Should i let a colicky baby cry

On the recommendation of a paediatrician in California, Newman has recently tried offering the mothers of colicky babies capsules of pancreatic enzymes. Some babies have reflux, a condition similar to heartburn. If your baby sucks a bit, then pulls off the breast and screams, this could be the cause of her crying.

She may spit up a lot, too. However, most babies who spit up are not suffering from reflux. An Israeli study found that anti-reflux medication relieved symptoms within two weeks. For bottle-fed babies, the answer might be pre-digested formula, in which the protein is broken down into its amino acids. However, this is a last resort as the formula is expensive and unpleasant tasting. While bottle-feeding parents may have some luck switching formulas, there are no advantages to switching from breast to bottle, says Friedman.

Many fixes help for a short time, and everything seems to work at three or four months, when colic usually disappears.

Carrying your baby as much as possible has been shown to reduce crying. In The Baby Book, paediatrician William Sears writes that parents should carry babies around or start a comforting routine before the colic kicks in. He suggests using a baby sling or carrier. Some infants respond well to being snugly swaddled in a cuddly blanket.

Parents spend scads of cash on swings, crib vibrators and other gadgets that claim to calm babies, but there are no guarantees these will work. As Friedman points out, some babies respond to less stimulation, not more.

If nothing else seems to work, you might want to try putting your baby down in a dark room and listening to see if his crying slows after a few minutes. You may find it helpful to keep a diary of crying times and the different tactics you use, suggests Friedman. A study found that three to four ounces per day of a herbal tea containing chamomile, fennel, vervain, licorice and balm-mint was significantly more effective than a placebo in eliminating infant colic, according to Kemper.

Give your baby one tablespoon to one ounce, in a bottle or on a spoon, two to four times a day. Gripe water containing dill, caraway, fruit sugar and water is a harmless and popular—albeit unproven—remedy. Some brands contain a small amount of alcohol, but there is no danger if you follow the instructions. You can lay the baby on the floor and, starting at her belly button, gently walk your fingers clockwise, forming concentric circles outward.

Try this 20 to 30 minutes after a feeding. Also, the therapy started around the time most colic was at its worst, and continued over two weeks, when it would usually start to improve anyway. Make sure you go to someone who is not only a registered massage therapist but certified by the Upledger Institute. Likewise, there is no definitive proof that homeopathy helps colicky babies. If you decide to try an alternative remedy, shop around for a practitioner who has experience with infants, and be sure to tell your family doctor.

A study of homeopaths and naturopaths found that most had no formal paediatric training, and fewer than half said they would refer a two-week-old with a fever for emergency care, which suggests they might not recognize a potentially serious condition, says Kemper.

Most doctors are not big fans of the pharmaceutical approach to colic. Parents should stay away from a drug called dicyclomine hydrochloride Bentylol , which is not recommended for babies under six months because it can cause breathing difficulties. High prescribed a higher dose of Zantac, though she noted that Maria did not spit up much and told Juliana that it was unlikely that reflux alone was causing the colic.

A physical cause for colic can be identified in fewer than ten per cent of cases. Then Lester entered the room and smiled warmly at Juliana. He told her how much he had enjoyed working in Guatemala. One of the key things we teach moms with colicky babies is that this unhealthy symbiosis needs to be broken. The baby must learn self-soothing.

High and Twomey told me that the physician who referred Juliana to the clinic noted that she was very depressed. Four years ago, High conducted a survey of more than four thousand Rhode Island women, comparing the incidence of maternal depression and inconsolable infant crying.

In the mid-nineties, he studied forty-five children between the ages of three and eight who had had colic as infants and had been seen at his clinic. He found that thirty-four of them—about seventy-five per cent—suffered from behavioral problems, including a limited attention span, tantrums, and irritation after being touched or coming in contact with particular fabrics or tags in their clothing.

The children apparently objected to the sensation of having fabric on their head. Lester speculates that many colicky infants are so sensitive to stimuli that physical contact with their parents is unlikely to soothe them, a theory that may be supported by data from societies in which babies are held continuously.

Ronald Barr, the co-author of the study on infant cries, has analyzed data gathered by Harvard researchers between and , during a study of the! Kung San, a tribe of hunter-gatherers in Botswana who practice a version of attachment parenting.

Kung San carry their babies upright, have skin-to-skin contact day and night, breast-feed every Kung San compared with Western babies, but the! Kung San still have what we call colic, with episodes of inconsolable crying.

Barr cited recent research by Ian St. James-Roberts, a child psychologist at the University of London, and several researchers in England and Denmark. The group studied three sets of parents and their infants, in London and Copenhagen. On average, the Danish parents held their babies for almost ten hours each day, including six and a half hours while the infants were awake. The British parents held their babies for about eight and a half hours a day, including six hours while they were awake.

The researchers found that the London infants cried fifty per cent more than the Danish or proximal-care infants at ten days and at five weeks of age. Like most experts in the field, Barr and St.

James-Roberts regard colic as an essentially benign condition that has no lasting effect on a child. Barr said that the only potentially significant negative consequence of colic is child abuse.

Lester, however, believes that some afflicted infants may be at risk of developing behavioral problems as children, in part because colic affects the way parents interact with them as babies. Beginning in , the researchers studied firstborn children from three months to three years, using information taken from questionnaires completed by their parents and public-health nurses. Three hundred and thirty-eight infants suffering from colic were compared with eight hundred and sixty-six infants who did not have the condition.

The parents of previously colicky infants were found to be more dissatisfied with family life and the amount of time they had for both leisure and shared activities than were the parents of children who had not had colic. Moreover, the three-year-olds in the colic group had significantly greater difficulty falling asleep and more frequent temper tantrums. Temper tantrums are normal reactions when the wishes of a child are not fulfilled.

Some behavior, however, has to be limited. Still, the research on the long-term effects of colic on infants and their parents is, at best, preliminary, and the respective contributions of genes and environment in triggering the condition remain murky. Lester concedes that most people who suffered from colic as infants and from temper tantrums as toddlers do not exhibit behavioral problems as adults, regardless of how their parents responded to their cries. Colicky babies often cry from 6 p.

Colicky crying is louder, more high-pitched, and more urgent sounding than regular crying. Colicky babies can be very hard to calm down. The symptoms of colic can be like other health conditions. Make sure your child sees his or her healthcare provider for a diagnosis. He or she will give your child a physical exam. You may be asked questions such as:. Blood tests and X-rays or other imaging tests may be done. These can help find out if your baby has other health problems.

There are many tips for helping to soothe and deal with a colicky baby. Know that this is a common problem for new babies.

Talk with your child's healthcare provider to find out more about colic and what you can do. If your baby is bottle-fed, it may help to use a curved bottle. This lets you hold your baby in an upright position. To reduce the amount of air your baby swallows during feeding, burp your baby often.

Using a bottle with a collapsible bag or liner may also help. Learning how to understand your baby's cry can help in dealing with colic.