When did 'colic' get better?

[Hollyadmin]

Just curious when 'colic' got better for you. I know a lot of us have babies that never really outgrew the fussiness completely, but just wondering when the worst of it (inconsolable crying/screaming) stopped for you...

[roofth]

Let's see... we had a nightly witching hour that was exactly 6-9pm. And when DST hit (fall back) it was exactly 5-8pm. I am an FTM and it was terrifying for me. DH is a family MD, so we ruled out pretty much everything and by the time it peaked (around 6-7 weeks) we knew exactly what we had on our hands. A textbook colic baby. No amount/combination of the 5 S's (Happiest Baby on the Block) could completely soothe my baby. The colic fits started around 3-4 weeks. They started skipping nights around 10-12 weeks, and after 3 months, it had completely gone.

There are some people who use the term "colic" as a catch-all phrase for just fussiness/crying in general, and my guess is, they probably have never experienced what true colic is like. I once told a friend that my baby had "colic". She rolled her eyes and said, "oh honey, ALL babies are colicky to some degree." And instantly I knew that she had no idea what real "colic" was like. If your baby is able to be comforted, then it's not colic at all!! It's whatever that problem/solution is. It's hard to explain to people who have never experienced it before. I found a website that explained my experience really well: http://www.babycareadvice.com/babycare/general_help/article.php?id=46.

Anyways, that's me and my baby over here. Now that the colic is gone, we have a bunch of sleep problems in it's place.  

[sheeshoo2]

For us I think Cole will always continue to have a passionate, intense personality (that of a true high need infant/child) but I would say the constant screaming ended around 5 months, replaced by severe sleeping issues.  We are now at 7 months and sleeping much better but have pretty severe separation anxiety.  With each new milestone it brings Cole closer to independence and that seems to help temper him.  It seems like for now we just can't have everything great all at once...something will always be a struggle, lol.

[danakn1]

For us I think Cole will always continue to have a passionate, intense personality (that of a true high need infant/child) but I would say the constant screaming ended around 5 months, replaced by severe sleeping issues.  We are now at 7 months and sleeping much better but have pretty severe separation anxiety.  With each new milestone it brings Cole closer to independence and that seems to help temper him.  It seems like for now we just can't have everything great all at once...something will always be a struggle, lol.

I think our kids are pretty similar, things got better for us for about a week when she was 6 months, but the sleep issues were pretty bad and then she got an ear infection so fussiness continued!  Sleep is getting better now that we did HSHHB...I also agree with the milestone comment, she has recently learned to crawl so she can get to toys if she isn't feeling lazy, she still whines for me to get things for her though because she can!

[sheeshoo2]

Haha---I agree about the crawling thing.  Cole CAN get to toys, but he tends to be on the lazy side ;-)  He completely plays me and whines until I get him a toy...it is so ridiculous ;-)

[fbsurvivor]

I think my dd had both colic and was/is high needs.  The sort of nightly witching hour and the screaming about gas pains is what I would refer to as colic and that tapered somewhere around 4 months.  The high needs constant screaming, needing to be held all of the time changed dramatically at six months when she could sit up.  At 17 months, she still gets mad about diaper changes, the carseat, and changing clothes, but it's very specific.  It's nothing like having a child screaming all of the time.

I totally relate about that comment about every child being colicky.  Another new mother talked to me about that at a wedding reception and I told her that my daughter screamed for 10 hours straight.  The question immediately became, "Oh my god, I can't stand 20 minutes, what did you do?".  I told her we went crazy.   Also, the sleep consultant I met with said that she had met only 2 or 3 other babies that had had true colic.  According to Dr. Karp, I think he says only 20% of babies have colic.  I wonder if high needs is like 5%?

I agree, that in some ways colic or high needs is when the baby can't be consoled with the 5 S's.  Those type of techniques helped some, but most of the time they didn't.  It would seem like some combination would work for a few days and then stop.  Then I'd try some other combo.  I felt like, if it's a science experiment, then it isn't really a solution.