Feeling like a Zombie

Hi all
I am sooo tired these days that I can barely function. My 3month old boy has had tummy cramps for the last few months and I have had no help from the GP or Pediatrician. The GP gave me Mylanta and that did nothing. The Pediatrician told me that he will grow out of it - when?
My partner and I have him in our bed with us as this way I can pat his back if he wakes himself up with his cramps - and I can also feed him easily. He still feeds 3 times a night and also wakes in between in pain. And now that he is getting bigger he keeps waking me up with his wriggling and kicking.
I have tried putting him in his cot (next to our bed) and he seems quite content when he is not in pain but as soon as he gets a cramp he wakes himself up and cries in pain. I then have to rock him back to sleep upright. During the day I carry him in a sling (this is a lifesaver - Baby Bjorn Carrier) so that I can get work done while he sleeps.
When he is in pain all he wants to do is suck - since he will not take a dummy (I have tried endless amount of times and he spits it out) - I end up feeding him almost every 2 hrs.
I understand that this makes his pain then worse and is turning into a vicious cycle - but I do not like letting him cry in pain? Help!
Being Canadian, I don't have allot of support in Brisbane so I am feeling that I do need some. I am getting no sleep myself and I am starting to feel like a zombie.
I have an appointment with Child Health Clinic on Friday so I will let you know how it goes...

I was having similar problems with my son. He is only 7 weeks. We put him on "brauer colic relief" It worked beautifully for him and us. Other than that I don't know what you could do. Let me know how you go.

Thanks Rachael I will try that.
I was told to get these drops called "Infants Friend" - they are all natural but don't seemed to have helped much at all. My next step is a Naturopath or Chiroprator I think. I'll let ya know how I go at the clinic though as they may have the answer smile

Some Info For You smile

I had my appointment with the Child Health Services Clinic, in Brisbane, and had a great experience.

I met with a nurse for an hour and we had a great chat, covering everything from parent health history, to expressing breast milk, to sleep and settling.

She weighed and measured my son and tested his development - which was very interesting and great to know that he is happy and healthy smile

I informed her of my problems with sleep and settling. I was sent into a cosy room to breast feed and watch videos on how to better settle him and how to notice all the tired signs etc.

It was fascinating to find out that I have been overstimulating my little bubba (poor guy!)!
I have been playing with him and holding him too much when he is tired, which overstimulates him and causes him to get worked up into a crying frenzy. He then finds it hard to settle himself down again - so it is one of those cycles that I just didn't realise I was creating. Apparently very common to do with babies that are very alert, like my boy.

I also learnt to how to wrap him and put him in his cot with no toys so that he is not distracted and will sleep better.

I learnt to let him cry a bit and then if I want I can rock him from the cot - but that they need to learn to settle themselves. The wrap that he is in helps him not wake himself with his flailing limbs.

I now have him out of my bed and have him sleeping in his cot day and night - yippee!!! The cot is beside my bed so that I can help him settle if he wakes during the night, and for easy nursing.

I was told that his colic would settle soon and that he would also sleep through the night soon - thank goodness for that!

Overall putting him down has been much easier and he seems very settled and much calmer. The meeting provided me with the support and reassurance that I needed to feel confident as a mother. I now feel I have more of a life now and get a much better sleep knowing he is safe and sound in his cot.

I highly recommend that all new mothers visit their local Child Health Services for this free appointment.

Good Luck all smile
Laurie and 'Tigger' (Tadhg)

I have a 3 month old son that sounds exactly like yours. I bottle feed him and have tried a thicker formula, infants friend, a special wind mixture form the chemist, infacol (which did actually work for a while) and now he has mylanta. He to is hard to settle during the day but sleeps very well at night. When he is having bad wind pain I just put him in bed with me and i think he feels more secure with me. One thing i found when i was using infacol was that he didnt seem to be in heaps of pain when he was trying to do a poo. As i use to find that his pains are worse when he was trying to poo and he would suck really hard on his dummy when he was doing a poo.Just last week while I was a the child health clinic they told me that he sounded like he had silent reflux apparently a lot of babies get it.He sounds like he has a blocked throat which i was thinking was wind but it is actually like heart burn.

Just one more thing i find that laying him on his belly relieves his pain too i know it is a no no but during the day i sleep him on his belly and at night he sleeps on his back. Also you could try lying him over your knees on his belly and raise one knee higher than the other and rub his back i find that gets a bit of wind out too.

hi< i didnt have much sleep either untill about a week ago when i started my baby girl on INFACOL - WIND DROPS... they can be used either by being dropped in a bottle or given before or after breast feeding - they cost around $10 - well worth the money.