Car rides, and car seat on top of the dryer worked good for us.
I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but we found the ultimate trick was a running vacuum cleaner and a rocking chair (or rocking recliner). I can't explain it, but the noise from the vacuum cleaner worked like a charm.
The vibration chair does nothing. Vacuum does nothing. Dryer does nothing. She even cries during car rides if it's bad.
Every study on PubMed says that Simethicone and "Gripe water" are no better than placebo. Not that we aren't trying them.
Thanks for all the advice. I think we're just going to have a rough few months.
Gripe water( got ours from a health foods store ), milacon( sp?) gas drops and Dr. Brown bottles got us through our gassy phase. The bottles are expensive and a pain to clean, but they greatly reduce the amount of air that he took into his system at feeding. Short of that, car rides, walking and the rocking chair work until the gas is reduced. My son didn't like the baby swings or vibrating chairs at all.
I hope that this is a short period for you. I don't miss it at all.
There is a product called 'Colic calm' that worked wonders for us. My little boy had pretty bad colic for until he was about a year old. A dropper full of that stuff and he would be sound asleep 20 minutes later.
I've only found this stuff at CVS pharmacy though.
Make sure you have a support network. People who can give you and the missus a break. My son had it bad, and I'll tell you, that is the only thing that kept us sane after two months of no sleep. Don't be afraid to reach out. It can be a lot to cope with.
Tommy Tippee bottles worked wel. for us as well.
We had some relief using Dr Brown bottles, soy formula, gripe water and gas drops.
Little Tummies brand has both gripe water and gas drops.
The other thing that worked was holding him as follows:
It's hard to picture, but I would place him on my forearm ( held horizontal across my body) face down with his head turned to the side pointed toward my elbow. I'd place my hand between his legs and let the legs hang toward the floor, and use my other hand to rub his back while walking up and down the hallway until he fell asleep and I could put him in the bassinet.
Good luck and remember colic is eventually outgrown.
Joe
We used Milacon? drops. basicaly ant-acticed for Babies. Worked great (and we had twins)
Maybe do a bit of research on massage for infants. Work those gas balls through...
jstand wrote: The other thing that worked was holding him as follows: It's hard to picture, but I would place him on my forearm ( held horizontal across my body) face down with his head turned to the side pointed toward my elbow. I'd place my hand between his legs and let the legs hang toward the floor, and use my other hand to rub his back while walking up and down the hallway until he fell asleep and I could put him in the bassinet. Good luck and remember colic is eventually outgrown. Joe
The football hold. Worked with my second one and briefly with my third one. My last one liked to be upright. My first one horizontal but pressed tummy to tummy. Three of my four loved to nap with me, the other one by herself. The biggest thing that having four kids has taught me is that they're all different, even in the same family. There's lots of stuff to try and it's all worth trying until you either find something that helps or that particular phase wears itself out.
Two things to remember. The first is that colic doesn't last all that long -- it may seem like an eternity right now, but it's usually only a month or two. The second is that every child is different in terms of what works with them.
My daughter (now 6) loved the swing chair (front-to-back, battery-powered Graco), and would fall asleep within 5-10 minutes of backing out of the driveway if you put her in the car. During her first year, she had quite a number of 2-gallon naps (at $5/gallon that gets expensive fast!).
My son (now 2) hated the swing, and is much less prone to falling asleep in the car.
Things that were useless for both of them: the bouncy chair (vibrating one), side-to-side swings, swaddling, and the football hold. My wife used a lot of the milicone and gripe water, but I really think those are more placebos for the parents. :)
I'd be careful with the washer/dryer approach, it requires constant supervision because of the risk of the car seat falling off.
Look for the 5 S's.
There's some reasonable science behind the theory that these things soothe a baby. Basically, they replicate some of the things the baby experienced in the womb.
Yes, they are suggesting doing all 5 at once. I've heard some people refer to it as "miraculous".
Biggest deal is to keep the Dad (and Mom) calm, even if they are faking it.
Hang in there... sleep is over-rated. 
We're about 6 weeks in with a little girl, and our first just turned two. Diet (Stace's) had a huge impact on both children - no dairy, including cheese and yogurt, and the children are INFINITELY easier to take care of. It's no fluke either, every time she (accidentally or otherwise) has some dairy product, the little one is a vomitous monster. :)
The swing has proven to be worth it's weight in gold. We have two: one in the garage, and one in the house. When Stace needs a break, I take the little one to the (detached) garage to let her get some sleep. Invariably, 5 minutes in the swing = relaxed and sleeping child. The car works for both, but sometimes driving around for hours isn't as practical as I'd like it to be.
I had twin boys that went through this..after about the 5th night, throwing myself out in traffice seemed like the best answer, but rubbing thier bellys and gas dropps and a lot of swing time finnaly fixed it. hope those days are past (at 6 monthes now)
My son (6 months) goes to bed at 7:30pm and we wake him up at 7:30am. My advice is to trade that defective kid in on a new one. Just Kidding!
The swing we have goes front-back and side-side and I cannot see any difference. Sometimes he likes it and passes out, other times not. So don't waste money on a high-tech swing, it may or may not even work for your kid, get something simple and test it out.
bastomatic wrote: Thanks for all the advice. I think we're just going to have a rough few months.
Yup. We can throw all the advice out there we want. But the reality is you're just going to have to try to figure out what works for your baby. Obviously, check with the pediatrician to make sure it's not something causing excess gas or other discomfort. Assuming it's not, the solution is purely baby specific.
We've got 3 kids. My first born was pretty darn good. He rarely had issues. When he did, there were many options to sooth him, especially car rides. I remember saying to my wife "What's all this fuss about crying babies?? This is a piece of cake." Then we had twins. Holy hell! They were both brutal. They cried a lot and were quite fussy. The worst was my daughter. She was miserable. She cried, screamed and generally was a handful. Both of the twins had reflux, so that was part of it. But she was just tough. Well, the twins are now almost 5, and my daughter is a sweet little angel. You'd have never guessed she was so difficult as a baby. Her twin brother...well, that's a whole 'nother story. 
^^ QFT. One size does not fit all
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