Throwing caution to the wind... and colic!

Dealing with a baby’s wind and soothing through bouts of colic can take up many hours in your baby’s first weeks! The word colic literally means ‘severe griping pains in the abdomen’, however no-one really knows what causes it, or has developed a perfect way to treat it.

Most newborns do seem to suffer from a certain degree of tummy discomfort during the first six weeks or so. This is understandable when you consider that their brand new digestive system is learning to process the milk, absorb nutrients, and eliminate waste from the other end! The volume of milk increases too over the first month or two, so your baby is bound to feel uncomfortable sometimes.

Breastfeeding helps here as the growth factors and enzymes in breastmilk aid in development of the gut and, of course, breastmilk is much easier for the baby to digest than formula milk.

Bouts of tummy ache and wind are normal as your baby grows and matures, we just do our best to comfort them until it passes. Often all it takes is a cuddle, a change of position, another burping session or a gentle tummy massage.

Over the counter remedies may help in bringing up wind, and with the passing of wind, ask a pharmacist about these.

I’m not suggesting a strict routine in the early weeks, but it can help your baby’s digestion to work smoothly if you encourage him to take a full feed each time he’s hungry instead of a snack. Even as adults we feel uncomfortable if we snack all day and don’t give our systems a rest!

If you’re bottlefeeding, make sure you use a bottle that has been designed to allow your baby to suckle, almost as at the breast. The best ones have anti-colic valves in them that work by allowing air into the bottle as your baby feeds. This prevents the air going into your baby’s tummy and your baby is able to control the flow of the milk, so bottle feeding is as natural as possible.

Colic has also been used as a ‘catch all’ phrase to describe a baby who cries and fusses a lot, especially in the late afternoon/evening. If a baby is fine during the day and just unsettled in the evening this can also be due to overtiredness and the ability to settle in the evenings comes as the baby gets older.

Some babies however do seem to suffer from a more severe form of tummy discomfort, these babies I would describe as having colic. Symptoms can included a swollen abdomen, drawing up knees and screaming, high pitched crying/screaming, unable to settle or sleep even with lots of cuddles & soothing. The attack of colic can be after every feed or just in the evening. See my Top Tips for Dealing with Wind & Colic for some ideas of how you can help.

Colic has been described as ‘uncontrollable crying for 3 hours a day, for 3 days a week, for 3 weeks or more’. This is known as the ‘rule of three’ and is used by some to diagnose colic.

The fact is though that we don’t really know what cause colic, but we do know that it is not a serious condition, although it can appear so when your baby is distressed! Colic nearly always passes as your baby matures, by 3 or 4 months of age so hang in there – I hope my tips help!