Our son was fussy and colicky for the first four months after he was born. We weren't sure whether his nervous system was underdeveloped, or whether it was due to something with his stomach.

We found that the best way of getting to him to stop crying was to put him in the baby carrier (at the time we used a moby) and take him for a walk. Walking around inside didn't work, it seemed like only going for a walk outside did the trick. So I have a lot of memories of trudging around the neighborhood, in the rain, in the dark, with my son wrapped under my jacket, waiting for him to stop crying.

At one point I timed it, I think exactly 11 minutes after I started walking, he would stop crying and go to sleep. Of course I couldn't stop walking or he would start crying again. At first I tried to vary my walks to make them interesting, but after a while, I just trudged up and down our street.

The other thing we found that seemed to work somewhat well was gripewater. (Look it up on google, there are a few varieties commercially available). I don't know whether it actually addressed a gastrointestinal issue, or if the sugar in the product just mollified him, but it seemed like the intensity of his crying would lessen after we gave him some of that.

My heart goes out to the parents of colicky babies - we have been there. It is so exhausting. It will pass with time.

Roger