Preparing for the appearance of the baby, the expectant mother thoroughly studies possible deviations from the norm of behavior, childhood diseases and ways to prevent certain problems. How old are colic in children and how to survive them is one of the main questions that interests parents.
What causes colic?
The Chinese have the phrase "One Hundred Days of Crying," characterizing the condition of the baby and mother during the period of colic. It’s clear with the child, he is crying in pain, and is mom doing here? She is worried about her child, it is very difficult to see his suffering and almost have no opportunity to help. Hence the tears that arise in the mother.
Not every mother knows how old children have colic and restless sleep. As a rule, discomfort lasts up to 12 weeks (3 months), and begins 15–20 days after birth. The reason for their appearance in the adaptation period is crumbs to the new environment. All this time he lived safely in his mother’s stomach, his digestive, respiratory, and circulatory systems, together with other organs, did not function at full capacity. Caught in new conditions, the body understands that it will have to work hard, but does not yet know how to react to a particular stimulus. And when acquaintance with a new food occurs, side effects appear. The baby may have problems with stools, gas formation and other "joys" of the intestine. Such an adult also does not tolerate well, to say nothing of who has just entered the world.
Symptoms
If colic occurs in children, the symptoms are as follows:
- Tummy hard to the touch.
- You can hear the intestines making sounds.
- Toddler weeps and wriggles. Especially often this behavior manifests itself in the late evening or late at night.
- The baby presses the legs to his stomach and screams.
- During feeding, the baby rolls, cries out and worries.
- There may be problems with bowel movements.
The main causes of gas
Colic in a month-old baby is a very common phenomenon. No wonder young mothers with a shudder await this age. But it is important not to confuse them with gases. What is behind gassing in the intestines of crumbs?
Sometimes you can hear that it all depends on the diet of the parent. This is not quite the right opinion, and here's why. If you talk with the mothers of babies who are breast-fed, it turns out that they also have gas jets. This means that it is not a matter of maternal nutrition, but of the necessary amount of proteins, fats and vitamins in the composition of the mixture or breast milk.
Very often, the cause of gas formation is breathing. This may sound ridiculous, but back to the previous subsection. In it, we talked about the adaptability of the baby's body to new conditions. When he lived inside his mother, the respiratory system did not work the way she had to do it after birth. In other words, the baby did not know how to breathe normally and, having been born, learns to do it. He does not know how to regulate this process at the time of eating, crying or strong excitement, capturing a large amount of air with his mouth. And he, once in the intestine, presses on its walls, causing pain in the crumbs.
Occurrence of colic
How old are colic in a child, and how do they differ from gas formation, we found out. More precisely, they dealt with the first part of the question, and as for the second, colic is a consequence of a large amount of gases.
One of the reasons for their appearance is the nutrition of a young mother. But not only with breastfeeding, crumbs have colic. If it is on artificial nutrition, an improperly selected mixture can provoke them. A child may experience an allergic reaction to one or another of its components, as well as to products consumed by the mother.
A lactating woman should exclude chicken eggs, soy, wheat-containing products, and cow's milk from the diet.
How to help baby
How to help your baby with colic is a question that often bothers young mothers. There is no strength to see and hear how the baby cries, the heart contracts with compassion for him, and what to do is not always clear. We will talk in an article about the most common ways to eliminate painful symptoms.
Feeding
One of the possible answers to the question of how to help the baby with colic is proper attachment to the chest. Or the selection of the optimal nipple when the child feeds on the mixture.
So, if we are talking about breastfeeding, we advise you to act on this technique:
- We put the baby to the chest in a sitting position. Tummy crumbs tightly pressed to the mother.
- Grasp the areola with your fingers so that the upper finger is parallel to the lower.
- Squeeze out a drop of milk, draw a nipple over the baby’s lower lip, making him open his mouth wide.
- When the baby grabs the nipple, his lower lip should completely cover the areola. And during feeding, it is important to hear only the sound of sucking and swallowing milk coming from the crumbs. The child should not make any other sounds.
When the child is breast-fed, the bottle is selected so that the mixture passes through it in small drops. If its flow is too large, the swallowing of air is ensured.
