Colic - Causes, Symptoms, Treatment
Colic is when an otherwise healthy baby cries more that three hours a day, for more than three days a week, between ages three weeks and three months. The crying usually starts suddenly at about the same time each day. This is actually just an arbitrary definition made years ago. By this definition, a surprising number of babies actually would have colic: some experts have even estimated as many as half of all babies!After nearly nine months of staying in the mother’s womb, an infant is finally brought out into the world. It is here that the job of both parents becomes challenging, as a baby will cry for more than three hours daily making it impossible to get the much-needed rest. Doctors refer to the long excessive crying of a newborn as Colic. Until now, research is unable to pinpoint why this happens. There are various theories that explain this.
Causes
There is no commonly accepted explanation for colic. Traditionally, colic was ascribed to abdominal pain resulting from trapped gas in the digestive tract. This theory is not yet discredited, and some recent scientific evidence seems to support it, yet it is no longer universally accepted as the general cause.
No one is sure what causes colic. Babies who have colic are typically healthy, so it’s not caused by a medical problem. Colic isn’t caused by the way the baby is handled or treated. It’s certainly not the parents’ fault. Colic may be caused by stomach pain or the baby’s temperament. Babies who have colic seem to need more attention and are more sensitive to their environment than other babies.
Symptoms
A fussy baby doesn’t necessarily have colic. In an otherwise healthy, well-fed baby, signs of colic include:
Posture changes. Curled up legs, clenched fists and tensed abdominal muscles are common during colic episodes.
Intense or inconsolable crying. Colic crying is intense. Your baby’s face will likely be flushed, and he or she will be extremely difficult — if not impossible — to comfort.
Treatment
It is critically important to consult the baby’s doctor at the very beginning of the suspected colic symptoms. While there are no tests that can be done where the results come back “colic,” it is very important to exclude several other causes of sudden-onset screaming in a newborn. These conditions include intestinal blockage or obstruction, abdominal infection, a hernia, a scratch of the baby’s eye, an ear infection, a bladder infection, and others.
Helping a child with colic is primarily a matter of experimentation and observation. If you can identify and eliminate a trigger for the colic, that is best. Even if you can’t, learn which measures most comfort your baby.
