Joy

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Welcome to the Joys of Colic

Wow, we have been busy. Nothing exciting or note worthy has been happening but we have been BUSY. Busy trying to get back into the swing of things after staying at my parent's house for two weeks while Josh was in Africa, busy doing laundry, busy cleaning, busy with cooking and busy with kids.

Joy has been keeping us especially busy in the evenings as a few weeks ago she decided to have colic. It started the day before Josh left for Africa. Like clock work, at 6pm, my sweet, little Joy turns into a fussy, gassy, burpy, back arching, crying, spitting up, screaming Joy. At first we didn't know what her deal was and assumed it was because I had been eating spicy foods. I cut those out of my diet and she was still having her daily issue so I knew it wasn't that.

After a particularly bad night, I made a doctor appt for her to make sure that it was just colic and not something more serious. I was pretty sure it wasn't anything too bad since she only had trouble in the evenings. The doctor said she wasn't sure what it was since it only occurred at a certain time of day (dumb) and I was doing all the things that she would have suggested. She called over to a Pediatrix group doctor to see if they had any other tips. After waiting 40 minutes she came back and said "Well, they think she might have a little acid reflux since she is arching her back. Here is a prescription for Zantac, give it to her twice a day". I was proud of myself for not saying anything - I have learned from experience not to share my beliefs about certain medicines to the doctors who are getting paid big bucks to write the prescriptions. I just said "Okay" and took the prescription and promptly threw it away after I had left. Seriously? Zantac?! They want me to give my little 6 week old baby a drug like that, to treat something they THINK she MIGHT have a LITTLE of? The thing about Zantac is it doesn't even cure acid reflux, it just masks the symptoms, not to mention it has been linked to causing stomach cancer. On top of that, she doesn't have acid reflux, I had researched colic and AR extensively and she definitely has colic.

So, I set out looking for a way to ease Joy's colic but so far they have all been futile. I cut dairy and wheat out of my diet, cut out coffee, spicy foods and any acidy foods. I feed her when she is sitting upright, burp her repeatedly, we've tried ALL of the typical calming tricks, i.e. leg pumping, and laying over your legs on her tummy. We have been giving her probiotics since she was born, we've tried gripe water, Mylicon (which seems to help a tiny bit), Hylands colic tablets, and my last hope was that she was getting too much foremilk and not enough of the fattier milk but even when I fixed that problem she still has her hours of screaming and fussiness. I have just accepted now, that she has colic and it can't be helped.

Poor Joy... poor us.

10 comments:

  1. I'm in the same boat :). Ive tried only eating oatmeal, and poor Wesley STILL seems like he has a tummy ache... The only thing that will calm him down when hes like that is putting him in the sling and carrying him around with me (not sitting!). Of course I say "works" this means it pacifies him for a time, till he starts again, LOL. Hope you find something that "works" for you. I think the mylicon makes Wesley worse.. Good luck, :).

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  2. I'm sorry for you Christy! But I am glad that I'm not the only one!

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  3. Jordan ended up in the hospital with an infection at 4 months old and they did every test imaginable. We ended up leaving with a prescription for zantac because he was diagnosed with relux... had a pretty bad case of it actually. So for us, it worked well. I know each Mom has to do what's best for her little one so I hope you don't think it was bad we decided to treat him with it. Sure made life easier on us for months and he felt so much better and became the happy boy we know today!

    I pray that Joy feels better and you find something to help with the colic! Hang in there.

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  4. Stacey, I would at this point consider giving her Zantac if she really did have acid reflux. That's what was so maddening to me is that they gave it to her and didn't even know if that's what she really had:/

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  5. Kathleen!!! I believe I have your answer!! It is the technique in the Happiest Baby on the Block. Lauren had colic... I want to come over and show you!!! It replicates the feeling of being in the womb...which is a bouncy, noisy place. The five S's (S)waddle her super tight so that she cannot move her arms at all, turn her either upside down or (s)ideways towards you, (s)hhh LOUDLY into her ears (think vacuum, shhh quite loudly and directly to her ear!), making sure her head is secured bounce a LOT or (s)way...with Lauren, I actually jumped up and down. Give her a pacifier for (s)ucking. Look up some videos on youtube for help. All these steps are supposed to be done at the same time... I believe I could get her to stop crying...once I learned this for Lauren, her colic tapered off...and I feel like it was a very accomodating and nice thing to be able to provide her. Another tip is similar to vacuums quieting babies, loud radio static is great white noise!! I think the author of the book says this can work for ANY baby, it was just amazing and a long awaited answer for us... It took me a couple tries to get the technique down. I'm sure you can borrow the book and the DVD from the library. Good luck, and I am in walking distance, please let me know and I will come over and try helping!!!! 602-614-0314. In either case, my sympathies on the crying...

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  6. Thanks Danielle, that is so sweet of you! I totally believe that those things will help because I just put her in her snugli and walked with her to the park and she calmed right down and fell asleep. (she wasn't as bad tonight as usual though) I'll try your suggestions and let you know!

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  7. Keiric had colic for the first few weeks and I could hardly stand it - we took him to a chiropractor that I love and trust immensely and overnight it did the trick. Apparently he had a slight pinch in his neck somewhere and it was throwing everything else off. I hadn't considered him needing a chiropractor at all since he was a c-section baby and didn't have a long or body contortioning (pretty sure that's not a word but you get the gist :) birth. Whatever it was though I was so thankful to have it fixed - that colic is so exhausting to deal with.

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  8. My pleasure, Kathleen, I hope it helps!! And definitely hope Joy quiets down and feels good :) Heather, I don't know if your chiropractor is still available, but I also know a very nice and talented chiropractor that knows the technique for babies, Jenny Dubisar, her office is in Mesa. Her number is 480-200-6679. Her prices were very reasonable as well, I think it might have been $35 for a session, or something close to that. She believes it is good for any baby to have the adjustments, she did very good pregnancy adjustments for me.

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  9. That is very interesting about the chiropractic.... I will look into that.

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  10. My chiropractor is still available but he is located up north - Union Hills and the 17. (Nice thing is its all freeway) He is a great Christian guy and has a wonderful practice - much more into natural healing. I think he charges $40-$45 for adults and like $20-$25 for kids but you would have to double check that- and he does take most insurances. I've been taking the kids there since they were little and it has done wonders - plus they're rarely ever sick - Dr. Lara - 602-973-1630 Also - if he checks them and they don't need an adjustment, he doesn't charge.

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