soothing a colicky baby? Help!!

**Mamaw** · 11-30-2005, 04:31 PM

My new dgd has colic. Anyone have any suggestions on ways to soothe her? Any natural or homemade remedys that you have ever used that helped? Any hints?

**PrairieRose** · 11-30-2005, 05:32 PM

Gosh my dd's had colic and that's just awful....they just cry and cry. I don't have any solutions but you might try about.com and look for natural alternatives for colic and see if you can find something......

**many houseapes** · 11-30-2005, 05:48 PM

There are 3 things that come to mind....fennel seed (herb)...brew some up & put into the bottle, or if momma is nursing, have her drink the tea and it will pass to the baby(but check first about the dosage, or if there might be another herb good for this, you need to be safe about this method)....something called "wrapping"...wrap baby snugly in a blanket (not super tight, but snug to the point where they can't move their arms or legs) and lay down with her, or hold and rock her...don't know why, but this worked for my kids........the noise of the vacuum cleaner...or roll baby's basinet into the bathroom & turn the overhead vent on if it is noisy...hope this helps

**forestdale** · 11-30-2005, 06:15 PM

Aww mamaw. I agree with manyapes and the wrapping. My DS1 was a very colicy baby and that worked for him. Lay baby down with her arms loosely at her sides and wrap her securely, not to tight, in a soft, warm blanket.

Another thing that works when you're holding baby is to carry her face down on your bent arm, while holding her with your other hand. So her face will be on the outside of your bent elbow and her legs will straddle your wrist. You can wrap a warm blacket around her and your arm to keep her warm. Somehow the small amount of pressure on her belly will help to ease the colic. don't lay her in her crib like this though. It's considered a no-no to lay babies on their stomachs when they're in their crib as it's said that many SIDS babies are sleeping like that when they die.

Good luck, grandma.

**MOMMYDEAREST** · 11-30-2005, 08:06 PM

i had a colicy baby & i always turned the dryer on for a few minutes & lay the baby on its tummy & the warmth from the dryer really soothes them. i did this a few times a day. but stay right there with the baby. i always pulled up a chair & read a book or magazine. good luck!!!!

**Missy** · 11-30-2005, 08:23 PM

the swaddling helped us too, so did a baby massage with lavendar scented baby lotion. He'ck, when they're cranky now I do the massage (since they both like their backs rubbed!) still! calms them right down and they havnt a clue why!

**Kimberlina** · 11-30-2005, 11:11 PM

DDs colic was really GERD- just a thought.

**ACEHearts** · 12-01-2005, 08:46 AM

I second the swaddling... find the DVD Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp. I wish I'd had that info for my first 2!

The fennel tea is very good to. I did that for DS1 and it really helped (of course before I knew about Happiest Baby!)

I hope baby gets over it soon!

Cindy

**Mamaw** · 12-01-2005, 05:18 PM

Thanks all! DD just called. Doctor tested babys stool and found blood in it. They changed the formula yet again ( 4th time now) Telling us she has colic due to allergy to protein in cows milk! I am going to try the swaddling, the "football" hold Forestdale described, the lavendar lotion and the dryer. It cant hurt right?

wish us luck. My DD is beside herself and oldest dgd is already tired of her little sister crying...

**Missy** · 12-01-2005, 05:25 PM

cow's milk is sometimes real hard on babies. It was on DS2. Man alive was that awful, even if I drank milk sometime during the day, just the little amount in BF got him ill. He had to be on Neutramagen and Allimuntum (spelling could be wrong on both of those). Now that his little system has caught up, he can handle milk based formulas. Just took a little while.

**forestdale** · 12-01-2005, 05:35 PM

mamaw, in australia we classify our milk in 2 categories - A1 and A2 milk. A1 is normal milk from friesian (and other) cows. A2 milk is from guernsey and jersey cows and it doesn't have one of the milk proteins that cause allergy problems. My DH can't drink normal milk at all, however, he can drink A2 milk without any problems.

I wonder if you have formulas over there made from jersey or geurnsey cows.

**Mamaw** · 12-01-2005, 08:53 PM

I dont know about the formulas. She is now on Enfamil Nutramatan ( probably spelled wrong but you get the picture) Keeping my fingers crossed this is easier on her! Poor little mite...just breaks my heart to hear her cry and cry. Thank heavens my DD kept insisting something was wrong and taking her to the doctors. Alot of folks told her the baby was just "fussy" I told her to trust her mothers instinct. She told me tonight she never believed in mothers instinct until now. And this is her second child! Jeez..

**favesis37** · 12-11-2005, 08:11 AM

hi, i was wondering how she was doing. my grandbabies, all 5 of them have had acid reflux and are milk,soy, protien intolerant( mspi) they have had to be put on neocate. the one thing we did find that helped a little is turning on the vaccumm. the loud noise seems to soothe them. also the swaddling worked well. the other thing we found was bottled nursery water was better then our rural water( they could all handle the city water, but had issues with ours) my daughter swears lavendar is great,and even uses it in her homemade diaper wipes.
nutramigin is a great formula if she has allergies and she is not mspi.
hope all is going well

**AmyBoz** · 12-11-2005, 09:55 AM

Another idea is to swaddle her up and then take her to a completely dark room. Sometimes the babies can get overstimulated VERY easily. Just stand quietly with the swaddled baby in the dark room and gently rock or bounce or whatever. It worked very well with Julia.

**canadian gardener** · 12-11-2005, 11:57 AM

My sister had colicky babies and with all 6 she used what we called the swingy thingy.

It is one of those wind up swings with a cradle for when they are little, and a seat, for when they can tolerate sitting up.

It settled them nicely. It seemed to help roll the gas around and out with the movement of the swing.

By about 3 months they settle down and the colic goes away as their digestive tract matures.

But it sounds like this one is super sensitive with allergies to milk proteins, so maybe that will take care of the worst of it.

I second the swaddling, I did it with ours and my sister swaddled hers before putting them in the cradle on the swingy thingy.