Colic (question about probiotics, help!)

Gerber Soothe colic drops...

They are like magical unicorn tears i swear. I had tried everything for DD4 and she was just so unhappy and miserable and in constant pain. I had to contemplate zantac though it didnt work 100% of the time so id rather discontinue it..and also tylenol in small doses just at bed time to at least get a decent nights sleep...i wasnt okay with that EITHER because as much as i NEED the sleep with 3 other kids i couldnt get over the thought that i would be taxing her poor little liver too hard. So enter the colic drops..first night was kind of meh, seemed to work but seemed she had a hard time adjusting still too..second night, its like a miracle has happened..she slept 6 hours, then 4 so i got 10 hours of only semi broken sleep. i feel like a new human being! She passed TONS of gas (big burps and lots..i mean LOTS of farting) and didnt cry other than to be changed and eat and then was the happiest cuddly baby. She has been in so much pain lately she shakes and shivers and just seems beyond stressed and anxious.

However...it says on the bottle that she is only supposed to get 5 drops once a day...they dont seem to 'work' 24 hours for this dosage though and im wondering if anyone can tell me the side effects or harm that could come from 'too much' probiotics? i was hoping someone could tell me 'nothing' so i could in good conscience give them to her twice a day to help her day and night..the 5 drops is like..hardly anything at all on the tiniest of baby spoons and i think 12 hours between doses couldnt possibly REALLY hurt...any advice?

Big hugs to you hun, I don't miss the colic one bit!

I'm going to assume you were given antibiotics during your pregnancy at least once and probably during birth correct? This would wipe out most of the baby's microbiome and cuase major digestive issues. I don't like that gerber is marketing this for breastfed babies as the matter becomes worse when formula is introduced because the baby simply doesn't have bacteria to break down their food.

I haven't looked into infant probiotics yet, I was actually going to in the next few weeks, but you want to give a variation of probiotics (2-3 strains is ideal to start, gerber has 1). What you are giving is a very good start and you'll have to dose based on her reactions. If gas and discomfort increase, lessen the dosage. Too much at once can cause issues, but sometimes it is needed and this is highly individual. You can also look into infant tummy massage, I did it for my DD with a drop of dill oil, it will help get the gas bubbles out, you can feel them.

You need to be taking a variaton of probiotics yourself as you do pass on some of it via breastmilk and it will help her, it takes some time though so hang in there. My favorites are prescript assist (soil based probiotics) and Jarrow Formulas, Saccharomyces Boulardii + MOS.

I didn't ask you how much you gave her when you saw the biggest improvement. I would suggest giving a drop with each feeding perhaps to space it out and not overwhelm her system. Re-population of the bacteria can take some time and you'll begin to see improvement as the days go by with consistent dosing :)

I found this just now and it contains the 3 most important strains for babies as well as others. I've never tried it, but it has great reviews by mothers of infants. https://www.amazon.com/Probonix-Liqu...4069c9ef8&th=1

i love you cos and was SO hoping you would have advice to give on this! I had a c section AND group b strep...so i had awful and strong antibiotics during labor and when the prepped me for c section..strong enough and pushed through me fast enough that i vomited. Then i got a clogged duct that rapidly became mastitis and i had an awful fever and felt sick as hell so i took the antibiotics they gave me...So she has been exposed to antibiotics in my milk unfortunately at least a few times already in just a month.

the thing is last night i think she got a bit more than 5 because as you will see in the reviews the dropper for them is absolute crap and i think at least some of the drops combined so i may have been counting 2-3 drops as 1...you do the math with that lol...regardless she was fantastic so really its a damn shame im not entirely sure how much she did get..the night before it was a perfect 5 and dare i say that didnt seem to be enough so she probably DOES need more..

I will look into those strains for myself and the probonix for her..THANK YOU!!

i think the probonix is making her worse....:broken: I dont know what to do anymore. DH isnt as bothered by letting her cry even at this age so he says just leave her be after ive tended to her and cuddled her and made sure she is loved if she still wants to cry she needs to cry but i dont know how much i agree with that at 4 weeks of age..but i also dont know what else to do :(

How many drops of the probonix are you giving her? from what I have read, she will need one to two drops per day. Are you giving it in conjunction with the gerber drops?

When they have colic, they are very miserable and unconsolable, I would just hold her while she cries because she won't stop until the pain is gone. Does she suckle at all when this happens?

She has thrush. I got a good look inside her mouth after hours of inconsolable crying. Yeast spots on her inner cheeks and it looks like near the back of her throat. probiotics wouldn't do this right? It was probably already there and I just didn't know it? And probiotics won't treat an active case of oral thrush will they? Would explain why it alleviates some of her issues but not entirely?

Does this mean I 100% have it too? I've had god awful pain in my breasts but it starts from the ducts and goes down.. when I mentioned this (when I had the mastitis!) they said yeast pain starts in the nipple and shoots up.. haven't really had that.. and I have no signs of yeast on my nipples.. I don't understand :(

I've been giving her two drops a day of probonix starting yesterday morning.i discontinued the gerber drops since I figured probonix would be better and covered more strains while also containing same strain gerber had

Burakoam I hope you mind me commenting here. I'm not at all familiar what meds are available to help with colic other than an Australian product called infacol which I tried with ds1. Maybe helped a little by passing gas/burping more but other than that don't think it was a huge help 😕 I took to propping his bassinet up on an angle so he wouldn't be sleeping flat and for naps started doing the same. It seemed no matter how tired he was, when I put him down to sleep flat he'd wake up screaming minutes later :( he honestly seemed to settle abit better when propped. I would also do the massage and bicycle legs (where you cycle their legs) but I think the best thing that worked (or he grew out of it, could've been coincidence) was keeping him awake for an hour or so after feeding. Gave him more time to digest etc before laying down although this wasn't always possible. My heart goes out to you as I can clearly remember being in an absolute state, just remember there is a light at the end of the colic tunnel and hopefully you're close to it. Hugs xxoo

today the yeast spots were gone in her mouth (all that i could see anyhow, not sure about the back of her throat) and the day was absolute bliss compared to the last 5 weeks of my life. fingers crossed as it seems she may be an entirely different baby now that the yeast is clearing up...

That's wonderful news! I hope it continues to improve for both of you. Is she still on the probonix? I started taking those today myself. The best thing to battle yeast is going to be probiotics, the only issue is that they take a while to work depending on the situation. Keep the momentum going.