do colic prevention/remedies really work?

[AnnieW625]

Colic Calm? Little Tummy's Gripe Water? Dr. Brown's bottles? Right now we have only tried Mylecon and some days it works better than others.

Here is a post I just posted in the kid food forum:
DD2 has some colic in the late afternoon/early evening. DD2 gets one bottle of breast milk per day at the 10 pm or so feeding (so no colic then). Right now I am just using the Medela wide nipple 5 oz bottle as that what fits w/my rented Medela Lactina pump, but the last couple of nights she has spit up milk everywhere on DH andI think DH is a little concearned. DD2 is a HUGE spitter upper (even when bfing) so I am wondering if the smaller nipple from the Dr. Brown's bottles will work better. Also I plan to start weaning DD2 at 3 mos old so if she is still colicky then I assume the Dr. Browns bottles will be helpful then too.

FWIW we used Avent w/DD1 and had no issues with those bottles, but DD1 had no colic and very few spit up issues.

[Tondi G]

we had good luck with Gripe Water ... we bought the Wellements Organic. It works great for hiccups too!

http://www.colichelp.com/shop/wellementsgripewater.html

There has been a lot of talk about probiotics helping with colic. You might consider a daily dose of it too. Udo's Choice has an infant one, as does Jarrow. Natren as well. I'd pop into a whole foods and grab some.

http://www.amazon.com/Udos-Choice-In.../dp/B0010EG6QC

Hope this is helpful. Having a colicky baby is rough.... btdt with DS1! Hope you find something to ease your little ones trouble. Good Luck

[ThreeofUs]

Colic is often related to reflux, as well as to sensitivities to milk and other proteins in your milk. Just throwing this out there b/c we had many of the same issues (as have others on this board) and it turned out to be this. (I had to eliminate acidic foods, like tomatoes, and *sniff* chocolate, besides cow's milk.... But it stopped the throwing up flat, and DS2 had no other symptoms than those you describe.)

Check out:
http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns...nsitivity.html

[ourbabygirl]

Awww... hugs to you! DD had colic up until about 4 months (we were hoping it would go away by 3 months, as most people/ books say it will), and it was quite a trip! She was fussy basically every evening from about 4-10, but luckily slept fine overnight (didn't cry like crazy or anything when she woke up to be fed, etc.). It was really stressful, especially since she didn't like the car, so when a lot of people say to take them for a car ride to calm them down (or run the dishwasher/ washing machine/ vacuum cleaner/ whatever), it didn't work! We did order two bottles of Colic Calm- I think that's what it's called; we still have them in a cabinet- and it seemed to work at first, but maybe it was more a placebo effect. We were willing to try anything, though. One disadvantage is that it made her poop greenish-black- I think there's carbon or something in it. So that was interesting. I tried a couple days of diet change but didn't really notice a difference and wasn't really willing to give up much permanently. Luckily DD didn't have reflux or anything (that I know of); she was just fussy and cried a lot, which was stressful enough... there were times we would just put her up in her crib and let her go... I would go out on the deck and shut the door, and come back in 10 minutes later (or whatever) and she'd still be crying. So yeah, stressful experience for our first kid.
What *kind of* helped is the 5 S's that Dr. Harvey Karp mentions in "The Happiest Baby on the Block." We did the swaddling (for many, many months, actually, because she needed it to fall asleep), sucking (pacifier), and shhhhhing- whether it was by doing it right next to her ear, or what I did was hold her next to our microwave vent fan, swaddled up tight, and 'swoop her' by it. That and running water from the kitchen faucet. Those were the only things that I can remember kind of helped.

GOOD LUCK and I hope you find a solution! I hope you also have help through it; my DH was great and was really right there with me helping me through, so I hope you have the same support!

[AnnieW625]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I did take DD into the dr. at 6 days old to rule out reflux because she was throwing up a lot. The NP said that it wasn't most likely reflux at that stage because she was gaining weight well. It still seems like she is gaining weight too as she feels heavier and her face is starting to look fuller. She goes to the dr. on Wednesday so we will definitely be asking more questions.

We've done the 5s already and walking, swaddling, fan/white noise, and keeping her close seem to work. DD likes sucking on her hands more than a paci although we have tried the paci, but she usually just spits it out.

ETA: I did pick up some Dr. Brown's 4 oz bottles so we are going to try those tonight. Also stopped by a local health food store and they didn't have the products recommended above. I emailed Well Elements for a store locator and hope that Whole Foods is on the list.

[Indianamom2]

My first had horrible colic and I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.

However, I now think she had two other issues going on that I didn't recognize for what they were. I am almost 100% positive that she had a milk protein sensitivity, which I didn't even know anything about. I figured it out with Ds#2 by eliminating all dairy from my diet...and he went from what appeared to be colicky to easy baby almost instantly.

I also believe that my first had silent reflux. She almost never spit up (I could probably count the times on one hand), but her sleep was horrid. She had to sleep propped up (shhhh...in her Boppy pillow!) for the first 6 months. She gained weight like a champ, though because she ate almost non-stop. In fact, it was often the only thing that would calm her (temporarily) down. I didn't realize that she was showing some pretty classic signs of silent reflux. Sometimes they eat constantly, spit up rarely and gain a lot of weight quickly because eating soothes the reflux.

I would also be surprised if your little one didn't have a bit of reflux. The pedi GI that we saw said that all babies have it, to one degree or another. Hers may not be severe, however.

I think, as much as I know it stinks, I would try to eliminate dairy from my diet for a week or so and see if that makes any difference.

What symptoms, besides the spitting up, does your daughter have that make you think colic, if you don't mind me asking?

[Tondi G]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I did take DD into the dr. at 6 days old to rule out reflux because she was throwing up a lot. The NP said that it wasn't most likely reflux at that stage because she was gaining weight well. It still seems like she is gaining weight too as she feels heavier and her face is starting to look fuller. She goes to the dr. on Wednesday so we will definitely be asking more questions.

We've done the 5s already and walking, swaddling, fan/white noise, and keeping her close seem to work. DD likes sucking on her hands more than a paci although we have tried the paci, but she usually just spits it out.

ETA: I did pick up some Dr. Brown's 4 oz bottles so we are going to try those tonight. Also stopped by a local health food store and they didn't have the products recommended above. I emailed Well Elements for a store locator and hope that Whole Foods is on the list.

we got our Wellements at Whole Foods. This website shows a ton of stores on the right hand side of the page

http://www.mdlabs.com/gripewater.asp

[bubbaray]

My dr says that the only thing proven to work for colic is probiotics.

[heatherandlouis]

We have used Little Tummy's Gripe Water and it works great for gas. My son is on hypoallergenic formula but still has horrible gas and it helps very much.

[carolinamama]

DS1 was a colicky baby to the nth degree. We tried Zantac, Gripe Water, Mylicon and all that I could think of. What actually worked the best was using the tips from Happiest Baby on the Block. DS1 spent lots of time swaddled and being bounced in our arms. He was bf so we didn't use alot of bottles until I went back to work so I'm not sure about that. Hope it gets better soon.