Colic is the worst, because it seems unfixable. The only think that would work with my daughter was to cradle her little bum between my intertwined palms with her head and back resting on my forearms. THen I would do rapid leg-squats up and down, chanting "this too shall pass, this too shall pass...." Alternatively our pediatrician taught us what we call the "monkey hold": Extend your forearm, palm up. place baby butt on palm and baby's belly lies on your forearm head on the crook of your elbow facing away from you. Now you have butt-taping control with your finger and swinging action with your arm and a free hand! This actually worked magically well.

Good luck!

Don't worry, Dr. O. Your little Monkey is not broke! That is what babies do (some better than others). My little one was especially found of the super-tight swaddle + bouncing. Good luck!!

and tell committee head to leave you the eff alone already

Awww Dr. O, hold on through the screaming. Our girl did a lot of that, too, and for us the only thing that worked was similar to what Namnezia described: lots of bouncing, constant bouncing up and down from the knees or sitting on a yoga ball. Also, playing "Love Rollercoaster" really loud--that always made her clam up for a little bit (until the song was over). Email me for a link to the youtube video of it... lol.

Why on earth are you wasting your time on committees as a post-doc?

I am totally with you on the throwing darts in the dark feeling. It's very frustrating for experiments to be so poorly controlled- but then, twins would be worse.

Anyway, the stomach comment put me in mind of something. When I was talking to a friend about my little guy crying at night, they mentioned that the baby they knew with the worst 'colic' actually had serious stomach problems. The doctor put the baby on prilosec, or some kind of proton pump inhibitor, and happy baby and parents ensued. It's unlikely, but if the crying is *really, really* common, it's worth asking your doctor about.