Colicky babies can disrupt an entire household. There’s so much stress that comes from the baby crying for hours on end that it can sometimes cause the whole family to go crazy. A baby with colic cries continuously and pulls his feet up under his body and clenches his feet. This can be extremely alarming to new parents that feel something horrible must be wrong with their babies.
Sadly, there is no known cause for colic. Doctors have various theories, though. The most popular one is that the baby has taken in air while feeding. When a baby drinks too fast or gulps, air enters the baby’s stomach and that causes pain. Then the baby gets colic. Others blame mothers of breast fed babies for eating too many gas producing foods.
Colic Babies
These include orange juice, cabbage, onions, apples, spicy food and caffeinated things like tea, sodas and chocolate. Another theory is that the nervous symptoms of infants aren’t mature enough to cope with all of the new intense stimulations they suddenly experience. The longer the day goes on, the more stressful the baby becomes.
Colic is very common in newborns. As many as 1/3 of all babies have it. Usually, infant colic goes away in about three months. In the meantime, there’s no cure for it, but there are some things you can try to make it better.
They include:
- Holding your baby and rocking him.
- Gently rocking your baby in a swing.
- Taking your baby for a car ride.
- Taking your baby for a carriage ride or in a sling.
- Turning on a vacuum or fan as white noise.
- Using a pacifier.
- Giving your baby a warm bath.
- Burping your baby.
- Trying Simethicone drops to decrease your baby’s gas pains.
- Breast feeding mothers implementing diet changes.
Newborn colic is typically nothing to be concerned about. Just go through all of the possible solutions to relieve your baby’s colic. If it seems to be severe or is accompanied by vomiting, constipation, diarrhea or no urine, call your pediatrician, as these symptoms can mean there’s a more serious issue. Otherwise, just do what you can to comfort your baby through this stressful time and it should take care of itself. You’ll wonder why you ever worried.
