What to do if a child has colic: advice from a neurologist

Nothing gives as many problems to aspiring parents as baby colic. Mom begins to be afraid of this period almost from the birth of the baby. The due date comes, and all fears are justified. A calm, active and cheerful child is bursting with screams in the evening, and it is almost impossible to calm him down at this time. In the course go dill water, a warm diaper on the tummy and wearing in a column. But the next day, again against the background of complete health, the night concert continues with renewed vigor. What to do if a child has colic, and what is strictly prohibited, a pediatric neurologist told us Alexander Miroshnikov

The pediatrician states that the child is healthy and diagnoses "infant colic". Mom finds information on the Internet that colic is associated with intestinal spasms and increased gas production in the baby's tummy. On the one hand, this seems to be a physiological process that is caused by the immaturity of the gastrointestinal tract. On the other hand, authoritative resources write that the baby's digestive system cannot cope with the digestion of breast milk or formula.

If the baby is breastfed, the mother goes on a strict diet on the same day, excluding from the menu everything that, even hypothetically, can cause the baby to get gaziki. Or a long and painstaking selection of a suitable mixes, which ends exactly when the child's colic passes by age.

Why does the child have colic

Infant colic is not a sign of illness and should not be treated / istockphoto.com

Modern medicine has gone a little further than "gaziks". And there is good news and bad news in the findings of the crying researchers. The good news is that infant colic is not a sign of illness. This is a normal developmental stage that all mammalian children go through. Yes, colic is found not only in humans, but also in animals: for example, puppies arch their backs, tighten their paws and whine, even if their mother is nearby. Bad news: no matter how hard you try, you won't be able to remove this period from your baby's life. No diet or hypoallergenic formula based on Himalayan goat milk will guarantee you that colic will go away faster than it should happen in your baby.

How you can calm yourself down is to clearly determine that the child has colic. Although during the crying period it seems that the baby is unbearably suffering, and all the incurable diseases of the world have fallen on him. Nevertheless, there is a version that one of the causes of infant colic is the immaturity of the nervous system plus increased parental anxiety. That is, it is likely that the child during colic feels much less pain than from his crying are tested by his parents.

It is often impossible to calm a baby during colic / istockphoto.com

In order to recognize colic, pediatricians usually use the "rule of three": babies start crying for no reason from three weeks life, crying on average lasts about three hours a day, this happens at least three times a week and ends by about three months. Canadian pediatrician Ronald Barr, who for several years studied the features of the manifestation of infant colic in different countries of the world, has developed his own methodology on how to recognize that a child is worried exactly colic. At the same time, he proposes to abandon this term and introduces his own concept - "purple cry". Purple does not mean that the child is crying until blue in the face. This is the English abbreviation PURLE, each letter of which represents a specific characteristic of crying.

Here is this transcript:

• P (peak pattern: crying peak) - the intensity of crying increases from the 2nd week of life, reaches its peak at the age of about 2 months, then decreases
• U (unpredictable: unpredictable) - crying starts unexpectedly, often for no reason
• R (resistant to soothing) - no matter how hard you try to calm the child, he still continues to cry
• P (pain-like crying: similar to crying from pain) - each of the parents, faced with colic, is ready to swear that the baby is in unbearable pain, although there is no scientific evidence for this
• L (long boots of crying: long bouts of crying) - this is the longest cry in a child's life, which on average lasts at least half an hour, but can continue continuously for several hours
• E (evening crying) - most often the child begins to cry after lunch and in the evening

How to help a child with colic

First of all, check if your baby is hungry and needs a diaper change / istockphoto.com

Ronald Barr thinks that the term "colic" sounds like a disease to many parents, so it often scares mom and dad and confuses them. Knowing the main signs of "purple crying", parents will accept the baby's condition as the norm for his development. This will help them not to perform unnecessary (and sometimes even very dangerous) actions on calming the baby, and also relieve the feeling of guilt that they can do nothing to help their child.

“All you can do to help your baby during periods of purple crying is to be with him,” says Alexander Miroshnikov. You can try to calm the child in one of the following ways "

• check if the baby is hungry, if he has a fever, if he needs to change the diaper
• undress the baby and hold him close to you (called skin-to-skin contact)
• carry on your hands, talk a lot, sing songs to your child
• give your baby a warm bath, with a decoction of herbs
• if the weather permits, go outside with the child or take him to the balcony
• swaddle the baby (sometimes the swaddling technique helps because the baby feels protected)
• try playing soft music or white noise (there are links on the internet for white noise for babies to sleep)

“It is very important not to engage in self-flagellation when trying to calm down a kid,” continues Alexander Miroshnikov. Remember that one of the characteristics of purple crying is resistant to soothing. That is, crying that defies comfort. If you can't help your child calm down, take time out and calm down yourself. "

If you feel on the edge, trust your baby to loved ones and calm down alone / istockphoto.com

You can leave your baby under the supervision of relatives and go outside. If there is no one around, and you and the baby are at home by yourself, put the baby in the crib without toys and blankets, go to another room and do what can help you to relax (grab a snack, have tea, call friends, take a shower, or listen to music). After 10 minutes, you will be able to return to your child again and continue trying to calm him or her.

No matter how stressed you are, and no matter how much you want to stop crying, do not shake the baby during this time.

“It happens that a parent, in an attempt to calm down the baby, takes him by the shoulders or armpits and begins to intensively shake, which causes a sharp movement of the baby's head back and forth, says Alexander Miroshnikov. - Shaking or throwing the baby on the crib this much can lead to the development of Shaken Baby Syndrome. For a baby, this is, without exaggeration, a mortal threat. After all, these children, as a rule, do not have traces of external trauma, while there may be extensive intracranial hemorrhages. "

You will also be interested in reading:

Colic in a Newborn: 7 Proven Ways to Ease Your Baby's Suffering

Colic in a baby: how to recognize them correctly and help the baby

Colic in a newborn: 3 easy ways to help your baby