The plague of colic can create terrible angst, exhaustion and pain for both mother and baby both on a spiritual and physical level. I wanted to sleep at night and so we quickly discovered a few ways to greatly lessen our bouts with colic.

I first met colic at the age of 17, when my baby sister Raelee came home from hospital. I think she screamed more than smiled and was awake more often than asleep. She would be passed from one set of arms to another on long winter evenings, and held in every different position to try and soothe her sore stomach. When all the rest of us had gone to bed, Mum would still be up with a crying baby pacing the floors. Raelee’s stomach often reflected what Mum had eaten the previous day that had made its way into the breast milk, and we’ve since discovered there was reflux at work too. There are some practical ways to prevent colic, and each baby is different, but some foods to avoid could include:

Caffeine, tomatoes, corn, oranges, apples, onions, cabbage, and curry.

For some people dairy or wheat can cause the baby angst, it’s a matter of playing around with your food and keeping a food diary.

My baby, Erin had been a gorgeous placid creature at the hospital, but without thinking I drank a cup of apple juice just as I left, and by that evening she was a screaming mess, leaving us to wonder what we were doing wrong, until I carefully reviewed my food choices for the day.

I discovered I pretty much needed to avoid caffeine, tomatoes, corn, oranges, apples, onion, cabbage and curry, which greatly limits ones food choices.   Otherwise within 4 hours Erin would be a screaming mess lasting for an hour or more at a time. (For most people I think it takes longer for the food to come through to your milk and then to effect the baby. For Mum it was usually 24 hours, making it harder to pick the problem food, but I’ve always had a really quick digestive system, and so has Erin.)

One resource we found very helpful during this time, to figure out why she was crying was the Dunstan Baby Language.   This is the number one resource I would recommend for a new baby whether it’s your first or sixth.

I think I would have continued battling colic on a purely natural level except for a combination of things.

1. Everyone from church had made us a tomato based dish for me to reheat

2. We lived in a one bedroom unit, there was nowhere to take Erin when she was screaming her little head off so that Stephen could sleep

3. I love pizza, and it’s tomato based, and having a year or so without pizza was a really horrible thought.

I remember sitting up in bed one night aching from my C-section wound, barely awake holding a screaming baby, trying to fold her legs up over her head to get the wind out and burping her and not being able to take her in our tiny one bedroom unit so that Stephen could sleep . . . and in sheer exhaustion and exasperation, mumbling ‘In Jesus Name, colic I bind you, get your hands off my baby and leave this house.’ & ‘In Jesus Name I bless my milk to be nutritious and delicious for Erin and not cause her any anguish’. Stephen must have heard me, and he declared the same thing, and slowly she stopped crying and dropped off to sleep.

I first heard this prayer when I was watching a John Bevere dvd, where he was describing pacing the floors with a screaming baby in the throes of colic, when a boldness came over him and he told that colic to leave in Jesus Name. Slowly it did, and every night it left quicker, until it didn’t come back. It has been a similar journey for us, and colic rarely affects Erin now.

I want to explain where I’m coming from because for many this idea is outrageous. As a Christian we are in a spiritual battle, right? We know from the Bible that there are angels and demons. The angels are God’s army there to help us and the demonic are Satan’s army that harass us. You can read about this in the gospels when Jesus cast the demonic out of the tormented man and into the swine. The Bible says that we have the power to bind and loose. So using my authority as a child of God, in Jesus name, I bound that colic and told it to leave, and kept at it until it did.

This is going to take persistence, as you grow in your authority. We have the power of life and death in our tongue right? Keep declaring dear sister who is tired and whose ears are ringing from those agonising little cries, you will affect a breakthrough.  If you can get your husband on board, and agree together, great, this is going to be even more affective.

And while we are at it, 8 years on, I can say that the same principles apply for teething. We can thank Jesus for NO PAIN during teething, and keep blessing their teeth to come through easily and with no pain or fever.  You would never know when my babies are teething because they simply have no pain.

I hope this has been encouraging to you and stretched both your natural and supernatural understanding of colic. I’m sure there’s plenty of other natural methods to help with colic that I haven’t included, this has just been our journey.

Another wonderful resource if you are up with a screaming baby is to ring the Andrew Wommack 24/7 Prayer line where they will absolutely agree with you in prayer for healing, whether it’s colic, a teething baby or any other health issue.

What’s your favourite tips and tricks for eliminating colic?