According to modern research, there are no methods that would eliminate colic symptoms in kids. Usually, they occur at about 3 weeks of life, occur every day (mostly in the evening), last about 3 hours, and decrease or disappear at 3 months. The symptoms are quite similar every day and appear as severe restlessness and a crying baby who is difficult to distract or soothe. Most of the methods used by parents (including even pills) in most cases don’t help.
The cause of these symptoms is the immaturity of the gastrointestinal tract, and more precisely, the neuromuscular regulation of the intestinal walls. All these reasons go away on their own and without massive treatment. Some parents notice a good effect from the rocking chair, which calms a child and promotes the release of gasses. In some cases, there is a need to review the nursing mother’s diet or the formula you are using.
If a baby is breastfed, a nursing mother should follow a diet with the reduction of foods that contribute to the formation of gas in the intestines (cabbage, radishes, grapes, legumes, pickles, carbonated drinks, smoked products, sweets, foods with a high starch content, etc.), replace dairy products with fermented milk products. In case, a baby is bottle-fed or if it’s on a mixed diet, you need to use a special formula to effectively eliminate intestinal colic. For example, specialty comport European baby formula contains partially split proteins that are easily digested thus contributing to the formation of regular soft stools.
Why Do a Baby May Suffer from Gases?
Currently, there are no definitive reasons why colic occurs. However, most doctors believe that a child’s tummy pain appears due to increased gas production in the intestines. After birth, the kid’s digestive system learns a new way of adapting to the environment and colic is a kind of reaction to the adaptation.
It is also a fairly popular opinion that infant colic occurs due to immature, unformed intestinal microflora. After the gastrointestinal tract adapts the abdominal pain disappears.
Factors that cause severe colic in babies include:
- excessive feeding
- the use of inappropriate formula(so you should check the ingredients in baby formula with a pediatrician)
- improper feeding technique
- smoking and drinking alcohol during breastfeeding
So, the problem of colic in an infant is complex and can arise for various reasons.
How to Recognize and Distinguish Colic from Other Diseases?
It’s not quite difficult to distinguish colic. During a spasm, the child’s tummy hurts so that it cries for several hours a day, while a baby is full, healthy, and in a dry diaper. Also, a newborn actively moves its legs and presses them to the belly. Bloating of the abdomen, the tension of the front abdominal wall, and redness of the skin of the face are noted.
Usually, colic appears closer to the afternoon, or in the evening. The symptoms begin without any reason, immediately after or during feeding. Episodes of colic last up to 3 hours are repeated at least 3 times a week, and continue for about 3 weeks in a row.
With intense spasms, babies lose their appetite, you can hear gurgling in the stomach. Children who suffer from gasses have increased irritability, and sleep poorly. Spasms pass after the release of gasses or the act of defecation.
How to Relieve Pain?
There are several ways to help reduce discomfort in a child:
- do not force-feed the baby with milk or formula. Pediatricians admit that overfed children suffer from colic more often than babies with a normal diet
- a tummy massage will help ease the general condition. It should be done in between feedings, for 5-10 minutes. To do this, it is enough to put a kid on its back and carefully massage the tummy around the navel with the fingertips in a clockwise direction. In this way, excess gasses will gradually come out
- sometimes it is necessary to increase the intervals between feedings
- some specialists recommend putting children on their stomachs, but only for a few minutes
- after each feeding, it is recommended to hold an infant vertically so that the swallowed air comes out on its own.
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