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*indyCares
writes: This is not a relationship question but I hope it will be printed anyway ... because it is for the good cause of helping a distressed new mother. A younger friend of mine just had on March 3rd her first baby. The baby is healthy, beautiful, grows beautifully... but he's driving her nuts because he is THE mother ( father, in fact, being a boy ) of all cranky,fussy, colicky babies. He cries basically non- stop. He will calm down when he is being fed , fall asleep for maybe an hour, then wake up the dead with his screams again. Rinse and repeat. His pediatrician ( I don't want to offend anybody, but I have to say it : in typical, superficial, ineffective pediatrician style ) just says " Don't worry, the baby is perfectly fine, he's just a hungry baby, and , as long as he grows regularly as he does ,... everything is OK ". My friend countered, more or less : " Everything OK, my foot ! HE may be ok , but what about ME ? I am NOT OK, yesterday I slept two hours out of 24 and I feel like I could die "... and she has been sort of benignly tsk-tsked as your usual drama queen mom.Now, this baby IS hungry like a wolf, then again he is not being starved , he is being breast fed on demand and gets ( with doctor's approval ) formula supplements too. He may have or not tummy aches , or acid reflux , there's no way to know, - but regardless he is what the layman calls a " colicky " baby- the one who frets, frusses and basically never sleeps. Has any of you , mother and grandmas of DC, any tricks or suggestions or miracle herbal remedies to improve the situation ? Do you know of any technique which could help ?... MY bag of tricks is empty , because the stuff I was told ( lullabies, burping him often etc. etc. ) when my son was a baby, 25 years ago- never worked , he kept screaming like a banshee for several months. So it's not a coincidence that he remained an only child. But , I did not have the heart to tell that to my friend :), so I hope in the resourceful ladies from DC. Thanks ! Reply to this Question
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female
reader, CindyCares +, writes (16 April 2015):
CindyCares is verified as being by the original poster of the question Thanks a lot , SVC. I am sending my friend your suggestion ( mercifully skipping the "one - armed " Mom detail. Wow you must have developed ONE massive biceps :)
A
female
reader, So_Very_Confused  +, writes (15 April 2015):
 I'm late but here's my sad tale of woe from 31 years ago.
I had a totally breastfed baby. He turned out to have allergies to almost everything but mom (dairy and soy)... he was cranky. He cried all the time, He never slept. I learned to do everything one handed and held him with his head in the crook of my arm at the elbow his belly laying down on my arm with the arm providing light pressure on his belly and chest area and my hand firmly between his legs holding his diapered bottom. it's called the colic hold.
IT soothed him. (when I was not wearing him) and it freed up my dominant hand to do things like brush my teeth and cook dinner.
here are pictures from a google search:
https://www.google.com/search?q=colic+hold&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=434uVdSwCsSZgwT0joDoAQ&ved=0CC0QsAQ&biw=1280&bih=873
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A
female
reader, CindyCares +, writes (15 April 2015):
CindyCares is verified as being by the original poster of the questionThank you very much, ladies and gentleman. I knew that the DearCupiders were going to come up with some brilliant suggestion. I am passing all them to my friend, and I'll let you know what worked. Special thanks to the male respondent, it was nice to see a man experienced and interested in the hands - on of child -raising. Although, to be honest, I have to say that I do not quite share his optimism :) , my son never lacked a full belly , warmth and dry diapers, and well,...as I said, he's an only child for a reason, lol. Unluckily, there's a 10%-15% of HEALTHY newborns, who, for reasons still unknown to medical science, are just much more vocal, and much harder to deal with, than the average. Nevertheless I am sure that knowing some
" trick " may at times greatly improve the situation, so thanks again.
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A
female
reader, eyeswideopen +, writes (14 April 2015):
 Add a little baby rice cereal to the formula but make it really thin and use a larger holed nipple and see how the baby does with that. It tends to stick to their ribs a little longer so they don't need as many feedings. And during the day when she can watch him lay him on his tummy, that tends to help reduce gas. Whenever the baby naps---she naps, housework can wait or better yet make Dad do it.
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A
male
reader, anonymous, writes (14 April 2015): That is very normal,he will cry till he is around 6 months old.Your friend should program her sleep hours with his.I totally agree with honeypie's great advice, a rocking cradle or a swinging cradle, also gripe water to relieve wind, also regular diaper change every 2 - 3 hours to avoid skin burn because skin burn is the biggest cause for baby crying.??One more thing, make sure the baby is not feeling cold. new born babies feel the cold much more than the grownups. wrap him well. In short full belly+dry diaper+warmth, all a new born baby needs to be happy and quite.
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A
female
reader, Tisha-1 +, writes (14 April 2015):
 A chiropractor I know suggested that it could be a misalignment of the baby's spine causing distress. There's some support for this theory. http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2012/05/14/babies-get-much-needed-help-from-chiropractic-adjustments/
http://www.chiro.org/research/ABSTRACTS/Colic.shtml
That's all I've got. Hope your friend gets a good answer and some relief!!
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A
female
reader, Honeypie +, writes (14 April 2015):
 My oldest was a colicky baby - I had NO sleep (more than 4 hours in ONE go) for 18 months... What worked best for her was the rocking chair (while patting her back because she was NOT a good farter or burper and I think some of her fussing was due to gas).
A friend of mine sent me some "baby tea" from Germany that helped A LOT. (when she would drink it)
http://www.livestrong.com/article/462980-how-much-fennel-tea-can-you-give-an-infant-with-colic/
Then there is "gripe water" Colic Calm it's called. I have NOT used it, but a friend of mine's daughter swear by it.
http://www.coliccalm.com/101/colic-calm-101.htm
The second thing was a little battery operated swing. You attached the car-seat to it and it would calm her instantly. However, it went through batteries like crazy.
The second thing was putting her in her carseat, set her on the dryer or GO for a drive.
Another thing I can think of is to switch formula. The baby may not digest that type he/she is getting - might not get enough nutrients from that type or.. have a minor reaction to it. All my babies (I have 3 kids) were breastfed, so when they HAD a reaction it was usually to something I ate. :(
Hope that it will give you some ideas to pass on.
I feel for your friend, not getting any sleep is horrendous. No wonder it's considered an effective torture method.
Chin up the baby WILL grow out of it. (I know that not much help right now, but ALWAYS have a silver lining!)
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A
female
reader, anonymous, writes (14 April 2015): It helped me to sleep with the baby. It wasn't something I planned, or ever intended to do, but I found that the only we I could ever sleep was to sleep next to him, so that he could latch on, and we could both drift off while he nursed. I did this for 2-3 months at least before he went to a separate crib. If you lookup safe bedsharing, then you can find tips on how to do this safely.
And tell her that she may not get much sleep at night, but to try for total sleep hours to go up. She should try to sleep during the day as much as she is able during this phase as well, though I know this is easier said than done.
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