Colic, Winds & Cramps

Colic, winds & cramps – This is all the same thing

The first month, oh man, this was absolutely tiring. We had sessions where our baby screamed & cried for three hours at a time and then sleep for ten or twenty minutes. This is what you call colic. We tried different kinds of medicines for cramps. There are many products on the market, paediatrician’s choice Gripewater, Telement drops, this didn’t work for us, for other babies it might work. Then we tried Buscopan for babies, this seemed to help a little bit, but our baby still didn’t get any better.

Well, trail and error it is all it is. At a stage I thought that maybe we aren’t feeding our baby enough. But my wife breastfed her for an hour at most and surely she should be getting enough. We even bought Anique’s rooibos. I read an article that rooibos helps infants to cope with colic, they say that It is soothing, revitalize and heals, but never the less, we still didn’t get anywhere.

After a month, we went for our baby’s first check up. This was when we discovered the problem. She (our baby) only picked up 300g, she was supposed to have picked up 1kg after six weeks. All this time we thought that she had colic, those cramps were actually hunger cramps.

So here is what I suggest. Go and buy a breast-pump, that is if you are breastfeeding, you need to see that your baby is getting the correct quantity milk. Bare in mind that a one month old baby consumes round about 60ml to 90ml of milk every feed. So what we did was to buy formula for a top up. Your baby need to pick up 200g a week. I also suggest that for the first 3 months, to go to your nearest clinic to weigh your baby (every week for the first month). Whichever formula you use is up to you, we started on S26 – sensitive. Like I said what worked for us might not work for you, S26 didn’t work, so we tried NAN -HyperAlergic.

To get back to my screaming baby, that very same day we started feeding her more and like a miracle she got better and better. She quickly reached her ideal weight. After that she slept for 3 hours and fed for an hour. She did not get cramps like in the beginning. If you are in the same boat, try feeding her more, even if it is just a little, try it and see what happens. You might find this as your solution.

Read more about your colicky baby or find out a bit more about colic “What is Colic?“