Colic Solved

Maria is the most perfect four month old baby you can imagine. She wakes me up with talking and cries rarely--usually when something hurts or she's having trouble getting to sleep. But it's never too intense and never lasts longer than 20 minutes or so. She naps regularly and smiles all morning long and just looks around. I have to guess when she's hungry because she doesn't fuss.

This is the same baby who would scream inconsolably for an hour here and an hour there. So what happened?

I wrote about Colic Calm. It's true, that helped. But after awhile, its effects seemed diminished and I would either have to give her more or listen to her shriek, scream, and cry. I couldn't put her down and even when I did hold her, she would still cry, just not as hard.

While sitting and nursing, I observed her reacting in pain and noticed that her gas was painful. She couldn't just burp or pass gas--there was writhing and screaming involved. I remembered that she'd taken an antibiotic for a few days when she was a week old (she had an infection) plus whatever antibiotic I was given during surgery that she got through me. I started to wonder how I could get more bacteria into her little gut. Grown ups can take probiotic supplements or eat yogurt. Babies cannot eat yogurt, and although I pass digestive bacteria to her through breastmilk, she clearly did not have enough to help her digest well.

So what did I do to get this brand new baby? I found a probiotic for her by talking to my friend Annie. It was recommended by a lactation consultant for her newborn son. The day that I exchanged e-mails with Annie, I headed to the breastfeeding center, all five kids in tow in the pouring rain, to pick up this probiotic.

The product is called Ther-Biotic Infant Formula and it is AMAZING. Although I bought it at our local breastfeeding center, it is available via internet. Follow the link if you're interested. It comes in a powder form, fine white powder. It is recommended to allow the infant to suck it off of the finger but the infant (likely) needs 1/4 teaspoon dose per day and it takes FOREVER to do it that way. I mixed this 1/4 tsp with 1/2 ounce of breastmilk, stirred it, and fed it to her with a dosing syringe.

Within three days, Maria was a new, happy, content, sleeping, smiling baby. I continued the probiotic--I'm still using the first $30 bottle--and watched her stools change back to normal, watched her mood change, and watched her eliminate gas from both ends without so much as squirming. Now I give it to her once or twice a week to ensure a well populated gut. She's such an easy baby now, that I want to have 10 more just like her. Really.