Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | ?Help:infants and digestive problems!!

hello ! My "baby" (who is now 19 and the reason we found this board) had terrible, terrible colic, for months and months. I did breast feed her - but knew nothing about IBS trigger foods like i would now. We held her non stop for about 5 years (it seemed like) --- she has turned out to be an incredibly sensitive (physically and emotionally) and very very dear and special person. I think it is all connected. But it is truly hard to be so sensitive and she struggles with it in lots of ways. You should hear her play the violin, though, and see how compassionate and deep and insightful she is for such a young person ! Perhaps these thoughts would help your friend as she walks the floor at 3 am holding a screaming baby and wondering what is wrong. Its impossible to have that perspective until you've made it through to the other side. The positioning that Hansolo was talking about sounded really really good, and also the massage if he seems to like it. They are all different, so its good to experiment to see what kind of physical input will calm them. What worked best for our girl was to walk around holding her (where she was kind of upright) and to "bounce" her up and down. This seemed to soothe her stomach. In fact, my husband actually ended up buying a few albums that had just the right rhythm that we used specifically for "bouncing the baby"..... Also, we used to lay her on her back and bend her knees toward her chest and then move her knees slowly in a circle -- that seemed to help relieve the cramping. Also - she seemed to get her eating signals mixed up -- your friend might watch for that -- i would try to feed her to see if that was swhy she was crying -- and when she didn't want to eat -- i would try some other things -- then i might try feeding her 5 or 10 minutes later and she would act like she had been starving, which would always surprise me -- i read somewhere much later that collicky babies tend to get their signals mixed up -- like knowing when they are hungry and when they are not -- i don't know if that makes sense......YOur friend should force herself to get help and get some other loving people to spend time with the baby (even if he is crying) so she can get a break. It will save her sanity and she will be able to love him better when she is there. I didn't do this and I definitely should have. The extra love and attention this child gets will pay big dividends - i believe it did with our daughter -- they will be close his whole life - he will not forget their devotion. Since he is bottle fed - he should be fed slowly and take breaks and be sure that he burps well. I would definitely have her look into the fennel tea that Heather was talking about -- maybe also chamomile. I think there are also homeopathic remedies made specifically for babies with colic -- i would definitely try these -- they are totally harmless and may help. The best thing you could probably do is to watch the baby for her., and give her breaks. Also I carried mine in the front pack and then the back pack constantly, did all my work that way, and that was very very comforting and calming for her and would usually stop her from crying. Sometimes its better to them in there and go about life and not focus all your attention on them, but let them "do life" right with you, if you know what i mean -- they will tend to forget themselves, but also not feel abandoned. Some have found that riding in the car can be soothing for colic and will often put them to sleep. Good luck. she is lucky to have a friend who cares so much.

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