Today's blog has been shared from a fellow Mom Blogger, Marissa Bushee (@ambusheedwithboys).
Marissa is a full-time working mama, with 2 young boys. With her blog, she wants to encourage women to learn and come together as a community through her experiences of motherhood. She has posted about a wide variety of topics, ranging from farmers markets, to holidays, to real-life mama struggles. It's all there for the taking!
So, your six-week-old baby just went from being an eating, sleeping, pooping, little angel, to a crazy possessed little human with nonstop crying after 4pm almost every day. Don't stress out, your kid isn't possessed, she most likely has colic.
Infantile Colic as describe by Mayo Clinic:
Colic is frequent, prolonged and intense crying or fussiness in a healthy infant. Colic can be particularly frustrating for parents because the baby's distress occurs for no apparent reason and no amount of consoling seems to bring any relief. These episodes often occur in the evening, when parents themselves are often tired.
Episodes of colic usually peak when an infant is about 6 weeks old and decline significantly after 3 to 4 months of age. While the excessive crying will resolve with time, managing colic adds significant stress to caring for your newborn child.
My Husband and My Experience:
My sister came to the Bay (where we live) from Los Angeles to meet her new nephew for the first time; he was about five weeks old. I had already noticed my son having difficulty drinking his bottle about 4pm every other day for about a week. She suggested I write down in a journal recording what was occurring, what time it would happen and anything else that seemed important and take it to our pediatrician. I had just been to the pediatrician two weeks before for his one-month checkup when she confirmed it was what 40% of parents out there have to deal with, colic and to top it off he was also diagnosed with acid reflux that same day. So much fun! Here I am with my husband hours away from our closest family members, first time parents, with a kid that has colic and acid reflux. Spit up I can handle, that’s not a big deal but watching my child suffer for hours and scream inconsolably is enough to make any parent go crazy.
I am not going to sugar coat it, it was ridiculously hard. I did feel like I was going mad. I grew frustrated and impatient and felt sorry for myself and my baby. But then I said enough with this, I wasn’t going to let this, crappy temporary condition rule our lives. So, I went to war.
I read, I tried, and I followed through. I spoke to as many people I knew and figured out what we needed to do, really what all parents need to do, put him a on schedule, and if we got a bad day or a day where he was exhibiting symptoms then we will continue like scheduled. We weren’t going to keep this from defining the first few months of our lives with our first born.
We knew around what time it would start so we began shifting feedings to accommodate. We figured out what soothed him. For us it was bath time for others it’s the motion of the clothes dryer and for others its driving in the car. Whatever the case maybe, find what they love and be prepared. We made sure to start a bath at 6pm and keep him in it longer than normal to keep him happier and distracted from the pain. If it was very bad we used Colic Calm (I’m not a doctor so I don’t recommend doing anything your doctor doesn’t recommend). Our doctor didn’t recommend it but she did say that other parents found some relief. It worked but we used it sparingly, not wanting to depend on it, not to mention it left his poop coming out blackish. It worked for us. After bath time, we would attempt to feed him,(we had to keep him held up do to his acid reflux for about 30 minutes). then put him down around 730pm.
After five months it was gone and we were left with a child that still didn’t sleep through the night (that will be another blog post to come), but a happy rambunctious kid. In the end, we're left much more wise and knowledgeable of how difficult it is to have a child with colic and to not have a village around to support you. We were not that lucky and didn’t have the support, just my hubby and myself. By the time he entered Daycare at six months old the colic was gone and the signs of having a possessed child a not too distant memory.
So, keep at it mommy and daddy. You can do it. You’re not alone, and if you need support reach out to me, I’m here to help you and so are many other mommy’s and daddy’s out there.
Best of luck
Marissa
Read Marissa's original post here!
Pictured above: Marissa in our Raising Gentlemen tee.
To learn about Mommy Burnout, read our blog post here!
XO,
Julie
