Did/ Does anyone else's baby get colic/ evening fretting??

Forum for those who have undergone successful treatment, and wish to share their experiences of parenthood.
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caz1
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Did/ Does anyone else's baby get colic/ evening fretting??

Post by caz1 »

HI ladies- havent posted in while - hope you are all well. I have an 8 week old little girl now- CANNOT believe it!! Its wonderful - but hard too!!

Anyway - wanted to ask you all - can you tell me when you started to get into a good routine in the evenings and at night. WE are doing pretty well during the day in terms of regular feeds/ sleeps- but by the evning its all gone to pot. She gets colic (I think?/) and screams every evening betwee 8 and 10 (ish) - it then takes an age to get her settled again. She usually is asleep by 11/12 and might wake once before 7am - so I don't mind that too much - but I'd love to get a smoother evening!!

I keep thinking that EVERYONE elses baby is in bed asleep after a 7pm feed and just gets calmly woken up at 10pm for a night feed......reassure me that not everyone is that sorted!!!!!!

Any tips for evening fretting /colic and any idea of when things settled down at night for you would be much appreciated!!

Many mnay thanks- as always!!
Cazxx
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ogr1
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Post by ogr1 »

colic is awful..

Treatment for colic
There is no single medicine or proven cure for colic, but there are several measures that may help. Different babies are comforted by different measures, and parents usually need to try various methods to see what works.

Parents who bottle-feed their babies may want to try a different formula. For parents who breastfeed, it's a good idea to continue this because weaning the baby from breast milk may make the colic worse.

Some women find that certain foods in their diet seem to make colic worse and they may find that cutting these foods out helps. These might include cruciferous vegetables (eg cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts and parsnip), beans, onions, garlic, apricots, melon, spicy foods, caffeine and alcohol. By reintroducing foods gradually, women may be able to identify which food, if any, is causing the problem.

If there is a family history of milk sugar (lactose) intolerance, breastfeeding mothers could try eliminating cows milk from their diet. Sometimes babies are not able to digest lactose well - this improves as they get older.

Some parents who bottle-feed their baby try changing over to soya-based formula, but there is no evidence that this is effective at reducing colic.

If the baby seems to have a lot of wind, make sure he or she is burped frequently. Babies who are bottle-fed may swallow air from the bottle: try feeding the baby in a different position, or using a bottle and teat designed to reduce the amount of air the baby swallows during a feed. These include curved bottles, bottles with a collapsible bag inside or bottles with a vent.

To soothe babies with colic, the following techniques may be helpful:

carry the baby in a front sling or back pack
wrap him or her snugly in a blanket (this is called swaddling)
keep the baby moving in a baby swing
place him or her near continuous noise or vibrations from household appliances like the dishwasher, vacuum cleaner or washer-dryer
take him or her for a car ride or a walk outside
give him or her a dummy to suck on
give him or her tummy or back rubs
take a shower together - the warm water may be comforting
Care for the parent or carer
Having a colicky baby can be very stressful, frustrating and challenging for any parent, particularly if it is the first child. Babies may pick up on anxiety around them, and this may make colic worse.

It's important for the parents or carer to have time to themselves. Parents who feel overwhelmed should take a break. Ask a partner or friend to take over for a while, even for an hour or two.

Further information
National Childbirth Trust
http://www.nctpregnancyandbabycare.com

i hope this helps..
good luck and know that its not you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
we werent blessed with our babies to raise here but we our blessed with our grandaughter
and all of our many adopted and foster children that touch our lives
and i am glad to add that our 6th grandchild will be born this spring!!!!
DebraP
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Post by DebraP »

Caz, I feel for you. It will be a rare mum who says she's not experienced this. Please don't think you're alone in evening trauma, it's very normal.

Not sure if Becky's info covered trying to not over-stimulate during the day? Too many daytime visitors can build up and up until the evening when all hell lets loose.

