Baby colic often puts young parents through the mill, making their child cry through the night long, while the upset mom and dad are making heroic attempts to sooth as well as to feed their baby. It feels like nothing will help when their baby has this awful stomachache, and each day they rush to your pediatrician for advice. But whatever pediatricians say about the sources of baby colic, you can still find plenty of myths about «bad» breast milk, too frequent breastfeeding attachments etc. From the worst scenario parents’ concerns about colic result in quitting breastfeeding in favor of bottle feeding. Naturally, this has nothing with regards to management of colic, but may make things even worse. And after that, have you been certain your child has infantile colic? There could be some other reasons to your baby to cry and you must rule them out to avoid more severe problems.
What is infantile colic?
The phrase «colic» usually specifies a pain in the large intestine, whilst the term «baby colic» can be used to describe intense outburst of crying in a healthy child, the consequence of spastic pain within the intestine. The pain sensation is believed to be linked to overdistension of gut walls with accumulated gases. Remember that «healthy child» ensures that your infant has no signs and symptoms of any disease (rash, high fever, etc.) and therefore it behaves quite ordinarily at other times. When the baby is sluggish or irritated, if it vomits or nurses poorly throughout the feeding schedule, you should see your pediatrician, as these symptoms can’t be explained by baby colic.
Usually, pediatricians utilize a «three triples» rule so that you can detect colic. If an infant cries over three hours per day at least 72 hours weekly and this is observed for 3 weeks in a row, this can suffer from colic. Also, you may judge about infantile colic in the way your kids cries. Colic attacks tend to be observed inside the evenings or at nights in infants younger than three months (though babies can are afflicted by colic around half a year). When crying, an infant twists its legs, writhes and flushes, while all attempts of latching it for the breast end up in taking only a few sips — and therefore the child continues crying. Through the attack, you are able to observe that your babyAndrsquo;s tummy is bloated, which is associated with the intestinal gas.
Reasons behind infantile colic
It can be amazing, but no person knows without a doubt why infants suffer from colic. Some researches even think that colic is a kind of deception, which infants use to attract more attention and care using their parents. There are actually theories about increased peristalsis, maternal anxiety, birth complications and the like.
The most common theory holds that colic comes from intestinal dysbiosis caused by some kind of microbial imbalance. The concept is the fact that gut flora takes a dynamic part in digestion and nutrients absorption. In youngsters under 3 months, physiological deficiency of digestive enzymes is observed ultimately causing poor digestion, intestinal dysmotility and excessive gas that stretches the gut walls to result in pain.
Treatment of baby colic
Since the causes of infant colic are certainly not proven, there is no effective treatment for all infants experiencing colic. Sure, parents ought to calm their babies with rocking them in arms, speaking with them, providing eye contact or putting them in the stomach or side. Massages appear to have some calming effect, while consumption of probiotics is very popular, but disputable due to absence of evidences of the beneficial effect. Nursing mothers are recommended to stick to some hypoallergenic diet, excluding milk products, eggs and nuts, and also for formula-fed infants it is far better to decide on formulas with soy or hydrolyzed protein.
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