UGH! Dealing with Colic?
I was soooo glad when my daughter got past the colic but that was quite an experience. 😢 Anyone else dealing with it now or in the past?
I can't remember where I heard it, or what made me try it, but the only thing that worked for us was the sound of a vacuum cleaner. I actually had to make a sound file recording of it and it quieted her right down. I heard later that it mimics the sound the baby was used to hearing in the womb, so it's rather fascinating when you think about it.
Well, there *was* a second thing that worked and I've heard others saying the same... a car ride, but who wants to take a nightly drive just to stop a baby from screaming?!
My daughter had terrible colic. She honesty screamed every single night for the first 8 months of her life. At one point we even took her to the doctor because it seemed like something was wrong. They thought it was acid reflux but they medication they gave her never seemed to help. They also suggested not letting her eat less than half an hour before bed. Truthfully it never seemed to make much of a difference either.
One thing that seemed to shorten the duration of the screaming was to sit and bounce on an exercise ball. If I swaddled her and cradled her in my arm and then sat and bounced on the ball, that seemed to quiet her the fastest.
To any parents experiencing colic, hang in there! It does eventually end, and it is very unusual for it to last more than a few weeks from what I've heard. Sleep was non-existent for us for a long time, but now my daughter is 12 months and she is consistently sleeping through the night. LOL, it's probably because she has 11 months of terrible sleep to make up for!
Very true, Cassidy73... that may be the reason!
I'm glad you were able to find something that worked for you, too. After I posted, I thought of another thing that worked for us most of the time when I wasn't playing the recorded vacuum cleaner... we'd sit with her long-wise on our knees and feet up on an ottoman and sway back and forth with her there... it calmed her right down. I chose soft music to play while we were doing that, but hubby used classic rock. No idea how THAT made her sleep, but it worked just as well, believe it or not!
My daughter was a preemie but I don't really know if that had anything to do with the colic or not... I guess it could have been a factor with an underdeveloped digestive system.
We followed "The happiest baby on the block' techniques and thus avoided colic! It's a lot of what you are saying, movement, noises etc. It's actually the 5 S's. Swaddle, side/stomach, Shhh (or noises like vacuum) swinging/swaying, and sucking.
If the colic isn't caused by stomach/gi issues these techniques can help relieve it almost every time!
I guess I'm not up to speed on the latest techniques... I've not even heard of "happiest baby on the block " until now. Then again, my mama's intuition already had me doing these things automatically, so maybe I was actually following the technique before it even had a name. 😀
I still think it's important to have a doctor's opinion, though, because it could *be* a tummy issue. Actually we ended up switching to a soy formula and it did help somewhat... not the whole way, but a huge improvement.
Glad I found this thread. Our baby girl is probably colic, I'm desperate. I have to try these tips, but I was also thinking of buying a colic swing, has anyone had any experience with them? I found good options here: https://oukkidoukki.fi/paras-koliikkikeinu/
Oh wow, I remember those nights all too well! The vacuum trick saved us too. White noise machines help as well! And yes, car rides… but gas is too expensive for that!