All babies cry. It's their sole method of communicating with the world. However, when the crying becomes prolonged and unusually long, it can be very distressing and nerve-wrecking for any parents.
Colic affects nearly 25 percent of all infants and typically lasts three to four months. How can you tell if your baby has colic and what can you do about it? Read on and find out.
If your baby cries for several hours at a time over the span of days, or even weeks, he or she may have colic. Usually this symptom of prolonged crying exhibits itself regularly about the same time of the day. Baby with colic may look to be in pain and their face becomes red and their body extremely tense during their bouts of crying. Although this can be unnerving to any parents, babies suffering colic aren't thought to be in pain but more or less in discomfort. In fact, most babies with colic eat, sleep and grow just as a baby without colic would.
What causes colic? Unfortunately, there are no definitive answers to this. Most prevalent and generally accepted explanation for baby colic points to complications in digestive system. These include trapping of gas inside baby's intestines leading to bloating and flatulence, lactose intolerance and Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease.
Although no cure for baby colic exists, there are different ways you can comfort your baby suffering from colic. Babies with colic often display their symptoms during certain times of the day so pay close attention to when your baby has colic attacks. Figuring this out will give you a time to prepare and plan to remedy when baby starts crying excessively.
Some of the organic techniques you can use to soothe a baby displaying colic symptoms include: checking to see if the baby is hungry, create continuous movements by walking or moving the baby in a swing, playing music and giving a rub to baby's back and belly.
There are some medicines you can use that have shown to ease the symptoms in some cases. Simeticone, an antiflatulent, is one of such medicines. Consult with pediatrician thoroughly if you decide to use any medications for your baby's colic, even over-the-counter solutions such as colic drops and gripe water.
Dealing with baby colic can be extremely distressful, not to mention down-right scary at times. Colic in baby is benign and something your baby will grow out of eventually so keep that in mind and try not to get too overwhelmed by it.
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