How To Help Relieve Colic In Newborns

Hold The Baby Correctly

How to Relieve Colic in Babies | Parents

Holding your baby is one of the most effective ways to stop the constant crying. The more hours they spend being comfortably held, the lesser time they will spend crying in the evening.

If gastroesophageal reflux disease is the reason why your baby is colicky, try holding him upright after feeding sessions.

Making your baby lie on his/her back or making him/her recline in a car seat right after feeding can worsen the symptoms, causing the baby to be fussy.

Also, do not forget to burp the baby after every feeding session. Not burping the baby or incorrect positioning after feeding is one of the causes of colic in babies. Burping helps release gas and prevent the formation of air pockets in the stomach, which can cause a lot of discomforts.

Advice For Colic If Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding your baby can help them to relax and relieve pain.

Try emptying your milk in one breast during a feed before changing breasts. You create two types of milk when breastfeeding and the second half of your milk has more fat in it.

Fat slows down digestion and helps to release food slowly, helping with digestion.

If breastfeeding, avoid drinking tea, coffee and other drinks that contain caffeine.

What Is The Definition Of Colic

Colic is the word used to describe a condition when a healthy baby cries for more than three hours per day, more than three days per week, for three or more weeks, and is hard to console or comfort.

With a colicky baby, the bouts of crying typically intensify and last as the day goes on, and can worsen in the evening, typically between 6 pm and midnight.

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What If A Baby Won’t Stop Crying

Caring for a colicky baby can be hard. If your baby won’t stop crying:

  • If nothing else works, put the baby on his or her back in a crib without loose blankets or stuffed animals, close the door, and check on the baby in 10 minutes. During that 10 minutes, do something to try to relax and calm down. Try washing your face, eating a snack, deep breathing, or listening to music.

Don’t blame yourself or your baby for the crying colic is nobody’s fault. Try to relax, and know that your baby will outgrow this phase.

If you ever feel like you might hurt yourself or the baby, put the baby down in the crib and call for help right away. Never shake a baby.

Signs And Symptoms Of Colic

How to Soothe Colic Baby
  • Your baby is crying inconsolably for more than 3 hours, nothing you do seems to console him, and this happens at least 3 times a week.
  • The crying bouts are especially worse in the evening to early morning hours.
  • Your babys stomach seems bloated and hard, and he is burping and passing gas.
  • Your baby is clenching his fists, arching his back, extending and pulling up his legs to his stomach.

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An Advisory On Colic Remedies

Unlike most childhood ailments, theres no standard approach for treating colic. Walk into any pharmacy and youll find over-the-counter, unregulated products claiming to help with coliconly leading to more confusion.

A classic consequence of colic is that parents often revert to dysfunctional strategies , because nothing has worked, says Ideran, who has spent the past 15 years working with colicky infants at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital outside Chicago. Parents come in after having tried numerous techniques at home to calm their babies. They are naturally exhausted and overwhelmed.

Instead of relying on the unverified claims from the plethora of products that promise to provide colic relief, talk with your pediatrician about any symptoms your baby is having. Supplements like gripe waterwhich is often touted as a colic remedydont need approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to be sold on store shelves.

When Should I Call My Child’s Healthcare Provider

Before assuming your child has colic, look for other signs of illness. These may include:

  • Not sucking or drinking a bottle well
  • Drinking less milk than usual
  • Vomiting
  • Becoming more irritable when held or touched
  • Having a strange-sounding cry
  • Having a change in breathing rate or using extra effort to breathe
  • Being more sleepy or sluggish than normal
  • Fever of 100.4°F or higher, or as directed by your child’s healthcare provider

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How To Help A Baby With Colic

There is no treatment for colic. Different things will help different babies. As you get to know your baby, you will learn what works for you.

Things that might help include:

  • Hold your baby close during a crying episode. You are not ‘spoiling’ your baby by responding to their needs in this way.
  • Sit your baby upright during feeds.
  • Wind or burp your baby after feeds.
  • Gently rock your baby.
  • A warm bath can really help some babies with colic.
  • Avoid over-stimulating your baby with loud noise, bright lights or a crowded room.
  • Gently massaging your baby’s tummy before they are likely to cry may help. Do this in a circular motion. Do not massage after a feed.

