Colic is a condition that occurs in babies between the first few days of life until about four months and is often diagnosed in spirited newborns. If your newborn is crying for three hours a day, three or more days a week, it is likely that your doctor will tell you that your child has colic. Colicky babies cry even when they are not hungry, tired, or needing a diaper change. You can imagine the toll this takes on parents!!! Some colicky infants show symptoms in the evening only while others cry off and on all day.
Colic, by definition, is just an abundance of crying. It is hard to know if your fussy baby has tummy ache or is just having trouble adjusting to life "on the outside". This is partly because although colic is thought to be an intestinal or digestive issue, there still is no hard evidence to prove exactly what is creates the crying. Thankfully, colic does eventually disappear on it own by four months of age. But even one hour with a colicky baby is too long! It is heartbreaking to see a baby suffer so -- and unbelievably frustrating to not be able to fix it!
The first thing to try to cure your baby's condition is a diet change, although nearly all of the time the symptoms are NOT caused by mother's milk. If you breast feed, try an elimination diet for peace of mind but don't switch to formula. Common foods to give up are: dairy, caffeine, soy, onions, and bell peppers. Avoid the foods for at least a week to see if your baby's symptoms go away. If you have been formula feeding, experiment with different brands and and formulations. Hopefully, one of them will agree with your newborn!
My Tig suffered with some mysterious ailment during his newborn months. I felt terrible watching him cry all day long and exhausted from trying to soothe him all day too. The elimination diet didn't work for me so I focused on soothing my baby anyway I could. I'll be sharing all of my successes keeping Tig happy in later posts.
I still wonder whether Tig really had a digestive issue or if his spirited little self was just not happy to leave his first humble abode. Maybe he just wanted back in? Maybe he just wanted to go back to never feeling cold or hungry? I'll never know for sure. What I can say is if you are dealing with constant newborn fussies take life one minute at a time. A day can sometimes even feel too long to get through! Know that other mothers have survived this difficult time and that it will go away. Get as much help as possible and don't be afraid to reach out and ask family, friends, and neighbors for help or hire help if you can afford it. Focus only at the task at hand. Know that as you are kept very busy, day turns to night, night back to day and time goes on. Glimpses of your happy little baby appear. And one day, the magic colic fussies that you thought you'd never get rid of, go away for good...
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