We had this until I got Maya onto a fixed routine at 8-10 weeks (which to some degree she's still on, nearly 2 years later). I followed the Gina Ford suggestions to the letter and put her down at 7pm having not let her sleep after 4pm or so to make sure she was tired. I then woke her at 10.30pm for a feed. This stunned my non-routine friends but it worked for us. I know you said you didn't want to hear about babies like this but it was 100% down to Ms. Ford's little blue book. At 10s0 she would feed, burp (which took longer sometimes than the feed), go back to sleep and if we were lucky, would sleep through. She didn't do this before I started to follow the routine more strictly.

You're definitely not alone, it does pass. I know people say this and it doesn't help at the time but virtually all frustrating episodes are just that, episodes, and whether its evening screaming, refusing to like sweet potato or pulling out plugs or being obsessed with buttons and remote controls/mobiles, they do grow out of each phase - and slip neatly into the next.....but that's another story!

Definitely take a break from the screaming if your home allows. Listening to them is SO stressful and made me feel like I was not doing my job as a mummy properly. Getting onto a fixed routine at night did help - plus gave us back our evenings for dinner, talking, baths etc. instead of being held hostage by a tiny terrorist :)

hugs and good luck,
Debra.
gem
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Location: barnsley south yorkshire

Post by gem »

Hi caz its great to hear from you
i havent posted in ages i post more on ff.
sorry to hear about your evening thankfully thomas asnt suffered from this yet,but i've heard the dr brown bottles are really good for colic you get them from mothercare i've got two as i've started weaning thomas off breast and on to bottle.
we are'nt into a rountine so dont worry about it,thomas wakes up between 1-3am and 6-7am but hopefully he will go longer when hes on the formula all the time.dont know where the time is going thomas is 6weeks and 3 days he weighs 13lb 1oz!!!
i will try and catch up with everyone soon
love gemmaxxx
Zed2003
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Location: scotland

Post by Zed2003 »

Don't worry, you are not alone!!!! Sam was the same - a nightmare from around 9-11pm and the only way he would go to sleep was lying in Steve's jumper kangaroo style - we called it 'daddy love' time. LOL :lol:

We gave Sam Infacol, but I have to say I'm doubful it did that much good - although when we gave it to him NOT immediately before he went down, it seemed to work better.

If it's any consolation, she will grow out of it - just make sure you take a break and don't feel it's any reflection on you - IT'S NOT.

Hope things get better soon
Zoe x
1st IVF - Easter 2002 - neg
2nd IVF - Summer 2002 - pos, but M/C 8 wks
3rd IVF Summer 2003 - pos with beautiful baby boy
April 2006 - miracles happen - positive naturally day after receiving IVF letter to start again! Another beautiful boy
caz1
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Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2003 8:02 am
Location: uk

Post by caz1 »

thanks so much all! Its really sweet of you to reply - I feel alot better knowing its not just me!
Shes had a couple of good evening recently - And I'm tryong to keep her awake more in late afternoon - I think that helps. Still rubbish at leaving her to cry though!!

Thanks all!
Cx

ps - have found that gripe water helps a bit if anyones interested in other "cures"!! Not sure Infacol helps at all really but I use that too!!
SallyP
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Location: Cheshire

Post by SallyP »

Hi Caz,

I'd definitely recommend the Dr Brown bottles.

Plus - baby massage is supposed to be good. Especially if you very gently massage the tummy in a clockwise direction (working from the centre outwards with 2/3 fingers - use olive oil which is better for small babies as it's really pure and not full of chemicals like Johnson's rubbish).

Your health centre may run classes, or your helath visitor might be able to help with massage technique.

Also, if you had a traumatic birth or CS, your baby might have had some musculoskeletal trauma - my local chiropracter does cranial osteopathyand treats babies for free - might be worth finding out if there's any in your area.

Hope this helps - love Sally xxx
Me - severe endo, DH - poor sperm. First IVF ICSI Nov 02 neg. Second IVF/ICSI May 03 Positive.
Miracle baby Jay born on 27th January 04
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