8 Home Rememdies for Abdominal Colic in Infants
If your baby has colic, don’t worry. It is highly common for healthy babies to have colic; up to 25% of newborn babies have it. Babies with colic are usually otherwise healthy. The most common reasons why a baby may have colic is because of overfeeding, allergies, and stress.
There is a difference between just crying and colic. Babies usually cry, and a lot, but just because they cry doesn’t mean that they have colic. A baby with colic will usually cry for the same amount of time, at the same times, every day, as if on a schedule. Babies without colic will cry often, but at changing times and for differing lengths of time.
If you think that your baby has colic, then follow these tips to learn how to prevent more crying, and how to calm down your baby once they start crying.
Feeding Schedule Try to keep your baby on some sort of feeding schedule. Feeding your baby too often or too little can both cause problems. Have a set time and set amount of milk, or amount of time you breastfeed your baby, and keep them regular. Once your baby gets adjusted to this schedule they should gradually cry less.
Don’t Overfeed One big reason for abdominal colic is overfeeding. When babies eat too much they don’t know what to do other than cry. When adults overeat, they feel uncomfortable, but they can always take some medicine and relieve their discomfort rather easily, but with babies, many medicines cannot be used, and so the baby has to deal with the dis on their own. It is best to avoid this just by not overfeeding them. Keeping to a feeding schedule is one of the best ways to keep track of how much your baby is eating.
No Juice You should not give a newborn baby juice. Babies should be at least six months old before they even start to have diluted juice. If you are already giving your baby juice, then this may be the cause of their abdominal colic. Stop giving them juice as soon as possible. If you are not giving your baby juice, then keep it up! Do your best to remember to wait until your baby is six months old before giving them juice.
Change Formulas If you are not breastfeeding, or if you are breastfeeding and feeding with formula, then you may want to consider changing what type of formula you use. Many formulas may contain milk or soy products, which are two highly common allergies for people to have. There is a chance that your baby is allergic to the formula and you don’t even know it. You may be able to cure your baby’s abdominal colic by just changing to low-allergy formulas. If this doesn’t do the trick, then feel free to switch back to your original formula. Chances are that this can cure it though.
White Noise If your baby just won’t seem to stop crying, even after you try feeding them differently, you may be frustrated. Luckily, there are certain noises that seem to calm down babies; these are known as white noise. You can create white noise by turning on a fan, letting the television go to static, watching your child while you do the laundry to wash dishes in a dishwasher. Since there is not much to these noises, it calms down babies without being annoying to parents like children’s television shows.
Rocking Babies also seem to be calmed by movement. Hold your baby and rock them when you can. You can also get baby swings (even newborn babies can use most models) that will rock your babies for you. Make sure to supervise your baby while they are in the swing. Another trick that works is taking your baby for a ride in the car. If you are going on a short errand, then this may work wonders for you.
Foods for Breastfeeding Moms to Avoid If you breastfeed your child then there are certain foods that you may want to avoid to make sure that your baby cries less. Just because you are making milk doesn’t mean that you have to drink a lot of it. You should avoid drinking a lot of milk or eating many dairy products. Also, avoid foods that will make you gassy, or foods that will irritate your stomach. It is also best to avoid caffeine and alcohol.
Stay Calm When you are taking care of a colicky baby it is best to act calm, even if you aren’t really calm. Babies tend to cry even more if they can tell that you are distressed. If you are extremely stressed, then try to have a friend or other family member watch your baby for a few hours so that you can relax for a while and get ready to take care of your baby calmly.
Hopefully these tips can help with your colicky baby. Good luck!
