baby colic help - info for new moms and dads

Common Causes In the nursing baby, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, garlic, or spicy foods in mother’s diet often cause uncomfortable gas or irritation.

Other Symptoms Often other symptoms such as diarrhea, constipation, spitting-up, rashes, sleeplessness, or waking with screams go along with this picture. Sometimes chronic stuffiness and ear infections also stem from food sensitivities; again, dairy being the major offender.

Nursing Mother Strict elimination of dairy and other offenders in the nursing mother’s diet will produce equal or better results to elemental formulas, while maintaining immune protection and other benefits.

GER The recent fad in colic diagnosis is GER, or gastro-esophageal reflux. Food intolerance is well known to cause such reflux, as is stress, (like from prolonged bouts of crying), so we are back to our basic causes for colic.

Caring for Colic Lots of jiggling often helps to move painful bubbles through baby’s system. Tummy rubs may be responded to positively as well. The general rule for reacting to a crying baby who cannot be comforted is to simply hold them and validate their feelings. Yet when a child frequently suffers from painful bouts of colic, it may be more kind to help distract them from their pain, if and when possible.

 

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Finding Out Blood and scratch tests are simply not reliable, and are often negative. Once other, rare medical conditions have been professionally ruled out for the chronically crying baby, dietary trials in search of offending foods will likely provide the solution that is needed. This topic is covered thoroughly in Baby Matters.

 

Lactose Lactose intolerance is almost never a true problem for a baby. When baby’s digestive tract is suffering from reactions to any food, or recovering from infection, lactase enzyme (that digests lactose) becomes temporarily reduced. Lactose intolerance tests will often show up positive in such a case, but lactose-free formula will only provide a partial recovery. Mother’s milk is full of lactose. Until very recently, an infant born unable to digest this baby sugar would never live to pass on its genes. The incidence of true lactase enzyme deficiency in a baby is extremely rare.

Other Treatment Options Few parents have found help from the little drops sold for gas. Some may find herbal remedies to help. Acidophilus (not from dairy sources) has been shown to reduce some food intolerance and help re-establish intestinal balance after an assault on the system. There may also be reduction of intestinal reaction with the medically prescribed use of histamine-2 blockers, (like Zantac and Cimetadine), or anti-inflammatory agents, each of which block part of the intestinal assault. There is no substitution, however, for avoidance of the offending agents. When symptoms are merely reduced or masked, health-impairing intestinal assault continues, possibly with life-long ramifications.