Help Colic

Guest

just wondered if anyone had any idea's Oliver will be 2 next month, and since he was about 4 months old has suffered from colic every night, have tried every remedy I can find, but nothing seems to work apart from a warm bath that calms him down, but i can't sit in the bath for 2 hours with him.

He has reflux drugs but thats made no difference, also takes movicol and domperidone.

Does anyone else have this problem, I wondered if it's more common with children with CP, aany advice would be appreciated.

Thanks Lisa

Lisa36

just wondered if anyone had any idea's Oliver will be 2 next month, and since he was about 4 months old has suffered from colic every night, have tried every remedy I can find, but nothing seems to work apart from a warm bath that calms him down, but i can't sit in the bath for 2 hours with him.

He has reflux drugs but thats made no difference, also takes movicol and domperidone.

Does anyone else have this problem, I wondered if it's more common with children with CP, aany advice would be appreciated.

Thanks Lisa

frenchy

hiya lisa, alot of kids with cp suffer with terrible wind as they are less mobile than other kids and wind gets trapped...until eve started crawling at 2 she suffered terribley with this...i used to lay her on her back and rub her belly in a clockwise motion as this is the way the digestive tract goes...also try and do some stretches with him...stretch his boby with arms above head and then roll over etc...if you can move his trunk as much as poss you will prob find that it helps....

kate xxx

AthenaMum

Hello I feel for you, Athena now 18 months also has a problem like what you described.
I know exactly what you mean about baths they do help a lot. It seems with Athena once she starts to be in pain she gets tence and stressed and this makes it worse

:At night I find rolling her onto her front and rubbing her back so that it rocks her if that makes sence, round and round and up and down and a bit of patting in between. I am proberly telling you things you already know.LoL

:Another trick good for winter is putting a hot watter bottle into bed if you need to take them out, Put it wraped up ready. It might help the settleing back to sleep timeframe.

:The main thing is not to get upset if you need to try all sorts and nothing seems to be working if you can stay calm he might pick up the vibe, this is so hard especially if you are tired I know. This may mean not doing cleaning and washing when he is napping in the day but grabbing sleep when you can. see if you can rope someone in to help you clean once a week so it does not get on top of you. And you can rest with one less worry

:Athena has a CD Loverly sleepy baby it soothes and distracts her from her tears.

:Keep night time activities as low key as pos I find Athena gets over stimulated very easily.

:Get him to drink plenty in the day I find Apple juce works for Athena its her favorate flushes their systems helps her phoo.

All the best and try not to stress

martha

Hi I remember this time my little one suffered with colic from early months right up to 6 months.I tried the colic medicines that the doctor prescribed but they made her swollow more get distressed and not stop the colic.I got a qualified homeapath and her remedy eased her colic and she would relax in her self which would in turn help the colic.I was amazed why didnt I try this earlier.I still give her remedies now in fact I gave her a remedy tonight for her windy tummy.she does suffer from tummy aches and wind but it is better.
I also fed her myself in an up right position so her head was up facing towards by face not across so the milk went down her throat natrually and first it was strange but it really works and the tubby tub bath really helped to.lavender also helped her and mum too.
I also watched what I ate I stopped citrus fruits and sugar.
I hope I have helped a little your welcome to email me for more help or just a chat.
martha

andyhaines

Hi,
I hope you are getting on better solving the colic.
If not some things you can try:
Slight elevation of the head end of the mattress from the waist, creating a slight ramp of no more than 10 degrees if he sleeps on his back.
A shallow bowl of water under the radiator to keep the air moist. Put a slice of lemon in to stop it stagnating and going mucky.

My daughter had colic, and those two things alone settled her almost immediately.

Also if he is nearly 2, could it be that it is now part of his routine...thereby he wakes, and you go to him and he has become accustomed to this. The same rites and rituals apply to CP kids as non CP - they get used to a rhythm and routine.

My answer to the ramp, to try it, was to roll up a beach towel ab put it under one end of the crib as a whole, so the whole crib was elevated only about 1.5"

Failing all that there are specialist products, like a ramped wedge that may be a possible solution.

Hope that's helped.
Good luck
A

Elibarebum

Have you tried yakult? it was the only thing which helped with Elliot when he was a baby (24hours of colic!)
He was 3 months and we gave him 5mls the effect was almost instant!

Georgesmummy

Can I ask, how often did you give your baby Yakult?

I'm having the same problem with my 4 month old and nothing seems to work.

