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Monday, November 21, 2011

The things we do for colic....

First off, happy anniversary to my better half!  Two years ago today we walked down the aisle and said 'I do' and it was one of the best days of my life.  I am so lucky to have Steve in my life.

Now, on to baby things.

A baby with colic is hard.  I mean really, really hard.  And a baby with colic and reflux is even harder. I'm sure you are all tired of reading my crying baby posts, but this post might be helpful to any other new moms out there who find themselves with a colicky baby.

These are the things we have tried to keep Emily from crying- some work better than others and with colic, I've learned that one thing might work one day and not work the next- you just never know what might calm them down from day to day.

- Car rides: we tried this first, it was 12:00am and Emily had been screaming for 4 hours.  We were actually scared of some of the noises she was making. I am not exaggerating, when she gets in one of her colic fits, she screams bloody murder- it is not just a cry.  So naturally we called Steve's mom in PA.  Even though there wasn't anything she could really do for us it helped to call her and make sure we weren't doing any damage to our daughter (thanks mom!).

- The vacuum:  Emily loves the vacuum.  Sometimes she can be in the middle of a 2 hour screaming fit and if we turn on the vacuum she immediately gets quiet and her eyes glaze over like she's in a trance.  Last night after 5 hours of crying we downloaded a vacuum sound from itunes and we played it all.night.long.  It's amazing. (Needless to say, my sleep wasn't that great listening to a vacuum running all night- but that was fine with me!)
- Gripe water:  sometimes it works, sometimes it does nothing.  But we love when it works.

- Swaddling: from birth to about 2 weeks Emily loved being swaddled and it would put her to sleep.  Now she hates it and wants her arms free.

- Dishwasher: We found this cure on accident one night.  Steve was walking around with Emily while she was crying and he walked into the kitchen where the dishwasher was running.  She got quiet almost right away.  That night, we took her bassinet into the kitchen and ran the dishwasher over and over, hallelujah she slept!

There have been nights that we are crying (well I am at least) cussing under our breath (or out loud) while other nights all we can do is laugh uncontrollably (due to lack of sleep). I am so thankful I have Steve as a partner in this parenting thing, it's hard work and I don't know how anyone does it alone.

If anyone has any other helpful hints- please share!!

17 comments:

  1. I wrote several posts on colic... not sure if it will help, but here are links:

    http://wearsheartonsleeve.blogspot.com/2011/07/colic-sucks.html

    http://wearsheartonsleeve.blogspot.com/2011/08/crying-chronicles.html

    http://wearsheartonsleeve.blogspot.com/2011/08/crying-chronciles-pt-2.html

    http://wearsheartonsleeve.blogspot.com/2011/09/reflux-colic-update.html

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  2. Happy 2nd Anniversary!!!


    Oh my gosh I feel so bad for you! I would prob go insane! Try and remember that "everything" is a phase that she will "someday" out grow. It's good that sometimes things help to calm her. Poor girl! I bet she hates feeling that way just as much as you guys do.

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  3. Do you have a white noise machine? My niece loved the sound of the vaccum as well, but then my sister-in-law bought a noise machine and kept it turned up LOUD during the night. Not a peep from the little one! If you want to test it out before buying an actual machine, just bring a radio in and turn it to a "static" channel to see what her reaction will be. Good luck!

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  4. Happy anniversary!! Ok, my only suggestions are to download the white noise app like someone mentioned earlier. We would also walk her (in our arms) up and down the block, but it might be too cold to do that now. Luckily we only had a few nights of crying for hours so I don't have too much help for you - but I sure hope the crying fits stop soon. That is the most frustrating part of it all (so far) when you feel helpless, but it sounds like you have done great finding random things that help calm her down!

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  5. My best friend had a colicky baby, and the only things that helped were:

    -sitting on an exercise ball bouncing with her daughter in her arms (this gave her quads of steel)
    -RUNNING/SPRINTING with her daughter in the BOB stroller (she dropped the 60# of baby weight FAST I tell ya!)
    -playing her favorite song (I can't remember what it was) over and over and over on the CD player. were there any songs you played while Emily was in your womb that maybe she'd remember/calm down to?

    Good luck hon - colic would be rough!

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  6. Bless your heart!!!! I can only imagine how hard colic is!

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  7. Happy Anniversary!! Today is our 2nd anniversary too!!
    I hope the Colic gets better.

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  8. So glad you are finding some things that work. Hang in there, colic doesn't last for ever! I will send some prayers your way that it will be all over soon. :-) You guys are awesome parents!

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  9. Oh the Moby wrap worked really well with Aiden. It helps him calm down almost immediately and I finally found a way to sleep on my side with him in it. Not the best way to sleep, but it works for a few hours. :-)

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  10. Happy Anniversary!
    I don't have any advice - but am glad that you have found some things that work!

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  11. Happy Anniversary!!!

    I am so sorry you are going through the colic and reflux (and Emily too). It just sounds so hard...I am pretty sure I would be bonkers...totally bonkers. I have heard that white noise can help. I really hope it gets better soon...you are doing an AWESOME job!

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  12. Happy anniversary!

    My friend used her moby and walked on the treadmill, she said it worked because of the movement and the sound of the treadmill.

    Also, we have a ton of sound files of noises like that at work to test hearing aid with, I'll check and see if there is a way to copy a cd or burn the sound files.

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  13. happy to hear that your household appliances are doing double duty, lol.

    congrats on your anniversary!!!

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  14. I had a colicky daycare kiddo a while back...I found the following helpful during her bouts of colic:
    +The dryer (more than the washer because of the continouus/monotonous noise)
    +Bouncing on an exercise ball (the up and down motion mimics the movements felt while in the womb more than rocking)

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  15. Happy Anniversary!
    You got yourself a real challenge here. Don't have any suggestions but glad you have found a few things that calms her down. Feel for you though, must be so tough.

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  16. No help here but I did get a sound machine from Target at our baby shower that has a white noise option as some others have suggested above. Hope it all eases up soon and you are getting rest whenever/however you can!

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  17. Hi! Thank you for following my little journey! I'm now following yours as well. I think my mom and dad could relate to your situation. I had severe colic for six months. Luckily, friends of my parents who couldn't have children (ironic, considering my situation now!) would come over at night and take "shifts" so my parents could sleep. He worked second shift so it worked out! Crazy huh?

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