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| |    Things to Try for a Colicky Baby by Dr. Benjamin Spock reviewed and revised by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P. First, make sure of the diagnosis If you have a baby with colic, the first thing to do is have him checked by the doctor or nurse practitioner to make sure there is no medical cause for the crying. Make sure that you are asking all the usual questions when he cries: Could he be hungry? Wet? Sick? Colic is a diagnosis made only after making sure that the baby is otherwise well-fed and healthy. Once you are convinced that this is colic, you can feel reassured. It usually goes away by three or four months, for reasons that are as mysterious as why it began in the first place. There are no known long-term problems associated with colic. Colicky babies don't grow up to be any more or less happy, smart, or cranky than other babies. The trick for you is to get through the next few months with your confidence and good spirits intact. What to do? Should you hold your baby or rock him gently or carry him around while he has colic? Even if it makes him stop crying, won't it spoil him? We aren't worried nowadays about the danger of spoiling babies, like we used to be. If babies are comforted when they are miserable, they usually don't go on demanding that comfort when they aren't miserable. If babies are screaming with colic or irritability and picking them up or rocking them seems to help them, then do it. If, however, holding them makes them feel no better, it's just as well not to get them used to being held so much. In consultation with your doctor or nurse practitioner, here are some other things you may want to try with colicky infants. (All work some of the time, but none work all of the time.):
• Swaddle the baby snugly in a receiving blanket. • Rock him in a cradle or carriage. • Use a front carrier for long walks. • Take him for a ride in the car. • Try a baby swing (although most infants get bored and start crying again after a few minutes). • Give him a belly massage (with lubricating lotion), placing a hot-water bottle on his belly. • Play quieting music, or (even better) sing to your baby. • Lay him across your knees or a hot-water bottle and massage him on the back. You should be able to rest the inside of your wrist against the hot-water bottle without discomfort. Then, as an extra precaution, wrap it in a diaper or towel before laying the baby against it or half on it. • Try some herbal tea (warm, not hot). Chamomile and mint are gentle and safe. Don't give your infant more than four ounces of any non-milk or non-formula liquid in the course of a day, however. Tea has no calories, and babies need calories to grow. Also, don't add honey to tea for babies, because of the risk of botulism. • Try a formula change from cow-milk formula (usually Similac or Enfamil) to a soy-based formula (usually ProSobee or Isomil). If neither of these work, talk with your child's doctor about a change to a non-soy formula (for example, Alimentum). These are very expensive, however, and like all of these suggestions, not guaranteed to work. • If you're breastfeeding, try changing your diet. For example, cut out milk and any caffeine-containing drinks; reduce gas-causing foods like cabbage. • If gassiness is part of the problem in a bottle-fed baby, check the hole of the nipple. If the hole is too small and babies have to suck too hard to get the milk, they can swallow a lot of air into their stomachs. You can widen the hole using a pin. If the hole is too large, your baby may be gulping the milk, and also swallowing a lot of air. To solve this problem, you have to buy a new nipple. • If your baby cries most in the 10 to 20 minutes after feeding, the problem might be due to stomach acid coming up and irritating the esophagus. Doctors call this gasto-esophageal reflux disease, or GERD for short. If you think this might be the problem, ask your child’s doctor about it. In summary Babies with colic often do best with less stimulation: a quiet room, few visitors, low voices, slow movements in handling them, a firm hold in carrying them, a big pillow (with a waterproof cover) to lie on while being changed and sponge-bathed so that they won't roll, and swaddling in a receiving blanket most of the time.
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