There are some other things you may like to try. There is no scientific research to support their use, but some parents find them helpful.

  • Movement and motion, for example a walk in the buggy or pram, or a car journey.
  • Music.
  • ‘White noise’ like the low frequency noise of a vacuum cleaner, a radio not tuned in properly or ‘white noise’ music or apps.

Is My Baby Overstimulated

Tips On How To Relieve Colic In Babies| Newborn Care | Motherhood

Another explanation is that by the end of the day, the baby has had enough. Supporters of this theory advise parents to reduce stimulation of their baby to improve crying.

In practical terms, this means keeping the baby away from bright lights and loud noises , and lightly wrapping the baby.

The research on these interventions is split. Some studies show a reduction in crying.

Provided a caregiver is still nearby or with the baby, there is little harm in this intervention, and it may be of benefit.

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Is It A Migraine

Migraines are often inherited. Mothers with migraines are more likely to have babies with colic, and colicky babies are more likely to have childhood migraines. It makes sense that some babies with colic may have a form of migraine.

Children with migraines often improve with reducing external stimuli, including turning down noise and lights, avoiding strong smells and going to sleep. Similar management can be applied to babies. This correlates well with the management of the overstimulated baby described above.

Medications can be of use in migraines, but in general they are avoided in babies due to safety concerns, and the potential for the medications themselves to worsen the migraine.

Research On Chiropractic Care For Colic In Newborns

A clinical trial published in 1999 in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics found that Spinal manipulation is effective in relieving infantile colic. For this study the researchers randomly put infants diagnosed with colic into two groups. One group was given the anti-gas medication dimethicone for two weeks and the other group received chiropractic care for two weeks. The babies in the chiropractic group showed a 67% decrease in crying while the babies on medication showed a 38% decrease in crying.

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What’s The Difference Between Colic And Normal Crying

There isn’t a clear definition of exactly what colic is or how it differs from other types of crying.

But doctors typically agree that colic crying is louder, more intense and higher-pitched than normal crying sometimes almost like screaming.

Colicky babies also seem inconsolable, and tend to cry more throughout the day than babies without colic.

Most often, colicky periods recur daily, though some babies take an occasional night off.

When Does Colic End How Long Does Colic Last

?  BABY COLIC. steps to take if your baby has colic ...

Thankfully, colic will end, eventually, even though it may feel like an eternity!

Once your babys colic peaks, the crying will gradually reduce over a period of days/weeks and end by 3 to 4 months old. Therefore, colic lasts 1 to 12 weeks and its impossible to know how long your baby will have it.

We do know, however, that there is often a 6 week peak of fussiness. After this, many babies will gradually fuss and cry less over the next few weeks. For my son, this was exactly true and he was much less fussy by 8 to 10 weeks old!

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Check In With A Lactation Consultant

If youre a breastfeeding mom, this is so essential. There are so many anatomical issues that could be causing your baby grief! Unfortunately, most pediatricians arent trained to spot these conditions, so be sure you find an IBCLC-certified lactation consultant. Your baby could have a bad latch. She could be tongue-tied. He could be lip-tied. All of these issues could cause some major colic symptoms!

You also want to be sure baby is getting enough hindmilk, which is higher in fat, calms the stomach, helps with digestion, and promotes satiety. If your babys poop is greenish, frothy or mucuosy, this is usually a sign that hes getting too much foremilk, which can cause digestive distress. This often happens when a breastfeeding mom has an overactive letdown or is having oversupply issues, which is very common in the first few months after giving birth.

Give Your Kid Some Knee Pushing Exercise

Knee pushing exercise plays a role in enhancing a smooth digestion as well as eliminating colic pain. You can perform this exercise by allowing your baby to lie down and then gently bend your babys legs from the knees. Try pushing the legs toward the abdomen too. Perform this exercise 5 times daily.

