Baby colic is an extremely frustrating and stressful medical condition that infants experience starting as early as the second or third week after birth.
While it is not uncommon for babies to go through periods of crying and to appear irritable, an unexplainable pattern of excessive crying or fussing is a primary sign of colic.
If you suspect your baby is suffering from colic then you should read this article to explore the three best colic treatments available today.
Modern Colic Treatments
The internet is full of quack treatments for colic. But a colic treatment does not have to be expensive or full of strange ingredients in order to work. In fact most of the better colic treatments are readily available from items found at home nor do they have to break the bank. The three best treatments for colic are: nurturing, massage and nutrition.
Nurturing
Okay, first off no one is saying that you or your partner is a bad parent. The true causes of baby colic are largely unknown. But most of the medical community today thinks that the excessive crying, the pattern of evening fussiness and irritability, sleeplessness, along with the abdominal bloating and gas are actually symptoms of the baby’s body trying to adjust to its brand new environment.
But since colic can effect as many as 20 to 30% of all infants and can last as long as 3 to 4 months, the first colic treatment any worried parent should try is to simple take care of you child calmly and rationally. Just because your mother always rocked you to sleep doesn’t mean that every child will like it just a well. In addition to the rocking chair, you should try singing lullabies, using upright baby swings (the upright position may help with gas discomfort), long stroller walks or car rides.
Massage
Another cheap and effective method is to massage a colicky baby several times a day. This method involves laying the baby in its back and using a drop or two of oil, and gentling rubbing their tummy in a clockwise motion. Some mothers swear that the circular motions help relieve potential gas buildups and sooth and calm an infant before a colicky episode can go full blast.
And no wonder, the close contact and touching of a loving parent, caregiver or sibling lets even the most high need baby know that someone is “out there” and cares for them (after all infants are born very nearsighted and can see things clearly 12 inches or so away!). For this treatment for colic to work best however, you must perform it before the baby’s stomach gets distended or bloated.
Be Careful about Nutrition
If you are breastfeeding, many old wives will tell you that eating certain things like cow’s milk proteins, wheat, beans or green vegetables like cabbage or broccoli can create gas in a nursing baby. And then again other old wives will recommend that you change the baby’s formula or the bottle’s nipple design to a smaller hole (to decrease air swallowed), if you are bottle-feeding.
And still others say stop nursing and go bottle feed, while even more claim bottle feeding is destroying the world. You can try all or none but remember colic only lasts a couple of months.
Depending on which old wife your mother is will determine which treatment for colic you will try first of course. But the most important thing to know is that with the right treatments for colic, you can survive this first test of your parenting skill.
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