Thanks

renacahill

Hi Georgesmummy..I am answering for Ellibarbum (my daughter!!) she says 5ml once a day. Cant do any harm anyway to give it a go. Elli was also on colief for a while. Twas a real nightmare..thank heavens it wasnt me, I remember her brother being awful. My answer was baby wearing 24/7!! . With my daughter I bfed and cut out all dairy produce from my diet, she never had colic, but maybe she never would have.!!
Kate

Georgesmummy

I hope it works he's terrible in the day. I shall give it a go. Thanks xx

edwards49

I was advised by my health visitor to sit Max on my knee following feeding and place one hand on his chest and the other on his back...the idea being to make his torso poker straight! I was amazed when she did it as he stopped the agonising scream and began burping continuously.
She said as a nation we try to soothe colic sufferers by rubbing backs but in other countries they don't do this. She explained it to me as ... if I feel like I have trapped wind what would I do - stand up or sit up straight!

Max is now 2yrs 5mths and still suffers from wind! I still make him sit on my lap and do this when he is uncomfortable and it still works.

One word of warning though...I got some funny looks when we were out and from family and friends initially...but hey it worked!

xxx

mollymoobarnes

My little boy is one and we are dealing with the same issues - tonight didn't get to sleep until 10.15pm after spending the last 3 hours crying and arching his back, arms and legs so he was stiff as a pencil. I really just don't know what to do - we are using 'Thick and Easy' to thicken his milk which seems to have really helped slow down the flow rate and give him better control over the way it moves from his mouth to his throat but he's still really struggling with tummy discomfort and I don't know if it is caused by wind or just spasms in his tummy muscles. Anyone else got any good suggestions - it's breaking my heart seeing him in pain - for me this is by far his worst cp symptom and he's pretty badly affected really.

We've only just had a CP diagnosis - until he was 10 months old the doctors & paediatricians said he had colic but we just knew that there was more to it than that. Tom has 4 limb spastic cp - it's just amazing that the medical people missed the signs.

This is my 1st post on here - hello to all!

Maria x

renacahill

Hi Maria, welcome to the forum, you will find lots of good advice here!
Have you looked into reflux rather than wind/colic. A lot of CP babies have weak trunks and underlying weakness, despite stiffness (or intermittant stiffness) in their limbs. Not quite sure why reflux happens as its not confined to CP, but its when the muscle that keeps the stomach contents (including acid) is weak allowing acidy food/milk to come up into the lower section of the food pipe where it burns - hence the arching back - to get away from that severe indigestion feeling they have. Maybe CP weak muscles also apply to internal muscles?

Anyway, your GP of paed should manage this - there is baby gaviscon to neutralise the acid and ranitidine to reduce the amount of acid, along with physical methods such as keeping upright after feeds, raising head of cot etc.

Hope this helps but don't suffer in silence get back to the GP.

kate x

mollymoobarnes

Hi Kate

I think you might be right you know - I've heard that babes with CP can suffer with reflux. When he was supposed to be a 'colicky baby' we did try Infant Gaviscon, along with Colief, Yakult, Infacol and various other medications plus the anti-colic bottles and I gave up with all of them because nothing seemed to make any difference - then at Christmas we seemed to turn a corner and he no longer screamed all day every day and that is when we got first smiles, giggles etc whick was such a relief. But the issue hasn't gone away. Maybe it's time to revisit the Gaviscon and also speak again to the Paediatrician about it - they know we are having problems with his milk but I don't think they really know how bad things are for him. We are on the waiting list for an appointment with a Speech and Language therapist who specialises in eating and drinking too but Lord only knows when that will be. I guess I ruled out reflux because he doesn't posit his milk but then again, he does throw up quite spectacularly on a fairly regular basis, especially when we gets really upset about the discomfort he is in.

Thanks for the welcome and the advice & support! It's all still so new - I feel like I am in a nightmare I can't wake up from - my baby has brain damage and I feel as a mum I should be able to make things better but don't have it in my power to do so... He is, however, such a blessing - a really wonderful smily and friendly little boy - so bright and determined. I just wish he didn't have such a struggle ahead of him.

. I'll go get the Gaviscon tomorrow!

Maria x

renacahill

Hi Maria, hope you get help and if it is reflux you can get on top of it, it must be so wearing for you and the little one. My grandson (Elliot - Ellibarbum, pictured above!) also diagnosed with 4 limb spastic cp at 7 months and with some brain damage after a traumatic birth, is now 2.9 and getting on very well. Its taken a huge amount of work with lots of research, setbacks and wonderful moments of triumph! As a mum you dont have a magic wand to make everything better and 'normal' but as a mum you have the power to work mini miracles - miracles that involve a lot of sweat and tears - but no less precious for all that! You will find what empowers you are the wonderful smiles and cuddles that you get and all those mini miracles you see as your baby progresses, so please dont let it get you down, its worth it in the end.
kate x