Baby Care

Posts Tagged ‘Intestinal Colic’

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.

The first months of baby’s life are not only very happy but also very tense time for its parents. They have an important task: to understand the child, to look after him/her and assist him/her in overcoming the inevitable challenges of growth.

One of the first challenges which have the vast majority of children and parents is infantile intestinal colic. As a rule, they start during the first three weeks and continue up to the first three months of the child’s life, delivering a lot of suffering to the baby as well as its surrounding adults.

Why does it arise?

Intestinal colic is not considered to be a disease. This is a so-called functional disorder, which is a natural stage of maturing baby’s digestive system and the adaptation of the gastrointestinal tract for digestion of food. However, these processes are accompanied by a rather unpleasant and painful effects such as intestinal spasm, excess gas, a violation of intestinal peristalsis.

Over time, the digestion comes right and colic passes without a trace. But this does not mean that the kid can do without the help of adults – they need to understand him/her when he/she has colic and alleviate the child’s sufferings.

How you can understand it?

As a rule, colic torment baby during the evening hours. During the attack of pain the child is crying, fidgets legs and makes “vermiform” movements. It doesn’t stop even during lactation – while sucking the intestine changes its sizes (spasm), increasing the pain. Because of this, the kid is a little more nervous during feeding.

What should you do?

If the child is breastfed, the mother will have to adjust the diet, removing from it products that are fermented (black bread, sauerkraut, grape, radish, beans, etc.). While feeding the baby should tightly capture the teat in order not to swallow excess air.

For children who already use artificial feeding, it is desirable to feed with special anti-colic bottles that prevent swallowing excess air.

After feeding hold the kid so that he/she could take out the swallowed air. It is important that the intervals between feedings are not less than two hours, otherwise the milk will not fully digest, which can increase the baby’s discomfort.

Remember also that after feeding the child should be put on the side – this will prevent the diversion of milk into the respiratory tract. In addition, this position facilitates the evacuation of milk from the stomach into the gut. It is also good to often put the kid on the stomach after feeding. This position helps to strengthen muscles of the front abdominal wall, which favorably affects the peristalsis of the bowel and helps to reduce colic.

To facilitate the child’s condition you can use herbs, such as chamomile, fennel, dill and anise. They have proved themselves as effective ways to combat colic. For example you can give your child medicinal herbal preparations, such as Planteks based on the fruit and fennel essential oil. It comes in the form of soluble beverage, which is very easy to brew, while respecting the required dosage. The drug has mild antispasmodic effect, regulates the processes of digestion, reduces gas and helps reduce the frequency and severity of colic.
Light massage can also help the child. It includes clockwise massage of tummy, bending legs, stroking the back with the sides in the direction of the stomach to the waist.

And try to remain calm even when the baby cries bitterly, – it has been proven that the anxiety of parents is transmitted to children and makes them to feel uncomfortable.