Baby Care

In anticipation of the child, prospective parents do not often realize what problems they may encounter in the first months of baby’s life.
Therefore, when there are any signs of illness mothers and fathers often get lost and do not know what to do. One of these pitfalls, delivering a lot of anxiety to kids and their parents, is intestinal colic. The overwhelming majority of kids have such a problem and, nevertheless, it becomes a matter of excitement. What do you need to know about colic?
First of all, parents need to understand what infantile colic really is. For the entire period of prenatal development the stomach and the intestines of the child do not work, because the baby receives its food through the umbilical cord. Now the gastrointestinal tract needs to master difficult job. Setting and synchronization of the digestive process usually takes several weeks.
During this time, the processes of fermentation and gas formation in the gastrointestinal tract cause painful for the child intestinal spasms. There is no need to be afraid of this – in most cases, colic passes together with the growth and development of the baby. However, this does not mean that you have to sit without taking any steps: colic delivers child serious suffering and he/she always needs help. You can help him/her in the following way:
- First, mothers and fathers should calm down, because it was proved that the excitement of adults passes to kids and worsen their condition.
- It is necessary to try solving the problems of breastfeeding: for the first time baby should be fed on demand, but it is desirable to observe the intervals between feedings at least two hours. Whilw breast-feeding you need to ensure that he/she tightly clenches lips around the nipple and does not swallow “portions of air”, which aggravate the painful spasms of colic. In that case, when child restlessly catches nipple with a mouth, you should help him/her holding the breast.
- If a child is on artificial feeding, it is necessary to seize the nipple away from the end. Also, to secure the child from the “excess air” during feeding keep a bottle at an angle of 30-45 ° – in this situation the air accumulates at the top and does not enter into his/her body. Another option – you can use special “shrinking” bottles or fitted with a valve (the so-called anti-colic). They also prevent the uptake of “excess air” and reduce the risk of colic.
- After eating, the child (both on breast-feeding, and on artificial feeding) should be held straight that he/she could “take out” extra air from body.
- It is important to regularly to put the child on the tummy (7-10 minutes); it contributes to a discharge of gases and strengthens the muscles of the anterior abdominal wall, which favorably affects the intestinal peristalsis.
- Do not neglect the massage. It should become a mandatory part of everyday life of your baby. Daily do massage light strokes in a clockwise direction (about 10 turns)
- Nursing mother should pay particular attention to her menu, because everything she eats gets into her breast milk and the baby’s intestines. If a child has colic, you should carefully avoid foods rich in fiber (cabbage, whole-grain bread, apples, eggplant), and food, reinforcing the processes of fermentation (buns, beans, grapes).
- To cope with painful cramps helps a warm diaper, applied to the tummy. The heat allows the baby to relax, so the colic after some time diminishes and ceases to disturb the baby.
Using the whole set of measures you can successfully cope with intestinal colic. Your child will be happy, will develop, learn about the world and grow to the delight of his/her mother and father.