Adventures in Baby Colic

What is baby colic exactly?  A pissed off baby according to the doctor at our local Children's hospital emergency room. 
Since we were assured the hours of inconsolable crying were normal at this age we tried just about everything imaginable to calm him.  
He rode in his car seat on the washer

then the drier. 

We changed formula, bottles, added gas drops, gripe water ... you name it.

 We hung Christmas lights in the kitchen, put his swing where the table normally sits and ran the hood fan for the stove on high.  It seemed to calm him for about a day.

The next day we bounced and swayed back and forth in front of the hood fan with a warm water bottle on his tummy.  It seemed to calm him for about a day.

We tried a warm bath also known as tubby time in our house.  He played until mom worried he would look like a prune permanently.  It seemed to calm him for about a day.

We let him hang out in just a diaper and socks while kicking away in his vibrating bouncer, on the kitchen table, looking at the Christmas lights and listening to the fan.  It calmed him for half the day.

We put him in the Mamaroo on Rock-A-Bye setting with the Christmas lights on and the fan going.  It calmed him for a quarter of the day.
Then came the day where nothing worked.  Nothing.  Our poor little pumpkin cried from 9am until around 10pm.  Somewhere during this terrible day I decided maybe it was time to question this colic diagnosis.  I know I'm no expert but mom's intuition is telling me there's something more to this.  The doctor said to keep doing what we are doing unless he spikes a fever over 100.4. 
Feeling defeated I had no choice but to keep on keeping on.  About an hour later I felt like maybe he was warmer than usual.  The upcoming diaper change meant the perfect time to take his temp.  100.5.
Bad for baby ... great for mommy.  After a quick call to daddy we were off to Children's Hospital.
He screamed and cried through all of triage, his blood draw, urine sample and until they completed his lumbar puncture and then he just stopped.  Yep ... just like that he stopped crying and fell asleep?
All his tests came back normal so they said he more than likely had a virus and colic and sent us home to follow up with our pediatrician.  His pediatrician thinks he had a bad headache and the lumbar puncture relieved the pressure causing him to sleep.  But nothing mentioned about figuring out how he got such a monster headache.  Hmm ...
I was not convinced.  The very next day we had another chiropractor appointment and he was not a happy camper when we arrived.  She worked his neck and back first and then turned him over to check for any tummy troubles.  I had told the doctor his crying seems to get worse right before he poops and questioned what that meant.  They didn't know but gave us a referral to the GI clinic for more invasive testing.  Which is laughable now since our chiropractor found a valve in his intestines that was likely spasming ... gently released it and the crying stopped almost immediately ... and lasted.  He went days without a single episode!

Does this guy look grumpy or ... um ... pissed off to you?  Nope that's a big old grin.
Do I think its possible for a baby to cry for no reason?  Yes.  Do I think a baby will cry for hours and hours for no reason.  I don't think I do.  I think that if a basic physical exam and some numbers on lab results come up clear ... western medicine calls it colic.  Eastern medicine on the other hand listened to his body, found the malfunction and kicked "colic" to the curb.  Still not convinced?  Check out my smiley guy :)

Does he still have cranky days?  Sure.  But if the usual stimuli doesn't cut it we now know its time to head back to the chiropractor.   Live in the Milwaukee area?  I have a great chiropractor I can recommend!