I am kind of a believer in the 5 S's from the Happiest Baby on the Block - actually, that whole book is pretty awesome. But here's a link:
http://www.happiestbaby.com/5-ss-sys...olic-symptoms/
My first son was slightly colicky, not extreme by any means but he responded REALLY well to a really tight swaddle, a pacifier, white noise (a fan), and in his swing on almost the highest setting (yes, it looked like he might rocket out of it but it really did work!!). We actually swaddled him for like...7 months! When he got bigger I had to double swaddle and make kind of a straightjacket for his arms, it was the ONLY way he'd settle.
I mean, of course I held him too, he napped on me A LOT, but since I had to teach him how to sleep other ways (I had to return to work when he was 12 weeks old and I didn't figure daycare would be able to just lay there with him sleeping on her all the time
). I actually think we didn't swaddle until he was a teeny bit older - like we didn't do it from day 1, we started when he "woke up" which was probably like 3-4 weeks old.
This was a pretty typical sight around our house in those days! When my second was born, I was amazed that it was possible for babies to just...sleep! Without needing to be rocked, swung, sucking on a pacifier, swaddled, bounced, etc etc.
