HELP!! Colic and the breast fed baby.

[Bambers]

My LO is 3 weeks old and appears to have colic even though she is soley breast fed. She has a lot of trapped bottom wind, loose stools, explosive nappies and has started crying for long periods after a feed. I do wind her for a good ten minutes with gentle back rubbing and gentle back patting. She does burp but it doesn't stop the crying.
I bottle fed my first a few years ago and he had colic too and I was determined not to put this one through it and would breast feed at any cost...I never realised that breast fed babies got it too.

I feel so upset and helpless that there is nothing I can do to help my LO when she is in distress. The only thing that calms her is going back on the boob and I can be sat breast feeding/pacifying for 2/3 hours then she nods off for an hour then wakes up again and the whole cycle starts again. So I am struggling to get any sleep and I spend a lot of time either crying or feeling sad or feeling guilty for failing her and not being able to take the pain/distress away.

Have any of you ladies had BF colicky babies and what did you find helpful to soothe bubs and how did you feel in yourselves?

Thanks in advance

Bams x x x

 

[Ruth 1980]

My goodness bambers I could've written this this myself word for word 2weeks ago!! My LO is now 5weeks, solely bf and colicky! I tried going off orange juice, coffee, nuts &seeds- no help. Tried infacol, no help. Colief (hand expressed into a syringe to mix it), not much help. The doctor thinks she may have an allergy to cows milk protein (coming through my milk from my own dairy intake) so we are waiting test results to come back. In the meantime I have just cut out dairy totally and started her on gripe water after feeds and maybe it's coincidental but she has been a little better the last 2days!! Not sure if this will be helpful, but I totally feel your pain. Especially being tearful cause you can't take away their pain and so frustrated with lack of sleep. At 3weeks my LO was managing to scream from 8pm thru til 6am!!!! (aside from when on the boob) Sending a cyber hug your way

 

[Kiddo]

I spoke to the hv about this last week. She said sucking often helps which is why they are only settled when on the boob. Gripe water helps a little for us but we've also found that he seems much more settled if we give him a bottle of ebm in the evening rather than him getting the milk straight from the tap

 

[curly123]

Our little boy was exactly the same - gripe water from 1 month seemed to make a big difference - infacol did not.

It does make you feel so low but it does get better!

We also daily rub his tummy gently, lay him on my knee on his tummy and rub his back - good for bum wind, also cycling his legs and holding legs up to his tummy then down again every time we change him - I've even made a song up about it and he seems to like it lol!

Also, perhaps your little one is having a growth spurt too? Apparently they can come at this time?

Lots of

 

[Lightworker]

My LO had trapped bottom wind, but I wouldn't have called it colic. We did loads of long warm baths to get things moving, plus loads of tummy massage, clockwise, following the flow of the intestine.

I also let her sleep on her tummy, on my chest, while I was awake. She was fine after a few weeks, and I put it down to her digestive system maturing. x

ETA, I would also recommend baby-wearing. My DH and I used to take it in turns to walk around with her, she loved pacing up and down the house. x

 

[jennijunni]

Poor baby!! It is tough having a colicky baby. I too had one with #1, no reason, just colicky. He did have a touch of reflux, but mostly he was just a colicky baby. It got better over time. I will suggest wearing your baby, sometimes the pressure from being in a sling, or in a wrap feels good on their tummies, and can help them to feel better. I hoe things get better for you!!!

Oh, another, totally off topic kind of kindergarten humor!! Sorry, I love that you say "bottom wind" so much nicer!!!! LOL!! Okay, me acting like a kindergartener over!!! LOL!

 

[austinsmom]

My LO is 3 weeks old and appears to have colic even though she is soley breast fed. She has a lot of trapped bottom wind, loose stools, explosive nappies and has started crying for long periods after a feed. I do wind her for a good ten minutes with gentle back rubbing and gentle back patting. She does burp but it doesn't stop the crying.
I bottle fed my first a few years ago and he had colic too and I was determined not to put this one through it and would breast feed at any cost...I never realised that breast fed babies got it too.

I feel so upset and helpless that there is nothing I can do to help my LO when she is in distress. The only thing that calms her is going back on the boob and I can be sat breast feeding/pacifying for 2/3 hours then she nods off for an hour then wakes up again and the whole cycle starts again. So I am struggling to get any sleep and I spend a lot of time either crying or feeling sad or feeling guilty for failing her and not being able to take the pain/distress away.

Have any of you ladies had BF colicky babies and what did you find helpful to soothe bubs and how did you feel in yourselves?

Thanks in advance

Bams x x x

do you have an oversupply? i do (it was bad when LO was a newborn)... it can cause all the symptoms you're talking about. and if it's a food intolerance, your LO's dr can take stool samples to detect trace amounts of blood (which would tell you it's something in your diet). hth

 

[Bambers]

Thank you all for replying...I feel that bit better knowing other mums around the world are going through the exact same thing and that I am not doing something dramatically wrong or being an incompetent mum. I have started expressing a little off the boob before feeding LO so she doesn't get the huge let down squirt or an imbalance of too much foremilk that I may be making. That has started to improve her nappies slightly...less explosive and her bottom wind isn't quite as loud. I have tried some Colief too and so far so good this morning but the crying and fretfulness doesn't usually start until early evening so I will have to see how things go, fingers crossed... infact I currently have everything crossed...colic is such a misery.

Thanks again ladies. x x x