Could It Be Colic?

posted on: Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Don't get me wrong...I love my children dearly, but why do they have to be so high maintenance?

Yes, that dreaded word we hoped we had left behind forever has entered our daily vocabulary yet again...

COLIC
(the new c-word)

Wes had it, and it was bad, real, real bad.

Now my dear, sweet, little angel of a baby looks like he's following in his big brother's footsteps.


Not cool Oren, not cool at all.


When we brought Wes home and the colic kicked in, it was a rude awakening. Ruuuuuude I tell you.


The crying was non-stop, day and night. Anytime he was awake he was wailing. After a month of that combined with an impressive amount of projectile vomiting, we reached the end of our rope.  We took him to the doctor and suspecting an allergy to milk protein, she suggested we try giving him Alimentum formula.

It's hypoallergenic, pre-digested, robot-food (as Josh likes to call it) but boy did it work!
Within one day he was a totally different baby. We got to see what his face looked like when he wasn't crying - amazing! Unfortunately the stuff is outrageously expensive, worth it, but outrageously, ungodly expensive.

I remember going to the store to buy the first can, not knowing if it would work. We were desperate to have a happy and healthy baby, but at 3 or 4 times the cost of normal formula, we were kind of afraid of it working as well.  Well, work it did and we survived somehow (somehow being my mom who so generously bought baby Wes lots and lots of the stuff).

Now Ori has begun the crying fits. But, unlike Wes, he only cries (so far, knock on wood) in the evenings. It lasts a few hours and then he sleeps peacefully during the night and seems fine during the day. Also, he's not spitting up anymore than a normal baby would. So what is the reason for the crying?

Immediately, I suspected a milk allergy again, so in an effort to continue breastfeeding, I removed all dairy (even trace amounts) from my diet.  And you know how I love my ice cream. The problem is, 10 days later, he's still crying. It doesn't seem to have made much of a difference at all. I took him to our doctor and he said he doesn't think it's an allergy because he's gaining tons of weight (Hello, almost 4 pounds in 5 weeks!). He said even if it was an allergy to something I'm eating, it could be anything, or a combination of things. It could take me forever to figure it out and I could drive myself crazy cutting out every food under the sun. He suggested I keep breastfeeding and just power through it.  I would hate to know he was crying or in pain because of something I ate, but breastfeeding is still supposed to be the best, right? And if it's not an allergy, then what is it?

(By the way, we of course have tried swaddling and pacifiers but he hates both with a passion)

So, what would you do? Try the Alimentum? Eliminate soy or eggs or nuts from my diet next? Or just deal unless it gets worse or any new problems develop?

All you expert moms out there - I need your advice... so leave it!


3 comments:

  1. Emily - my babies were all perfect, so I can't answer your questions.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Emily,
    My baby cried and was awake 5 times a night until about that age -5. Obviously, I never figured it out.
    Lots of crying in the evenings, and could not get him to nap either. He always sleeps in the car-even now.
    I guess I would try the solid gold formula if it were I, remembering the fatigue even today. :(

    ReplyDelete
  3. Emily - I have heard about "the witching hour" in which babies are cranky and cry apparently for no reason in the evenings. I suppose you could try to further modify your diet, or the formula, but if he is only crying in the evenings, unless you eat the same thing at the same time every day that could match up with getting into your breastmilk for his evening feedings, I would say it is probably just typical colic :( Have you perused the forums at thebump.com, community? I have found reading through the posts of other mothers helpful when things seem amiss with Hannah. Good Luck and you can do it!!

    ReplyDelete

I Am Emme All rights reserved © Blog Milk Powered by Blogger