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How To Soothe Colic In Babies

In addition to frustration and exhaustion, you may have feelings of inadequacy and guilt as you try in vain to soothe your fussy baby. So while staying calm is easier said than done, these strategies may help ease the strain until colic passes.

Just give each a fair shot before you switch to another . Talk to your doctor for tips and possible causes of your baby’s colic too.

Should I Take My Baby To The Doctor

How to help relieve colic with baby massage

To be absolutely clear: the majority of colicky babies are cured by time, as the crying simply eases off and life becomes calmer for parent and baby. In the meantime, though, you might want to take your baby to your GP just to be on the safe side. They will probably confirm that your baby is suffering from colic and recommend the steps listed above. But a doctors appointment should help to set your mind at rest.

If your baby exhibits any of the following symptoms then you must take them to your doctor immediately:

  • High-pitched crying

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Colic Remedies: How To Soothe A Baby With Colic

Unfortunately, the definition of colic includes precisely that your baby is crying for long periods of time and cannot be soothed. Im going to be honest here. Therefore, the ways you soothe a baby with colic will not likely be very successful. However, few parents can sit back and do nothing while their baby is crying.

As usual, I recommend you make a plan for how you will handle your newborn every day when the crying starts.

If you have help, I highly recommend you take turns, too. For example, if you know your baby will cry for 3 hours beginning around 6:30 p.m. every day, you can plan to let your spouse go for a walk or take a bath in another part of the house for the first 30-60 minutes while you take the first shift. During the second hour, you can switch places.

If you dont have help, you can plan to try soothing the baby for 30 minutes, use a swing for 30 minutes, put on headphones for 30 minutes while walking the baby around the kitchen, and so on. If you know what you will do every day, you can reduce some of the frustration that comes with expecting youll be able to stop the crying. Accept the baby will cry and simply follow your protocol to get through it.

But, what about the baby? How can you soothe the baby? Here are a few things you can try:

Dont feel bad taking a break!

Is It The Gut

One popular explanation is that there is an increase of gas or other irritation in the gut causing windy pain and discomfort. The type of feeding doesnt seem to influence whether a baby gets colic, but it does affect treatment suggestions. Adjusting a babys diet or gut bacteria to try to reduce any gas build up is often tried.

If a baby is breast-fed, some suggest adjusting mums diet to reduce any allergens , which may irritate the babys gut. There is no clear evidence these changes make any significant difference. The risk of following these dietary changes is reducing nutrition for mum, and hence baby. Changing from breast feeding to formula feeding to treat colic is not advised.

If a baby is exclusively formula-fed, a trial of an alternative formula may be given. In particular, trying a formula where the milk proteins have been broken down to improve absorption may be helpful.

Different types of bacteria are found in the gut of a colicky baby compared to a baby without colic. To try to rectify this, probiotic supplements have been trialled in babies with colic.

Although one recent study showed no effect, there is generally a trend toward reduced duration of crying time in babies treated with probiotics, in particular, L.Reuteri. Probiotics are safe for use in babies, and may help reduce the features of colic.

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How To Treat Colic In Horses

How To Treat Colic In Horses? Most colic cases can be treated on the farm with medication and the use of a nasogastric tube to alleviate gas and administer medications. However, if the veterinarian suspects a displacement or an impaction that cant be successfully treated on site, she will refer you to an equine surgical hospital.

Can horse colic go away on its own? Colic isnt usually a wait and see situation. Prompt attention and treatment are essential. A colic might be mild and pass on its own, but some colics are a symptom of a more serious problem that will need veterinary care. Here is how you can tackle most cases of colic.

What medicine do you give a horse for colic? Horses with colic are in pain, common equine pain relieving medications such as phenylbutazone are used in the treatment of colic. Some horses with colic have over-active spasming intestines.

Should you walk a horse with colic? 6. Walk Your Horse Walking can assist moving gas through the gut and can prevent injury from rolling. Most mild colics will even clear up from just a simple brisk walk. Try to walk the horse to keep them comfortable, but never to the point of exhaustion.

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