Coping with a sick baby…..
Having coped with my baby having major intestinal surgery at just eight weeks old, I really thought I had been through the most difficult situation life was going to throw at me, how wrong was I……
Glad to be home from hospital, baby Oliver was doing really well. A week after our return home Oliver became distressed and unsettled, particularly in the evenings, and I suddenly felt like I had the ‘devil child’ living in my home.
Getting Answers
Reassured that there was nothing surgically wrong with the baby, I set upon the mission of posting my frustrations onto parenting ’blog’ pages. The same suggestions seemed to be forthcoming: My baby was suffering from colic.
I had limited knowledge of colic, and even as a nurse, I truly had no idea just how distressing the condition is both for the infant and the family.
Oliver would scream the house down from 6 o’clock until 10 o’clock every night and to see him in such apparent pain was soul destroying. There seemed to be no way of comforting or pacifying him.
Finding a Treatment
Once again I spent hours trawling websites for suggestions on how to treat colic. I bought the recommended feeding bottles, tried the ‘colic drops’, the baby massage, you name it, I tried it.
I think that the practical suggestion that were offered helped. As cruel as it sounds it is necessary to just let the infant cry. We soon realized when the television volume was getting louder and louder, that it was time for Oliver to be put to bed, where he would continue to scream, until he exhausted himself and fell asleep.
Sharing the responsibilty is also a must. Take some ‘time out’ and allow your partner to look after the baby, and allow you some breathing space, and vice versa. The pressure put upon couples who have sick babies is immense, and it is important to work as a team.
Amazingly in this modern age there does not appear to be a cure, or even reasonable treatment for the symptoms of infant colic. With advances in HIV and cancer care it is amazing to think that colic still poses a challenge to medical science.
Grin and Bear It
Having exhausted every possible avenue, and tried every suggestion offered, I realized that as a family we just had to accept Oliver was going through a difficult time, and hope that he got over it soon. I was informed that he may suffer from colic until he was up to 16 weeks old, and just my luck he suffered it until he was 15 weeks!
Out the Other Side
Fortunately we all came out of the experience unscathed. Oliver continues to thrive, and despite his ongoing medical problems (he has chronic kidney failure), we now feel we can cope with anything that being parents throws at us.
My advice to any parent is to seek support, and medical advice. Do not feel you are alone coping with a baby with colic. Stay close as a couple and support each other. Fortunately with colic, there is an eventual end to it.
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One Comment
Write a Comment»When my eldest was a baby she used to suffer badly from colic at night, screaming from six until midnight most nights. Like you I tried all sorts of remedies and none worked.
Finally I put thought into what was different at night that set her off. The only thing I could figure was the drop in temperature of a night (she was born in late autumn). So I started closing the house up at about 3pm and putting the heaters on to maintain the temperature of the house. It seemed to work because the night time screaming stopped. I don’t understand WHY it worked, but it seemed to. Perhaps it was just coincidence and she happened to grow out of it at the same time as I started warming the house. Perhaps thought it could be a line which further research could follow up.