I had never heard of "Colic" prior to being pregnant. I didn't even know such a thing existed. During the last months of my pregnancy, my cousin, who is a mother of two, mentioned it as something to watch out for. She called it "a mother's nightmare" and described to me the tell-tall signs to watch out for. When my baby was born, I kept a close eye for all the signs of this mysterious condition. Thankfully, I thought, there weren't any and so I breathed a sigh of relief. I was celebrating prematurely as it happens because by the time he was six weeks old, the dreaded signs of Colic emerged.
My, otherwise calm and happy, infant was suddenly overtaken by a pain so severe he would bang his knees to his tummy repeatedly. I could not bare it, a fact made worse by his inconsolable crying. I turned to the internet in desperation for a cure. I bought everything and anything that anyone claimed to have helped their child with Colic. I even tried baby Reflexology Colic socks, acupressure, Colic & Gas relief waistband; absolutely everything!
There was a slight, and only slight, relief with some of the things I tried. The Colic drops faired better than the gripe water, the socks were completely useless but ultimately nothing worked long term. I theorized that perhaps my son was allergic to milk or something in the formula. He also was bringing up his feed frequently. I figured it must be the force of the knees banging his tummy and the relatively small size of the tummy pushing the feed back up.
My health visitor came round one day and in desperation I told her about my son's condition and showed her the collection of potions and gimmicks I had acquired. She told me that unfortunately there was no known cure for colic and that the drops I had purchased were supposed to work even though only slightly. I felt defeated and condemn to watching my son suffer while I cuddled him helplessly. The only silver lining she could offer was that Colic does disappear by the time infants are 3 months old. That was of little consolation to me at the time.
I had booked an appointment with the doctor and had decided that they look at allergies as a possible culprit. At my doctor's appointment, my son was examined and as he was healthy and doing fine aside from the emotionally crippling Colic, the doctor did not seem alarmed or concerned. She, just like the health visitor, told me that he will grow out of it by around the 3 months mark. She did however prescribe something for the reflux to stop him bringing up his feed.
I gave my son the prescribed Gaviscon and continued with my internet search for solutions to Colic. Gaviscon added to his misery as it caused him to be constipated! I immediately stopped giving it to him and continued to use the drops with their limited relief; it was better than nothing!
As we neared the three months mark, I eagerly looked for signs that he was growing out of this dreadful condition but none were present. It actually seemed to be getting worse; the cries, the pain and the reflux. In desperation I booked him another urgent appointment determined that this time they will have to look into allergies. The reason for my logic was that, Max's pain were triggered usually after a feed. I figured it must be something in the formula he was reacting to. I have to add that by this point we had tried various formulas and had stuck with Cow&Gate formulated for Colic and constipation.
The GP surgery was busy and they couldn't get me an appointment as urgently as I had wished. I was not happy but then they offered an urgent appointment at their sister branch, I took it! It was pure chance that the doctor we saw at this branch, happened to have a 10 months old baby girl who suffered from the exact symptoms Max was having. He told us that he believed he knew what was causing Max the pain and it wasn't the mysterious Colic. It was in fact reflux! He also explained to me why Max did not have an allergic reaction to the formula or milk. It turns out that when babies (infants) have an allergic reaction to milk/formula it is almost always accompanied by some sort of a skin rash, which Max didn't have.
The doctor knew from Max's notes that Gaviscon had caused him constipation so he prescribed what his daughter had used: Ranitidine. This was medication to treat reflux, which unlike Gaviscon did not cause constipation. We started Max on Ranitidine that afternoon and the transformation was nothing short of a miracle! Within days of using Ranitidine, administered 3 times a day, Max's pain eased. We continued with Ranitidine until he was 6 months old and the reflux had long gone.
I learnt a few things during this experience:
1) Colic is indeed a phrase used to describe a number of symptoms in infants causing severe pain in the abdominal area. It describes symptoms but there is little understanding in the medical field to the cause of these specific symptoms. As a matter of fact, there is so little understanding of Colic that some medical professionals refuse to recognize it as an actual condition!
2) There is no known cure for Colic but some remedies can provide temporary relief. The level of relief cannot be predicted as it is different with different babies. If you choose to go down the trial-and-error route in finding relief for your baby, be prepared to spend a small fortune. Some of the remedies and drops are expensive and come in little bottles that barely last a week!
3) A milk/lactose intolerance or allergic reaction in infants is almost always accompanied by a rash of some sort. So unless your infant has a visible rash with their pain, doctors will not consider allergy as a possible culprit.
4) If your infant seems to be suffering from Colic but also suffers from reflux, treat the reflux as we found out it was the reflux all along causing the pain and not Colic.
5) Do not rush into buying specialist formulas like we did before you are absolutely certain that it is indeed colic. We spent a small fortune on specialist "Colic and Constipation" formula, which is more than double the cost of regular formula, when we didn't even need to.
6) Gaviscon has higher rate of causing constipation in most infants, Ranitidine doesn't. If you are prescribed Gaviscon for your baby and you have never used it before then ask for a small amount to test it out first.
The good news is that even if your baby is suffering from Colic, it does really pass as their bodies grow so there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
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