Colic and Gastro-intestinal Distress

A few days ago – Thursday April 16 to be exact – baby Peach started to fuss and call out from her crib during the night. She’d be fine for a few minutes, then start to kick and wave her arms about while making little high-pitched yelps. We’d leave her for a couple of yelps, then get up and try to burp her (these noises typically meant she had gas), then she calmed laid her back down to sleep. Walk back and get into bed myself… just in time for another set of yelps and fussing. This went on for 5 or 10 cycles before I finally gave up and brought her into bed with us. That didn’t really help either.

From that point on, she started feeding differently too. She demanded to be fed almost hourly during the morning and evenings. She would not really feed strongly but want to have Mom’s breast in her mouth while falling asleep. And when Mom broke the latch and tried to put her to bed, she’d wake and start fussing and screaming. Nothing seemed to calm her other than being put back on the breast.

She’d eventually fall asleep in Mom’s arms, and then we’d carefully hold her on our chest or over our shoulders in the burping position. She’d sleep peacefully as long as she was held, but as soon as we tried to put her down in the crib or on our mattress she’d start to fuss and yelp again. This continued into the night.

After the first day of this, Mom had sore nipples and was obviously tired. But then it continued into Friday day and night, and Saturday too. By Sunday morning we were tired and frustrated – and Mom was at wit’s end.

Luckily we had a prenatal class reunion Sunday afternoon. We got there late and started chatting with some of the other new parents. And we got what seems to be an excellent tip that has worked for one night at least.

The first couple to become new parents in our group told us they went through the same thing, and their midwife suggested swaddling the baby tightly at night. They had to use two layers of blankets to ensure the baby didn’t kick his way out of the single wrapper. Lo and behold, no more colicky fussing at night!

Mom tried this last night and reported success – yay! (I’m currently away on a work trip – getting the best sleep I’ve had in over a month despite the long days and 3-hour time zone change. Don’t tell Mom!). So the swaddling seems to have helped soothe baby Peach’s distress.

We’re incredibly thankful that Peach doesn’t cry or scream like many colicky babies do. She’s really gentle on us, just giving her little yelps of discomfort and not launching into full-blown thermo-nuclear crying jags unless she’s hungry and Mom isn’t able to feed her within 5 minutes of her warning signals. So despite our few nights and days of dealing with a distressed baby, we’re still feeling lucky.