2 week old with Colic whenever awake..

[ShootingStar]

So it seems our little angel has now developed colic. She is a great sleeper at night, wakes for her feed and is back out but during the day when she is awake, she generally cries unless she is being rocked or walked to sleep. She also is pulling her legs up. You cant just sit with her awake either or she cries.. and she can rarely be awake without being held without crying. This has been happening since Saturday. Although when she is asleep during the day she is fine.

We have tried infants friend and doesnt seem to work that well. We started trying Braurs Colic Relief tonight. Shes asleep in my arms atm but just curious what else we can try. She is FF and is having Karicare Gold. Should i look at switching formulas? Is the colic formula any good? Her poos are quite runny but really smell.. (cant remember from my other kids what is normal?).. Does a poo every 1-2 days.. or is there something else out there i should try first. Im hanging for her to turn 1 month to try Infacol as that was a saviour for DD1.. but thats still 2 weeks away and i dont want to see my little darling in this much pain.

[onthefly]

I think it's pretty normal for them to want to be held all the time - some babies just don't want to be put down at all. If she's comfortable through the night it doesn' tseem like it's a digestion issue... Do you have a sling or some sort of carrier to make it easier for you?

[ShootingStar]

I do have a baby bjorn carrier but do the have to be able to hold their head up to use it?
Yeh, touch wood, during the night so far shes been fine, its just during the day whenever shes awake she cries and pulls her legs up (unless shes being fed or sometimes walked).
My other 2 were happy to be in their bouncers wake, but DD2 just cries.

[Roryrory]

A friend explained with my second that pulling legs up and down (as opposed to just up) can mean they are tired. Maybe she has tired cues that are harder to pick up on than your other babes? HTH

ETA Baby Bjorns are ok for newborns but ergos are better IMO....

[onthefly]

yeah. My DS was like that. Did not like to be on his own at all. DD is fine and I can leave her there to play. Some babies are like that.
Maybe consider getting another carrier or borrowing one. A hug-a-bub or another wrap-type carrier is great when they're little. Or a sling. Just makes things easier for now (they do grow out of it)

[MrsBexie]

sounds like my bubs!! She just wants to be held! If we put her down she screams her head off!! some babies just need the hugs...

I have a sleepy wrap and an Ergo, the ergo is better for when they are bigger and I LOVE the sleepy wrap! It holds her in close so she settles. Also if you can get a hold of Weleda Colic powder, it is awesome stuff!! I was using the brauer and she was still screaming so the weleda seems to calm her down!

[willow5]

DS3 used to pull his legs up and down whe he cried too, he was just cranky and got himself worked up and tense, he didn't have any digestive problems. He just wanted to be held and rocked.
Hope you sort it out soon

ETA Baby Bjorns are ok for newborns but ergos are better IMO....

I agree, better for newborns, older bubs and wearers

[ShootingStar]

Thanks ladies. Yeh gee i really should know these things 3rd baby and all hey but i just have no idea what is wrong. She does still cry and lift her legs when she is being held too.. just wish i knew what to do for her as its not helping my anxiety.. think i need to see my GP again and get that sorted too. So far today she has been alot more settled. Having been burping her more often during her bottle and been using the Brauers Colic Relief since last night and shes happily awake so far today.. even just sat on my lap for a while this morning watching tv with the kids.. that has never happened.. but otherwise is happy to be held but has to be held upright.

MrsBexie.. havent heard of the Weleda Colic powder.. where do you get it? just the chemist? might have to have a look for that one. Is it ok from birth?

[KimB]

When my DD2 had colic we laid her over our knees and then played the bongos on her back. This seemed to help bring up any extra wind she had. Also rubbing around her tailbone with some massage oil for a few minutes a couple of times a day helps to stimulate the bowel movements and helps to ease the colic as well. She also had silent reflux but in conjunction with the medication for reflux and doing these other things she was comfortable more often than not. Good luck

[ShootingStar]

Thanks Kim. I have been laying her on her tummy over my arm after her feed and it seems to be halping a bit, she seems to really like that position. Will try that tail bone technique! Are there any signs or silent relux? Other than crying? My DS was a real puker and DD1 had reflux.. where DD2 doesnt bring up her feed like DD1 did, i hear reflux runs in the family, so silent reflux might be something for me to look out for.

[KimB]

DD2 didn't puke at all but the acid was coming up and she was swallowing it down again and of course it was hurting her so she was just crying all the time. She was diagnosed by my excellent GP and put on meds and it really helped. She was on the meds for over 18 months though as it didn't go away until then. It probably wouldn't hurt to have Lexie checked out by your GP for silent reflux. My DD1 was the all time puker lol projectile puke after every feed

[black_rose]

Ds was similar, the colic stuff didn't work and one weekend we stayed home not in the car at all and he screamed the house down. Turns out the motion of the car calmed him down. Like kimb our gp diagnosed silent reflux, does she swallow and clear her throat a lot?

[ShootingStar]

Um.. not that i have noticed black rose.. but then i havent really looked for those signs. I did however google silent reflux and alot of the symptoms Lexie has. She has hiccups every 1-2 hours. She fusses when being fed.. cries and kicks her legs and comes off the bottle.. then will dive back on it to do the same.. i tried going up teats but it made no difference. She will cry after a feed for a while.. not every time but 2 out of 3 feed.. and will then take the remainder if she didnt drink it all, which is one of the signs supposibly as they do that to sooth the reflux... always wanting to be held etc.. so gee this has really got me wondering now. Im going to try and get to my GP tomorrow and see if she can diagnose it or not. With DD she was puking (like yours Kim.. projectile) so we could see she had the reflux and my GP told me just to try the AR formula.. would she do the same with silent reflux? If put on the medication, how long does it take to have effects?

Im so glad you suggested this Kim & black Rose.. my poor little thing.. hopefully at least if this is whats wrong we can get some answers soon.

[black_rose]

Hope you can get answers, ds is still on the medication but he is improving and should be off it around the time he is walking. The symptoms apparently go away when they can stay upright.

I can't answers about the formula as Ds was allergic to it, he vomited more!

[MrsBexie]

Sorry i didnt get back to you sooner... Weleda colic powder is from health food shops. Most big ones will have it.

My dd has silent reflux too an she has hiccups a lot, you can hear her gurgle and choke a bit then wake up screaming she is really unsettled all the time and hated tummy time! She is on zantac but thinking her dose needs to be increased cause she is much bigger than when she was first diagnosed.
They tried her on gaviscon infant first but it just consipated her so we went onto zantac.

Good luck sweets and def see your gp!

[Swoop]

My DD (18mo) has just been re-diagnosed with reflux. She was diagnosed with it as a small baby, but when the Zantac didn't work the dr assumed reflux wasn't the problem rather than trying something else. Now, after quite a few health problems she has been re-diagnosed, was put on losec and was a different child after 24 hours. So you know pretty quickly if the meds are working.

There is a fantastic book called Colic Resolved, I can't remember the author but I can look later, which explains that actually in most cases it is reflux rather than colic causing the issue. I got a copy from my local library and I would definitely recommend a read of it, it's very relevant to young babies.

I can also recommend seeing a chiro, they have fantastic results with reflux. Again, i've seen dramatic results in under 2 weeks. You just need to make sure you see one with a good reputation who specialises in children. If any of you are in Sydney let me know and I'm happy to pass on the name of ours.

I hope some of this helps, I'm so sad that I didn't discover any of this for my daughter when she was smaller and she's had to suffer all this time, so I really hope it can help some of you.