​My first baby did everything by the books. People always commented on how good she was in the grocery store or in a restaurant. I could take her anywhere and everywhere and she would just calmly sit in her car seat. She rarely cried, and I felt pretty good about myself as a new mom.

Then, sixteen months later,  I had my second baby, and things drastically changed. He cried, and cried, and cried...and I felt so helpless. I felt like a first-time mom even though he was my second baby. I remember taking him shopping in Target a few weeks after he was born, and he just started screaming and I couldn't console him at all. People were giving me those sympathetic, "she must be a new mom" looks, and I was so embarrassed! 

Each night my husband and I would wait for the screaming to start.  We tried swaddling him, putting him in a swing, cutting out my one cup of coffee (that wasn't a good week!) , doing the "colic hold", bathing him...nothing worked, and if it did work, it was only for a little while. I remember feeling so helpless and exhausted. If felt like  the crying was my fault.  That was three months ago...

He is now  one of the happiest babies I have ever seen! He laughs out loud all the time and he loves to smile at people he meets for the first time. We are still working on sleeping through the night, but  the nonstop crying has ended! 

Those first few months with a colicky baby are extremely hard, but remember this:

1.  It is not your fault. Blaming yourself only makes matters worse.

2. When people offer to help, let them!

3. Don't feel like you have to be the only one who holds your baby when he's crying. 

4. Take time for yourself whenever you can.  You need to take care of yourself in order to care for your baby.

5. The colic will end