Do you have a baby who cries ceaselessly for several hours at a stretch and is resistant to all your efforts to soothe it? The chances are that there is the presence of colics in baby tummy.
The earlier you realize the same, the easier it becomes to make your child peaceful in a short span of time. It becomes a challenging task for the parents to observe their baby crying all the time in pain.
Seeing your baby in such a fate and not being able to comfort it can be pretty much daunting for any parent out there. When your child is crying incessantly, then he or she might be suffering from colic.
Colic (1) in newborn babies can be an extremely uncomfortable condition –both for the baby as well as for the parents. Around 20-25 percent(2) of newborn babies all across the world tend to suffer from colic.
In this post, we will help you unravel all you need to know about colics in the baby’s tummy and how you can deal with the it.
What is Colics in Infants?
Crying turns out to be a common scenario in most of the babies out there.
In fact, crying is considered as the way of babies communicating when they wish to express their discomfort or draw the attention of their parents to some specific needs. However, if your baby is crying uncontrollably without any valid reason, then you must check into the same.
It could be the condition of colic in the baby’s tummy which might be causing pain or discomfort.
While you might consider colic to be some serious issue, it is not any major ailment that you need to be worried about.
However, when your infant is less than 6 years of age and experiences sudden crying bouts that might last for around 3-4 hours for over three days a week, and stretches for around 2-3 weeks, there are chances that your baby is suffering from colic.
Colic might generally appear 2-3 weeks after childbirth and would disappear by the time your child reaches the age of 3-4 months. While colic in your baby might scare you, it tends to subside on its own gradually.
What Causes Colics in Babies?
The research experts explain that there is no specific reason for colic in babies (3)
However, there are certain triggers that lead to colic in your baby.
For your ease of understanding the condition, here are some causes of colic in babies (4):
- Immature Digestive System: The digestive system of your newborn is under the development stage for a considerable period of time. As such, whenever you feed something to the baby, it tends to go directly to the intestinal system of the baby without breaking down properly. This might result in the formation of gas in the stomach that leads to colic in babies and causes pain & discomfort.
- Gastroesophageal Reflux: In the given condition, the contents of the baby’s stomach including stomach acid or bile tend to move upwards and reach the esophagus. This might cause sharp pain, discomfort, or colic in the babies.
- Allergies or Intolerance: There are higher chances that your baby might be intolerant or allergic to certain food items. While some infants are intolerant to lactose-based foods or solutions, there are others who might be allergic to certain baby foods that you feed them. In some cases, when babies who are intolerant to lactose products might develop colic upon breastfeeding.
- Ingesting Gas During Feeding: During the feeding sessions, certain babies might ingest gas in large amounts. The gas in the stomach might cause pain & discomfort –just like colic. As a result, the baby cries until the pain goes away.
- Sensitive Babies: Studies reveal that a wide number of sensitive babies tend to cry a lot towards relieving themselves from pain or discomfort. As such, colic tends to be a common cause in babies who are overly sensitive or get easily anxious due to sounds or stress.
- Diet & Lifestyle of the Mother: Some medical experts claim that colic in babies might be the result of the dietary and lifestyle habits of the mothers as well. The dietary and lifestyle routine that mothers tend to take up during the pregnancy period cause a major impact on whether or not the baby will develop colic. For instance, mothers who used to smoke during their pregnancy stage or while breastfeeding are more likely to have babies suffering from colic.
- Healthy Bacteria Imbalance in the Body: It is a common observation that babies suffering from colic tend to have diverse intestinal microflora in contrast to infants who do not have colic. As such, the imbalance caused by the presence of healthy bacteria in the body also leads to the development of colic in babies.
Signs & Symptoms of Baby Colics
While there might be other conditions like stomach infections, hernia, and other reasons for the baby crying incessantly, there are some typical signs & symptoms that you must not ignore to determine whether or not your baby is suffering from colic.
Here are some signs to observe:
- Different Crying Pattern: You can spot out the difference between colic crying and normal crying. A baby with colic usually tends to produce high-pitched, loud wails.
- Sudden Crying Bouts: You might observe that your baby experiences sudden crying bouts –mostly at the same interval or time of the day. Upon close observation, you might find out there your infant tends to suffer from sudden crying bouts usually during late noon –which might increase as the evening period takes over. When all your efforts towards calming down your baby go in vain, you should realize that it might be colic.
- Physical Symptoms: You can also look out for specific physical signs in your baby suffering from colic. Some of the common signs are a tight tummy, frequent burping, flushed face, and others.
- Changing Postures: colicky babies usually have the habit of constantly changing their postures from time to time. They might start with arching their backs to curling their legs, clenching their fists, and other parts of the body while crying.
How to Deal with a Colicky Child?
While it turns out to be a challenging task to calm down a colicky child, it is extremely painful for the parents at the same time to observe their baby in such pain & discomfort. Here are some of the potential medical as well as home-based remedies that you can try out:
- Try out drops or medicines causing relief from the gas formation in small babies. You can consider giving gripe water (5) to the babies to cause instant relief from gas & pain.
- You can try out fennel seeds that are known to be highly effective in causing relief to the babies suffering from colic in their tummies. You can make out a fine mixture of a teaspoon of fennel seeds blended well with a cup of warm water. This mixture can be given to your baby 2-3 times a day.
- Another home remedy for infants with colic is to try out Holy Basil. The plant is known for its antispasmodic properties and can lead to instant relief from pain & discomfort caused due to gastrointestinal issues.
- Asafetida also works excellently for babies having colic. Asafetida is known for its anti-flatulent properties that can work great wonders in ensuring ultimate relief to the babies from colic. You can make a fine paste by taking a pinch of asafetida and mix the same with a small amount of water.
- Oil massages to your baby can be extremely soothing at the same time. The act of proper body massaging can aid digestion effectively and prevents the formation of gas in babies. You can warm a body massage oil,, including almond, olive, or any other baby oil. Gently massage the the tummy in circular motions.
- A warm bath can help your baby to ensure relief from colic. Water bathing with warm water can help in relaxing the body and ensuring a deep sleep for the baby all night long. Ensure the best for your beloved baby.
In addition to the medical treatments, you can try methods like singing to your baby, offering a pacifier, warm bathing, and others to soothe your colicky baby.
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