much harder for him. He is now 20 months and much, much better, although still a very spirited boy. We survived....my biggest advice is to get help, if people offer help take it, talk to plunket, your midwife or a counsellor, talk to anyone really about what you are going through. I wasn't so lucky to have family around, they all lived too far away to help when I needed it, all our friends worked full time, and my husband worked full time. I pretty much did it all myself and it was so hard, I cried every day and I felt so alone. There are free services out there who help with housework, looking after bubs and helping with meals, this saved my sanity so many times. Also keep calm in front of bubs, getting worked up and crying only makes them worse because they sense it, people would say they didn't understand how I stayed so calm, but I had to.

Things you can try:
-keep bubs upright at all times, also add phone books under top of cot/bassinett (keeps baby slightly elevated)
-burp for at least 10mins after feeds
-cycle their legs to help bring up wind, or firmly rub tummy in clockwise direction
-carry around in sling
-Colic Calm, Colic Powder, KiwiHerb remedies, Infacol, Omeprazole (only with doctors permission)
-check for lip and tongue ties
-walk or run a lot, often the movement will help to calm them
-baths, sometimes I bathed my son up to 4 times a day
-massages (although my son didnt like these, even though I took a baby massage class!)
-lots of tummy time, or back time, reflux/colic babies tend to prefer one or the other (my son preferred tummy time, even to this day he still hates being on his back and will scream, although I think now its more to do with remembering the pain).

Edited by Nardia107895 - 20 August 2014 at 3:20pm

My name is Dillan and I am a marketer for a large pharmaceutical company. I work mainly as a content manager with various online services that help in health assessment paper nursing. And I can say that great professionals with vast experience work there.