Colic is when babies cry for more than three hours a day for more than three days of the week. Colic occurs in 10 to 30 percent of infants within the first two to four months of life. Colic can be miserable for the infant as well as the parent. There are no known causes for colic. Some say that it’s due to infant gas. This may contribute to colic but is not necessarily the cause.
Colic usually gets worse in the evenings. Babies with colic may pull their legs up to their tummy, turn red in the face, refuse to eat and have trouble sleeping.
The main problem with colic is the amount of stress it puts on the parent when their child is crying and nothing seems to calm them down. Colic does not require any medical attention.
How to avoid gas
If your child is crying a lot, he or she may have gas. There are a few things you can do to prevent this:
1.) Look at your diet. Are you eating something that causes your child to be gassy? Avoid broccoli, cauliflower, onions, chocolate, caffeine, and beans when you are nursing your child.
2.) Don’t feed your baby cow’s milk.
3.) Burp your baby while feeding after every few ounces.
4.) If you’re feeding your child from a bottle, make sure that the nipple is not too big or too small because it could cause your child to gulp a lot of air.
5.) Avoid playing vigorously with the baby right after he or she eats.
How to relieve gas pain
1.) Give your child a few drops of a tincture of catnip and fennel.
2.) Hold the baby in a face down position over your arm.
3.) Put a hot water bottle on your infant’s tummy.
4.) Give your infant a nice warm bath (Some say that if you add lavender essential oils to the bath the vapors can help calm the baby as well as yourself).
Note: This information is from notes taken during a Human Development class 2006 as well as from my own personal and thoughts and experiences.
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