Baby Colic, Symptoms and Remedies
Colic is a physiological manifestation in babies and are quite common in the first months of life. According to the classical definition, the phenomenon occurs when a newborn baby cries more than three hours a day , for more than three days a week, for at least 3 weeks .
Baby colic: How to recognise it?
Colic in milk-fed babies is accompanied by quite typical signs . The first is definitely crying : sudden, unstoppable and lasting for hours. Then there's the distress of the baby, a screwed up face, arched back and legs bending towards the abdomen. Lastly, there is tympanites and flatulence . Though it may repeat a number of times a day, it's more common in the evening.
How long it lasts and why it occurs
Usually, baby colic is a physiological manifestation of growth that starts around the second to third week of life and continues into the second month, and then resolves spontaneously at the end of the third month of life.
Although there is no unanimous consent on the causes, the possible suspects include:
- gas that accumulates in the intestine due to poor coordination between sucking and swallowing;
- altered intestinal microbiota balance;
- parents' anxiety, which can make the baby more irritable;
- a still immature nervous system that makes it difficult for babies to adapt to external stimuli and control their emotions.
Baby colic: what can you do?
First of all, it is important to make sure that the feeding is as quiet and regular as possible, avoiding continuous interruptions. In these cases, here are some tips to make feeding a quiet moment:
- keep the baby from getting too hungry at meals;
- make sure that there is nothing that can bother the baby;
- find a quiet place and a comfortable position for both of mummy and baby;
- calm the baby down before feeding.
If you bottle-feed, make sure that the baby does not have any difficulty drawing milk from the bottle, thus coordinating sucking and swallowing well. To help your baby, you can choose a latest generation anti-colic feeding bottle that favors physiological feeding by adapting to the child's sucking rhythm, thus reducing the amount of air ingested.
There are positions also that can help colic pass:
- Lay the baby on his stomach , wrapped in a blanket, resting on your legs or forearm.
- Keep the baby in a vertical position close to you using a suitable support, rocking him and whispering sweet words, without shaking him.
Here are a few simple gestures that can help:
- One is a massage around the belly button, alleviating the spasm and helping air to pass.
- Finally, bathing your baby can be helpful: in some cases, it relaxes the baby and is an opportunity for play and distraction at the same time.