How Do I Know if My Baby Has Colic?

September 27, 2011, By Josh Katzowitz 1 comment

Josh Katzowitz

As a father of twins, I'm often asked by people how my wife and I manage, but it really has not been difficult. Many parents face far tougher challenges—such as Mary Allison, a mother of two and a former elementary school teacher. She has a lovely son, and recently she had a daughter who developed colic and acid reflux. Life for the first few months of baby Scarlett’s life was hell for just about everybody in Mary Allison’s household.

When I hear stories like hers, I feel lucky—and grateful—that my twins, despite a scary, premature start to their lives, have been healthy and happy. Mary spent some time e-mailing with me about how she copes with Scarlett's constant screaming and crying while she takes time off from teaching to take care of her two children.

Josh Katzowitz: I'm lucky. My twins didn't have colic or reflux, and aside from their stay in the NICU, they've given us hardly any problems health-wise. They don't even cry that much. Knock on wood. What's life like for you these days? Can't be terribly easy, I imagine.

Mary Alison: Life is great with a new baby and an almost two-year-old...great but HECTIC! I feel like every day is a juggling act. We'll get the hang of it soon, but I am worn out! I can imagine when you have twins you know the feeling! We were thrown a curve ball about two weeks after Scarlett was born. Not only does she have bad acid reflux, but she has colic too! Ugh! Colic. It's a parent's nightmare!

So first off, the reflux. It struck pretty fast and furious. We were noticing that at night we couldn't get Scarlett back to sleep after feedings. We are talking two or three hours of straight crying at 2 or 3 a.m. The second I put her back in her bassinet after a feeding, it was a blood-curdling scream. I thought I was going to curl up in a ball and cry along with her. By the time she went back to sleep, it was time for ANOTHER feeding. I felt like all we did was feed, cry, feed. After one long night I finally decided this wasn't normal so we went to the doctor.

Turns out, she had bad reflux. I didn't know it was that because she didn't spit up much at all. Apparently she swallows it...gross, I know. Poor thing was crying because whenever she laid down, the acid came up. I felt terrible for her. They put her on Zantac for a week but that did nothing so they switched her to Prevacid. That seemed to help a bit, and then colic came knocking at our door. I felt beat down after hours of crying. I told my husband that they should punish prisoners by leaving them in a room with a colicky baby for 24 hours. They would never break the law again!

It's awful. Every time I put her down (even for 30 seconds) the poor thing would cry. You feel so exhausted and you just want to comfort your baby but you can't. Thankfully, they switched her formula to help her stomach, and although we call it "liquid gold" at the price tag of $30 a can, it's worth it! They also upped her Prevacid dosage at the advice of a GI specialist. We still have to take her to a feeding therapist to analyze how she eats and swallows and to rule anything else out. I just pray to God it's nothing more serious.

My saving grace is she sleeps well at night but it took some time for the meds and different formula to start kicking in. All I know is that they say colic can go away anywhere from three to four months. We're on a countdown. She isn't as bad as some babies and we're starting to see some improvements, thankfully. We love our sweet girl and just want her to feel better!