Babies do not suffer from colic for reasons that are always known or specific, but several active factors may come together to cause discomfort.
However, colic in infants and the bouts of crying that accompany it can cause bouts of anxiety in parents that are no less severe.
Here are some things to help you relieve your baby’s colic:
- Let’s start with the obvious reason for colic: air entering into your baby’s abdomen. If that’s it, we recommend that you put your entire nipple in their mouth while they breastfeed, or the entire milk bottle nipple while they nurse. It’s also a good idea to keep your child in a vertical position while they drink water to limit air leakage into the stomach.
- If the first condition is met and your infant is still suffering from colic, check the specifications of the powdered milk or nutritional supplement that they’re drinking, or the quality of the water in which the milk is dissolved, as well as the ingredients used in it. You may decide to switch to another type of milk or nutritional supplement.
- The baby is greatly affected by the sounds in their environment while they nurse, so noise may cause tension in their digestive system—causing colic. Be sure as much as possible to feed them somewhere calm, and it’s all right if you talk or sing to them while they nurse.
- Don’t underestimate your baby’s need to burp to expel gas—the main culprit of colic—in your baby’s belly after nursing. Look for a position that will help them burp, and pat them on the back or massage them to help.
- The colic may stem from your child’s exposure to chills, so be sure to keep them warm and use moisturizing cream to gently massage their stomach and help them expel gas.
- Many children’s digestive systems react to the bicycling of their feet, so move their little feet to activate the digestive system and help release gas.
- Pharmacies have small hot water bottles that can be filled with warm water and placed on the baby’s stomach to relieve colic.
A final piece of advice: Do not be anxious or stressed when your child has a severe bout of colic; they may feel your emotion, which could further compound their suffering from colic.