Understanding Colic in Babies

Understanding Colic in Babies

23 Sep 2021 | 3 min Read

Pallavi Deshmukh

Author | 1 Articles

Colic is identified as an unusually intense crying of a healthy infant. Colic is likely to start in an infant around the age of 2- weeks and it goes away naturally by the age of 3 to 4 months. It can be seen in infants regardless of their gender, their birth order, and even whether they are breastfed or bottle-fed. So in other words, kids with colic grow up healthy like any other child.

Causes of Colic

The exact causes of colic are still unknown. However, certain theories say why colic happens to an infant.

  • A growing digestive system with muscles that often involuntary experiences contractions. In other words, a muscle cramp happens in the digestive system.
  • Fear, frustration, or excitement.
  • Hormones cause stomach pain and lead to crankiness in infants.
  • Sensitivity to light or noise that causes stimulation.
  • Acid reflux.

Symptoms of Colic

Infants with colic pain show more or less similar symptoms and start crying mostly in the evening.

  • The reason for crying is not clear. No soiled diaper, no rashes, the baby is not even hungry, too.
  • It seems that the baby is in pain.
  • The baby cries intensely with clenched fists, stiff arms, an arched back, or curled legs.
  • Face turns red because of crying.

Colic Treatment

As there is no exact known cause behind the occurrence of colic pain, thus there is no one treatment for colic pain in babies. Your doctor may suggest several ways to comfort your baby from colic. You may try one way at a time, and if that does not work, try the other one.

  • Swaddle your baby. It is a way to wrap your baby in a piece of cloth, preferably in cotton cloth, to keep him/her warm. Swaddling also provides comfort to a baby.

Image Source: Pixabay

  • Make sure your baby is not hungry. Feed your baby at every 2 hour of interval. No matter, whether you’re breastfeeding your baby or bottle-feeding, your baby should not be hungry to stay active and playful.
  • Massage your baby’s back. It soothes a baby suffering from colic pain.
  • Take your baby along with you for a walk. Hold your baby straight giving support to his/her neck and try to soothe him/her.

Besides, there are certain medications available too. You may talk to your doctor about these colic pain medications that can provide relief to your baby from colic.
Colic pain is not only stressful for a baby but also for the new parents as this situation becomes quite challenging for them to handle. However, colic pain is not a matter to worry about; this neither leads to serious health problems in children.

#colicbaby #babycare #babyshealth

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