Fussy, high needs, or colic???

[car jinx]

My dd is 8.5 weeks old. For the past 2.5 weeks it feels like if she's not asleep or nursing, she's crying - which quickly escalates to screaming. There does not seem to be any pattern. It happens at all hours of the day - sometimes she just wakes up and immediately screams. Usually she's quiet at night, but that wasn't the case last night when she screamed for and hour and a half at midnight and another half hour at 3:00. To calm her down we bounce on the exercise ball either holding her or with her in her Baby Bjorn or a sling. When it's really bad, we bounce on the exercise ball with the hair dryer running while sitting in a dark closet. It does not help to just hold her, in fact, sometimes she quites right down if I place her in her swing.

I wear her almost all the time. I eliminated dairy when she was born and have kept careful food diaries and cannot find a link between what I'm eating & these episodes. I've tried Gripe Water and "Rescue Remedy." We've been to a Cranial Sacral therapist and a chiropractor is next on the list. I know she'll eventually outgrow this, but it's breaking my heart and feels like it will last forever.
Any ideas?

[XM]

No suggestions here per se, it sounds like you are trying everything and then some! But I did want to offer that we LOVE our chiropractor! He's in Belltown and he's been adjusting Ezra since he was 6wo. Usually ds sleeps through the adjustments, although there was one time that he was crying and then suddenly stopped after Scott did the adjustment.

PM me if you would like his number, he *is* in Seattle but he is great with small infants!

XM

[Island Mommy]

Oh it is so difficult when they cry so much and it seems like nothing consoles them. My dd was like that and I felt like a failure at times. You are doing all the AP stuff and the books say that if I you wear your baby, co-sleep, breastfeed on demand, etc. they will be happy and content. Well, perhaps she cried less than she would have otherwise, but she cried alot.

The one thing that helped us (and believe me, we tried EVERYTHING!) was to nurse her on one breast for 3 hour periods. It really seemed to help her gas. Like yours, my dd did not fuss only in the evenings, it was at any time of the day or night.

If it gives you any consolation, my dd is now 7 months old and is a very happy baby. The excessive crying started to dwindle at around 3 months and was completely gone by about 5 months. Just keep holding her and doing what you can. Even while she's crying she'll know you're there and that you love her.

[Miekesmummy]

Hi there.
I just want to echo what Island Mommy wrote. We know how you feel! I was just about at my wits end and oh so tired...but nursing lots also helped us and it seemed to be the only fail-safe to stopping my baby crying.
My little girl has also appeared to grow out of it now at 7 months and is a much more content baby.
My only advice is to keep doing whatever works and remember that it won't last forever. There will be a day in the near furture when all this will seem llike a distant memory. Sorry I can't offer more practical solutions.
Kate

[lexbeach]

Your baby sounds a lot like one of mine! Like the other posters, I don't have much advidce, but wanted to agree that it won't last forever. By three months, my ds was significantly improved, and by 5 months he was a different baby (he even started just falling asleep when I'd lie him down awake for a nap ). I also wanted to say: don't feel bad for using a swing now and then. I'd sworn that I'd never ever put my babies in a single piece of plastic baby equipment (well, other than the carseat, of course), but when ds was three weeks old I realized, "this is a baby who needs a swing." It helped a lot to get him to sleep, and to stay asleep. Also, have you considered using a pacifier? I didn't introduce it until ds was four months old because we had thrush and I was hoping he'd suck his thumb. I think it might have really helped him in the early days. Sucking does a baby good :binky.

Hang in there!

Lex

[lexbeach]

OOPS! : :



LEX

[monkeysmommy]

My daughter was like that too. Motion, motion, motion. If she was awake, if she was not in *vigorous* motion, she was screaming. My husband and I bounced so much in those early months, we had a hard time not bouncing even when we were not holding her. I tried eliminating things from my diet, and giving her things for gas and nothing helped except for time. Going outside with her really helped me stay sane. Being outside really diffused the screaming so it was not so hard on my nerves and eardrums. I would just put her in her Bjorn and let her scream in my face while I walked around the block. I know it feels like it will never end, but I promise you, it will! Some babies just scream like that and you can try everything, and sometimes nothing works. the medical profession doesn't even know what colic is, it's just their name for inconsolable crying in infants. I'll bet you'll only have a few more weeks of it. Most babies are down to one fussy period per day, (other than for obvious reasons, of course) by the time they are 3 months. Hang in there!

[Quirky]

It sounds like colic to me....esp. based on what you say works to calm her, the bouncing/swinging/white noise etc. I would send dh to the bookstore or library and get Dr. Harvey Karp's book The Happiest Baby on the Block (there's also a video) ASAP. He talks about how colic isn't really a physical disorderSuc per se but an adjustment problem, where babies aren't used to the world outside the womb yet. A great way to calm them is to replicate the conditions inside the womb that were so soothing, namely:

Swaddling
Side-lying
SHHHHing (aka loud white noise)
Swinging/swaying
Sucking (on a thumb, pacifier, or breast)

He puts these steps together in a way that really works to calm unhappy babies down! I highly recommend it. It's not a miracle cure, but it's pretty darned good.

[car jinx]

Thank you all so much for your support and encouragement! It's exactly what I need to help me through the next few weeks.

Jane - I bought Dr. Karp's book when my dd was 3 weeks old - it has been a life saver! If anyone else is reading this thread for colic-soothing ideas, I strongy recommend his "Happiest Baby on the Block" book. Bouncing on the exercise ball in the dark closet with dd swadled and the hair dryer running is not a ton of fun - but at least she's not screaming. I had a hard time with swaddling so I purchased a "miracle blanket" which made it easy.

[bananasmom]

ITA on Karp.

His 5 Ss saved my sanity!

[JuneMama]

My ds had colic for 5 mos and was and still is at 26.5 mos very high need. It is so hard to deal with non-stop crying! Here are some things that I wish had been around or I had known about when my ds was an infant!

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

http://www.babybellyboutique.com/Fussbuster.htm

I've heard chiro can do wonders with colicky infants. My ds was just getting out of the colic stage when I heard about it, so never tried it. I wish I had.

You can also just record your vacuum cleaner and play it over and over, instead of running the vacuum cleaner.

[kerikadi]

You said that going to a chiro is next on your list. I would encourage you to do this as soon as possible.
Our DD cried a LOT from 3 weeks on and didn't nap for about 4 months other than dozing for 5-10 minutes at the breast. I mean NO nap! We started taking her to a chiro and it made a huge difference. Her behavior changed during the day after a few weeks and then the night time got much better. It will probably take more than one adjustment so try to find a chrio that will work on a payment plan with you. The guy I have is a homebirth dad and anti-vaccine - he's great. We took a couple of months off this summer but have started going again - dd is almost 15 months and he is doing the Webster technique on me from now until delivery

Keri