Post-meal Behavior
For newborns from colic helps the correct posture after feeding, which allows you to regurgitate the air in time. Mom should hold the child upright after it eats. This will allow the excess air swallowed during feeding to escape.
The duration of such holding varies from 5 to 40 minutes. It all depends on the age of the child: the smaller it is, the longer it will take to keep it in this position.
Massage
Inexperienced mothers begin to massage the tummy with colic in a newborn (at the time of the attack). This is unacceptable, because it causes extremely painful sensations.
The time of an attack, as a rule, does not change: if it is evening, then it occurs at the same hour. And it is quite possible to predict its beginning, in order to do a massage of the abdomen before the baby. This will help reduce pain during colic.
The child is placed in such a way that his upper body is 30 centimeters higher than the lower. Mom's fingers gently touch the belly of the crumbs in the area near the navel. Without pressing, they begin to do massage in circular motions, strictly clockwise. The duration of such exposure is 7-10 minutes.
Bathing
Very good for relaxing the muscles of the abdomen swimming. Daily, at the same time, do hygiene crumbs. It must be bathed in warm water, you can add tincture of chamomile or calendula. Just do not forget about boiling and bringing to the optimum water temperature before the procedure.
Physical exercise
There is a list of exercises aimed at helping the child in the release of gases.
You should start with the simplest:
The kid lies on the back, under his head is a pillow. Mom takes the crumbs by the legs, bends them slightly and presses them to his tummy. Then straightens and gently pulls. The exercise is repeated 3-5 times.
Experienced parents claim how well-proven the classic bike is. We know about this exercise since childhood, we did it at physical education lessons. The child, of course, is not able to independently fulfill it; mom or dad come to the rescue. The baby's legs are bent at the knees, lifted and begin to make movements that simulate riding a bicycle.
Just be careful when doing the exercises. They can not be done at the time of colic, the best option is the time before the attack. If it is not possible to predict its beginning, then shortly before you lay the baby.
Komarovsky about colic
What to do if a newborn has colic? Komarovsky Evgeny Olegovich is a legendary doctor, and many mothers listen very much to his advice. He recommends using a drug called Espumisan. Give it during feeding, no more than 25 drops.
Even Dr. Komarovsky recalls the need to put the baby on his tummy in between meals.
Features of the procedure
How to lay the newborn on the tummy? It is recommended to start with the fact that mom put the crumbs on herself. It calms him, helps to feel protected. Yes, and it’s useful for the parent to just lie down again, at least for 5-10 minutes, to rest,
So, take the baby in your arms and lay down with him on the sofa. Then arrange the child on yourself so that his tummy lies on the mother. In this position, you can lie for 10 minutes or more, stroking the child on the back and talking with him.
Interesting ways to calm the baby
How old are colic in children and how to relieve them, we talked above. These are the usual ways tested by experienced moms and dads. But there are others offered by American children's doctors. Someone will like them, while others will cause bewilderment.
The first method does not seem so incomprehensible. Simone Cave, in her book “Your Baby Week after Week,” recommends carrying it in your arms during an attack, swaying and humming softly to calm and distract. If the child does not like motion sickness, it can be placed in a sling or in a kangaroo backpack. Thus, the baby is worn around the house, but the hands are released.
Another tip is weirder and more perplexing. The same author recommends putting the baby in a stroller and going for a walk with him. Hardly at the moment when he screams in pain, you can think about a walk and try to dress the baby. Especially in the winter, when mom sweats while dressing him up.
It also says about driving the baby in the car. He will be distracted and quickly fall asleep, because many kids love to ride in a car. Perhaps this is so, but not at the moment of pain, when the child sets in a scream.
And the third advice of the same author, already concerning the behavior of the youngest mother: wear headphones. Yes, the scream pisses itself off, makes the heart tear to pieces and cry with the baby, but mommy is powerless to do anything. Why spoil your own nerves and panic when you can turn on the music louder and drown out children's crying? Will a loving mother go to such a way of complacency? More likely no than yes.
Conclusion
We talked about why colic occurs in a child and what mom has during lactation. The article describes the process of applying the baby to the chest, options to help him burp after feeding and other ways that can alleviate the suffering of the baby.
It is worth remembering that colic on the health of the child does not affect. They cause only anxiety and discomfort, nothing more.