My Son's Colic

by Kerry Espenschied
(Lincoln, Nebraska)

As a new mother, I had minimal experience with babies, and I found my Judson's episodes with colic frightening, and quite frustrating. A colicky baby can cause a new parent to question their parenting abilities, especially when everything you try doesn't work.

My main goal was to ease his suffering, not to mention my own . This was the early eighties and little was known about colic back then. There were limited treatments available. I tried water, I tried getting him to eat more slowly, I tried different formulas. Nothing seemed to work, and I was desperate.

The first few nights I mostly just stayed up walking the floors with him. I recalled how much he loved riding in the car. When I could see that I was in for another night without sleep, I simply put him in his car seat and we went for a drive.

He would doze within minutes, and while I missed the sleep, I definitely benefited from the quiet.