As many of you know Emma Kate is colic. Yes, we know that word is OVER USED a lot. But she truly is colic. We aren't just making it up because she cries for 30 minutes. This child is pretty miserable and it breaks our hearts!
Emma Kate was breech for 20 weeks and was Baby A...which means that Olivia sat on her head the whole pregnancy. Can't be comfortable right?
The girls were born at 37 weeks...full term for twins. Were super healthy and were good weights. Emma Kate was 6 lbs 14oz at birth. I did notice in the hospital that her cry was SO LOUD. She left the hospital at 6 lbs 6 oz...she did lose a good amount of weight. We left the hospital supplementing her with breast milk through a system called SNS.
We took her to the doc the day after we got home and she was down to 6 lbs 5oz. We continued to supplement with breast milk. She did cry a good amount at night. It would take a long time to get her to sleep after feedings. At her one week doc appt she was up to 6 lbs 8oz. But we told the doc about the green/bright yellow stuff coming out of her nose. I was worried she was sick...but Dr. G told us that was acid reflux. Well, we had been through acid reflux with Tucker so we weren't worried at all. We filled her Zantac that day and thought things would get better. We also stopped waking her up at night to feed because it was making her tummy hurt so much and our nights were just awful.
Well the Zantac didn't really work as fast as it had with Tucker...but we did keep reminding ourselves that each child is different. When we went to Bundles of Joy (nursing group) when EK was two weeks old she was back up to 6 lbs 14oz...her birth weight! I called Dr. G after we left that afternoon to tell him she was back up to her birth weight but that Zantac wasn't working. He switched her to Prilosec. Also after she got back up to birth weight I stopped the SNS...she was getting plenty from just nursing and it was making her tummy hurt at night.
After we got stopped waking her up at night to eat and changed the meds we saw a difference at night...she slept longer stretches. There was still a TON of crying...but we didn't want to say it was colic yet. We took EK to the Mr.'s chiropractor at 2.5 weeks old. The Mr. had read a lot about it helping babies with colic and tummy issues. And Dr. A has worked with tons of babies in his 30 years of practicing. She didn't cry one peep at her first appointment with him. She LOVED it!
The chiropractor helped a little bit but we were still dealing with a lot of crying. We knew she was getting enough nursing, she would be dry but she would still scream and scream. One way to calm her down sometimes was for me to just to wear her. I would wear her in the Moby wrap for hours and hours during the day. The next thing I did was cut dairy from my diet. And if you know me and how picky I am you know this was tough. But I did it always! :) Of course we knew we wouldn't see results immediately.
October 10th was their one month appt. Dr. G was very impressed with her weight gain...she was 7 lbs 14oz at one month. I told him all of our worries and everything that we had done and he looked right at me and said, "She is full out colic." Those were the words I fought he would say, but was praying he wouldn't. We told him that she was sleeping pretty good at night but during the day she basically just screamed and nursed. And we also told him that she startles very easily....you can be holding her and slowly move your hand and she jumps like you have just slammed a door. He said there is really nothing you can do for colic and it's because her gut and nervous system aren't fully developed. He said she could have used another month in the womb but because she was a twin that wasn't possible. He did give us another med to use with her. You can only give her 4-5 drops every 6 hours. These give some relief....but not enough. Dr. G told me that she will most likely grow out of this by December. :(
Dr. G did say it's not a food allergy...if it were a food allergy she would have some sort of rash or very strange poop. And we might even seen blood in her poop. This wasn't the case at all. But as soon as I cut dairy she quit going to the bathroom everyday. She is not only pooping once a week...which I know has to be awful. I slowly started putting dairy back into my diet after two weeks of none.
One month pics...she had just nursed and was dry. :(
This is where EK spent most of her first month and still is worn by me A LOT.
Emma Kate really is a sweet baby and we love her to death. But this is hard...not being able to comfort your own child is the worst thing ever. If TJH gets hurt I can pick him up, kiss him, hug on him and he's good. If Olivia starts crying I can change her, feed her, love on her and she is good. But Emma Kate isn't like that. And we know that all of our children aren't going to be the same, but not being able to calm your child is awful.
TJH has been so patient with her too. :) He will hold her even when she is screaming. Ethel hasn't been too bothered by it. Lucy isn't a fan of the screaming...she will usually leave whatever floor we are on when EK is screaming.
The Mr. and I have taken shifts with her daily...it's too much for one parent to deal with. And it's good that both of us are able to be at home right now with her.
So we of course have taken any and all suggestions for how to help our sweet girl! We were on our nightly walk and one of our neighbors told us about how her son was colic 28 years ago and they used catnip. She said they made it into a tea and gave it to her son and it worked. Well that evening the Mr. went to out and got some! EK loves it and we call it her "Kitty Cat Juice". We give it to her after she nurses and it just calms her tummy and usually helps her go to sleep. I was a little worried at first about this, but the Mr. read a ton of stuff about it and made me a cup of it too and it's not bad at all. It's a very safe way to help her.
We stopped giving her the Prilosec almost two weeks ago, she has no signs of the acid reflux and we thought it might be stopping her from going to the bathroom. I also wanted to see if just using natural stuff would help more. The nights have been good but days are really hard. Up until this week she has been gaining weight. At 6 weeks she was up to 8 lbs 11oz. But then this week at Bundles of Joy at 7 weeks she hand't gained an oz. I almost cried right there at the scale. But L (nurse/lactation consultant) calmed me down. She is getting almost 4.5 oz at each feeding...where is it going? L told me again for the 3 or 4th time since EK was born that she is burning so many calories crying. I still felt like the worst mommy ever.
The Mr. looked up the weight gain issue along with colic and found out that some babies need probiotics added to their diet. So off to the store he went.
I love Instagram for more reasons then just the pictures...it's a community. I looked up the hashtags for colic and found out some other mommies had used Hylands Colic Tablets and probiotics. We love Hyland's products so the Mr. ordered these...they should be here this week in the mail.
We also read that changing the bottle could help...she only take a bottle before bed but when I go back to work she will have a lot more bottles...so I got these this week. They seem to help..we could hear her taking down air before and now we can't with the Dr. Brown's bottles.
We've also been using the Colic Calm and Gripe Water.
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The Mr. also ordered the Happi Tummi and it should be here later this week too. Like I said, we are willing to try anything to help her!
But since starting the probiotics and her chiropractor appt this week she has had three poops instead of just one! And we are starting to see a happier side of her during the day!
Colic is no joke y'all! I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy. It's stressful and heartbreaking. I have prayed and prayed for patience. I have only had two really bad days during all of this. And with the support of my husband, friends and family I have been able to pick myself up those two days and keep going. I am thankful for those of you who have been through life with a colic child and have shared what you've done...you don't really fully understand unless your child has been colic.
We love this little girl to pieces and know this is just a phase in life. We are praying for it to go away fast for her sake. Seeing your child in pain and not being able to help them is horrible and we want her pain to go away so fast!
Thank you for your prayers and support!
