And the winner is . . .

So Juliet is a little angel, fussy at times, but we love her. I have this song stuck in my head from a TV show in the 80's: You take the good, you take the bad, you take it all, and there you have the facts of life, the facts of like. (You have to sing it to realize how catchy it is--anyone from my generation probably remembers the show--big hair and Blair.) The first couple days home from the hospital, Juliet fussed or screamed every waking moment. But she slept well at night thankfully. Then as the days wore on, on a good day, she would be awake for a whole hour without crying. Wow, progress. By now I had come to terms with the fact that we might have a colicky baby. I had one before and still have scars (Maggie) so I was in denial at first. But on a bad day . . . well, sometimes the screaming would last 3 or more hours and even repeat again. Then the night crying started and that is the worst. We felt bad for her because we could hear the rumbling, hissing, gurgling and churning in her stomach as she screamed and pulled her feet up. In desperation, I grabbed hold of anything I could to ease her and our pain. This is what I came up with:

Coolest looking goes to bottle number 1: Woodward's Gripe Water. It looks like something out of 19thc Cranford. It is much more charming than it is efficacious though, but I think I'll keep it on the diaper changer anyway because I like to look at it.

Best name goes to bottle number 3: Rid Wind. Gas is called "wind" here. It's kind of quaint. Doesn't seem to help our little windy one though.

Worth its weight in gold goes to bottle number 2: Baby's Bliss Gripe Water. With ginger and fennel in it, it even smells blissful. It has been a life saver. I will always be grateful to my friend who introduced me to it and even gave me this bottle. How did I survive 4 others kids without it?

In these cases, no remedy is fool proof except for time. But for impatient (and tired) folks like me, it has been helpful to try and do something. I am happy to report that, almost 5 weeks out of the starting gate, there are now more good days than bad days. Juliet is thriving and weighs 11.1 pounds. When I give her the Baby's Bliss, she quiets down, the noise actually increases in her bowels for awhile but without any painful crying and she eats better and sleeps better.