Understanding And Treating Baby Colic

Colic As A Common Ailment In Infants
Although colic is prevalent among babies, when it actually happens and a baby screams and
cries without stopping, a new mom can be devastated. It occurs when the infant is about 2 or 3
weeks old and reaches its height at 2 months and comes down at about 3 or 4 months when it
actually stops.
The child is not in danger because of colic, but an episode can occur almost every day, and
parents learn to deal with it and handle it well. Doctors and researchers are unable to come to a
conclusion as to what actually causes it.
Colic usually occurs after food, and as a result of a severe pain in the stomach, the child cries
non-stop for hours. A typical attack can last from 1 – 4 hours. The baby becomes flushed from
the exertion, and it is extremely hard on the parents to watch their tiny infant suffer so much.
While there is an episode of colic, the baby’s stomach becomes distended, and the hands and
feet become clammy and their fists are clenched. The episodes happen later in the afternoon or
in the evening usually after food. Colic does not affect all babies and researchers tend to feel
that it is through genetics – if either or both parents has had colic, it may pass on to their
children.
Understanding And Treating Baby Colic

Certain Factors That Can Worsen The Situation
The child should never be overfed. You will need to know the difference between hunger and
colic before he is fed again.
There are foods high in sugar or juice that has not been diluted that can produce gas and
worsen the problem.
There may be an allergy in the intestines, so a mother will need to discover what her child is
allergic to. It could also be something that the mother has eaten that reaches the baby through
milk while breast feeding.
Emotions like anger, stress and fear should be eliminated as this will reflect on the baby and
cause him pain.
The main thing is to keep calm and find out as much as you can about colic. There could be
other factors that make a baby cry – you will need to weed them out one by one before you
conclude that it is colic. As the cause is unknown, there is no real cure, but the only way to
handle colic is to be as calm as possible, keep the child comfortable, soothe him with music if
necessary and wrap him up warmly so that he feels a sense of warmth and comfort and this will
help with his pain.
Understanding And Treating Baby Colic

Distinguishing The Signs Of Colic
Colic is a common condition in many newborn babies wherein the babies cry for long periods of
time (3-5 hours without stopping, more than 3 times a week for over a month) and frequently;
while it can be frustrating for parents of newborns to deal with this type of behavior, it is equally
exhausting for the baby itself.
First and foremost parents and caregivers of newborn babies that cry need to distinguish the
reasons for the baby crying and establishing whether it is crying due to colic pain, which can be
simple or severe. Secondly, they need to understand that colic is common and is not a disorder
– although there is no absolute cure for colic, there are various techniques that have proven
effective in calming crying infants and giving parents of newborns the rest they need.
An infant may cry due to hunger, sleeplessness or clothes being too tight even; first, find out
why the child is crying.
 Check for signs of irritability and redness to the cheeks due to excessive crying for more
than 3 hours daily with the legs folding up to the abdomen, since colic is stomach pain
and discomfort essentially and these are common signs of colic episodes.
 Difficulty passing stools.
 Some babies with severe colic may thrash about as muscles spasms occur or there may
be a distention in the intestines.
 If occurring within 2-3 weeks of the child's birth, the severe abdominal pain accompanied
by excessive crying is known as colic; it occurs recurrently in spasms and stomach pain
is frequent with the baby becoming hypertonic and showing alternating body postures.
Theses may involve contractions, sudden stretching of limbs or even stiffening in a
spastic posture while turning red due to the crying and parents need to be alert about
these signs of colic.
 At times, signs that are indications of colic, if persistent, may be symptoms of a more
serious digestive tract problem, so observant parents can convey these signs to the
doctor for expert advice if all home remedies fail.
Understanding And Treating Baby Colic

Scientific research has given us ma