Coping with Colic

Colic. The little “C”. It sucks.

Medical professionals describe colic as follows: -
“…a condition in which an otherwise healthy baby cries or screams frequently and for extended periods without any discernible reason.”

Do you know what that means? It means that no one knows what causes colic. Fantastic.

Now, I prefer MY definition: -
“…a condition which can produce the most unbearable, soul destroying screams from a child causing the listener acute emotional distress, fatigue and feeling of utter failure and hopelessness. No known point of origin or broad spectrum cure.”

A little more descriptive I think.

Below is a list of the common signs of colic. If you can recognize at least three or four of these in your baby, it may well be colic. Welcome to the club!

Symptoms of Colic

Medical professionals often diagnose colic using ‘the rule of three’s’ (coined by Dr. Morris Wessel in the 1950’s). By this they mean that if your baby cries for more than three hours per day, at least three times per week for at least three weeks and is otherwise medically healthy, colic is a probable diagnosis.

But there are many other clues, which could indicate colic, these include,

* regular periods of inconsolable/extreme/extended crying
* spasmodic body movements/postures (including knees to chest, ball posture, sudden and violent stretching, kicking)
* clenching and unclenching of fists
* red face – caused by the effort of crying
* burping and passing gas
* restlessness and inability to settle
* tense abdomen
* wanting to feed all the time (which is more likely wanting to be comforted by sucking)
* becoming unsettled and showing these signs between 6 and 10pm or at other predictable times
* increased/unusual vocalizations such as moaning and grunting

Theories on the Cause of colic

* abdominal pain
* trapped gas (cause or symptom?)
* sensitive temperament
* reactions from the immature nervous system
* over stimulation
* lactose intolerance
* gastro esophageal reflux
* prenatal stress
* bacteria imbalance of the gi tract
* lack of melatonin production
* food allergies/intolerances (that the nursing mother eats and is subsequently passed through the breast milk to the baby)
* post partum depression and anxiety
* over feeding

Lists, lists, lists, where do we begin?

Overcoming Colic

First of all, remember to check with a pediatrician to make sure your baby is otherwise healthy.

I think the cause of colic is different for every family. However, the symptoms and causes seem to be split into three main categories- neurological, gastrointestinal, and psychological.

Now I don’t recommend messing around with a newborns brain, so lets concentrate on the latter categories and some methods to relieve those causes and symptoms. Below are my checklists for minimizing and relieving colic.

Gastrointestinal Relief

1. Massage – gently massage the tummy (beneath the belly button) to break up gas bubbles and facilitate movement through the intestines. You can often feel the gas bubbles with your fingers.

2. Help your baby pass gas or stool by alternately stretching their legs and pushing their knees to the chest in a squat position.

3. Burp your baby! Try numerous different positions in a sequence, move that burp around and out!

4. If using formula, talk to your pediatrician about switching brands as some contains high levels of iron which can irritate the digestive system.

5. Similarly, if you are nursing, the iron levels in your pre-natal vitamins may be an irritant.

6. If breastfeeding, try an elimination diet, as your baby might be intolerant to a food that you are eating and is being transferred to them via your breast milk. A list of likely culprits can be found at the bottom of this article.

7. Adding probiotics to your babies diet to balance the flora in the intestines (speak to your pediatrician).

8. Natural products such as gripe water are said to help settle the stomach.

Psychological and Environmental Relief

Give baby and family a break by trying some of these methods.

1. A nice, warm bath – helps relieve tension physically and mentally

2. Get walking – strap on baby (I use a babyhawk carrier) and go for a stroll. Fresh air, a change of environment, the rhythmic motion of walking and your heartbeat next to baby and exercise for you can all help.

3. Take some tips from Cesar Milan (the Dog Whisperer). Stay calm and assertive – baby can feel your tension and anxiety. Although it can be horrific listening to those screams, try your best to be calm. Take five minutes and cry your eyes out in another room, let someone else take over while you take a brisk walk around the block. Return to your baby with a different, more stable mindset.

4. Rock baby – use a carrier, chair or rocking bassinette.

5. Car ride, vibrating crib or chair, swing etc

6. Soothing sounds may help. Try a relaxation cd or music. Some people swear by white noise machines/recordings that simulate the sounds baby would have heard whilst in the womb. Run the vacuum cleaner or hairdryer for a while and see if this noise settles baby, if it does, make a recording of the noise and loop it – otherwise you will wear out the motors in your appliances!

7. Lay a thick blanket or towel on top of the dryer. Place baby on top whilst supporting her and turn the dryer on. The motion and sound sometimes helps.

8. The old standard – Swaddle!

9. Some suggest chiropractic adjustment can help baby’s internal balance.

My Personal Recommendations (tried and tested through personal experience)

So, there were specific things that I did to try and help Scarlet when she had her bouts of colic. Yes, it’s true; we have found a cure for her, hurrah!

I no longer eat garlic or chicken. This is horrendous because I really like garlic and love my barbeque chicken wings. However, since cutting these out Scarlets colic has all but vanished. I was very lucky when I did my elimination diet; I looked at all the things I ate regularly and chose the first two items on that list – chicken and garlic! I have eaten garlic recently and she had a colicky spell so in theory, I could re-introduce chicken to eliminate that as a culprit. However, I haven’t been brave enough to do this yet – I like the peace and quiet!

Scarlet also goes for a walk every evening with her Daddy. This sends her to sleep right away in the carrier so that she is well rested before bed. That may sound a little weird, but there’s nothing worse than an over-tired, over stimulated baby and bedtime.

And finally, trying not to sound too much like product placement here, Gripe Water. Oh yes! This stuff works, I could hardly believe it. I was very wary at first, I didn’t want to put anything other than breast milk into my baby, but I relented after a few straight nights of floor walking into the wee hours. I use the brand Baby’s Bliss which is all natural and homeopathic and uses fennel and ginger to settle the stomach. Scarlet will suck and swallow it right of a spoon, but you can get a little pipette or medicinal dropper which is sometimes easier, if you go to a pharmacy they should give you one for no charge. I can personally see relief within minutes of giving her a dose. I don’t know how it works but it seems to make burps come up and gas and poop to go down. It just gets things moving in there! So it really helps with any tummy issue. It has been my “medicinal” go to product and I haven’t had to use anything else so far.

I hope this article has been helpful to some of you. Trust me, I know that it can seem really hopeless and exhausting to everyone around, but colic will go away eventually. Most babies seem to ‘grow out of it’ by the time they are three months old. But those three months will feel extremely long! Try out some of the things I have mentioned here, they can’t hurt baby so why not? Good luck…and try and get some sleep okay?

FOODS TO ELIMINATE (for nursing Moms)

Diary products, Spicy foods, Soy, Onions, Garlic, Broccolli, Cauliflower, Caffeine, wheat, Chicken, Nuts, Citrus fruits, Tomatoes, Corn, Chocolate (aggghh!).