15 Things That Helped Me Survive the First 3 Months of My Colicky Baby

Having a colicky baby can really be hard on you especially in those first few months when you're already completely sleep deprived and have the baby blues. It feels like they are never going to stop screaming and crying and you'll never get sleep again but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and I found a few things that really helped my little girls colic. They say most cases of colic go away around the 3 month marker and for the most part  that was somewhat accurate for her too. They link colic to digestive issues and and immature digestive track that leads to gas and bloating causing them to cry for hours on end and usually at bed time. My little girl would cry and cry and scream from around 7pm until 4am every night. I thought I was going to loose it and go completely insane because I couldn't sleep during the day while she was sleeping so I would literally get 4 hours of broken sleep tops, not good. So I went on the search for every known cure out there to help me get through this awful stage and here are the things that helped me survive the 3 plus months of my colicky baby girl. 

1. Walking around while bouncing the baby.  Something about all of the motion in the closeness of mommy or daddy's arms really helps to calm a screaming baby.  Although it may make them stop crying one night and not the next. I It seemed to help calm my little girl somewhat and it was our nightly routine to get her to fall asleep and ease the nonstop crying. I think I must have walked miles every night around the house to get my little one to sleep. 

2. Swinging. Sometimes the swing was all it took to help calm the crying and put her to sleep, at least for a little while, and gave very tired arms and whole body a rest. Same theory as the walking and bouncing. The motion seems to lull them into a more peaceful state. Same goes for the rocking chair.

3. Moby wrap. This right here was the biggest life saver. Most of the time our little girl just needed to be held and it's tiring! A 7 lb baby doesn't seem all that heavy until you have to carry her around 24/7. This literally saved me from completely loosing it and committing myself to an insane asylum. I was using a backpack style baby carrier but it was very bulky and just not that comfortable for me or her when multiple moms suggested the Moby wrap. It seems like a very complex system to wrap the very long scarf like piece of fabric but after you do it a couple times it's super easy.  It's not bulky and the baby fits snugly in it right next to mama where they miss being after living inside you for almost 10 months. With your hands free you can actually do things and your arms don't feel like they are going to fall off and baby feels nice and secure next to mommy. They say the act of baby wearing from birth on helps make the transition easier for the baby and cuts crying and I can attest to that I just wish I started earlier maybe things would have gotten better sooner. Also reflux and gas are big culprits of colic too and keeping baby upright after meals in the wrap helps the reflux and the pressure on their belly helps to pass the gas. So do yourself a favor and get a Moby wrap or one like a Moby wrap you will be forever grateful, trust me. 

 4. Gripe water and gas drops.  Being someone that really doesn't want to give my baby things that aren't natural and organic I leaned more on the side of gripe water which has things like fennel and ginger in it to ease stomach discomfort and gas, which does help somewhat, but if it's real bad it doesn't quite cut the mustard. The second line of defense was the Hyland's homeopathic gas drops that uses herbs to do the same thing but when it was really bad it didn't really cut it either. So the third and final line of defense was the regular old gas drops, I used these. I leaned to the dye free, gluten free version and they would usually help cut the gas pretty well.

5. Bath time during colic hours. Baths are just generally very relaxing for everyone and especially babies. The warm water resembles the womb and has a very calming effect and for the 5 or 10 minutes they are in there for you can get a break from the crying. It's a great idea to add this to your nightly routine, routine also helps baby to realize bed time from any other time of day. 

6. Dimming or shutting off lights at night. Baby's don't have internal clocks when they are born and they don't know day from night. This is helpful to get them to realize bedtime from awake time.  Artificial lighting can trick them into thinking that it's time to be awake. Plus it can also be stimulating to them after a whole life of darkness in the womb. I put night lights in the nursery and my bedroom so that I could still see to nurse or change her diaper but the light was not keeping her awake. 

7. Aroma therapy. Using essential oils like lavender and other calming herbs like camomile in the air and on you and your baby can work to help instil calm and also act as a marker for bed time. I would try to only use calming lotion and lavender oil on the wood stove at night so that she would associate the smell with bed time along with natural calming effect that it has anyway. 

8. Baby massage. Just giving your baby a little rub down really helps to calm them and is a nice addition to the night time bath for babies. I mean who doesn't like a nice massage. One massage technique that really helped with the gas was the I love you baby massage, find out how to do it here, and also just rubbing their tummy in a clock wise motion also helps to keep things passing along. 

9. The bicycle. Moving the baby's legs as if the are riding a bike helps to release gas that becomes trapped in their tummies. Babies don't have developed abdominal muscles and need help to bear down and pass things. Don't be surprised to hear some toots and for the baby to spit up especially if you just fed them. 

10. Putting legs over baby's head like you would during a diaper change. If the bicycle doesn't work try this. Lift the Baby's legs up over their head and gradually bring them down. Repeat a few times until you hear them fart a few times. This seems to be more effective than the bicycle for stubborn gas. 

11. Warm water bottle or rice pack on baby's tummy. Warm not hot packs on the baby's tummy helps by putting pressure and warmth to help ease things out. You will most likely hear some gas being passed after a few minutes of application. This was the only thing that helped on one very trying night so it's definitely worth a try. 

12. Change of scenery. Sometimes just a change of scenery is all they need to help them forget about what ails them for a while. Going for a walk outside or even putting them on their changing table can help change their minds temporarily. For us walks outside a night were off limits it being the dead of winter so the changing table was really our sanctuary. You could get at least 5-10 minutes of quiet out of it, just enough time to get your barrings back. 

13. The colic cradle hold. Holding the baby in this position helps by putting pressure on the baby's belly. This really helps but wouldn't last too long for our girl. I'd be lucky to have 15 minutes tops cry free but it would help to pass some gas. 

14. Putting baby belly side down on your lap. This really only helped us once temporarily but helping pass gas. Our little girl wasn't a fan of this position or tummy time really but worth a shot and anything to pass gas even if it causes them to cry more temporarily can help in the long run. 

15. Chiropractic care.  Birth is a traumatic experience for both mother and baby.  Miss alignments in the babies spine can cause colic symptoms in babies and chiropractic care can help to correct these miss alignments.  My little girl had some issues with her neck, called torticollis, where she would favor one side and she had reflux and chiropractic care corrected the torticollis and helped with the reflux.  It is worth a try to see if this could help, it did for us.

Finding a root cause of gas and colic symptoms is also sometimes possible. Some babies are allergic or sensitive to the food the mother is eating or the formula it is being fed.  This can often times be the cause of colic but for us it was actually an over supply and imbalance of breast milk.   Because I had so much milk she was filling up on the sugary fore milk and not getting enough fatty hind milk causing her to produce more gas. Also the forceful let down caused her to swallow a lot of air while feeding. I had to research ways to reduce my supply and I found that nursing on one breast for multiple feeding in a row before switching to the other over a few weeks time greatly reduced my supply and corrected the imbalance and it had really improved my little girls tummy issues.

These are the things that helped me out with our colicky little girl and I hope these 15 things can help to save anyone reading this many sleepless nights and worry.  Best wishes with your little ones.

~Megan~