There are no comments up to now.
By Stacy DeBroffÂ
For the first three months of my daughter's life, she cried so much that I felt completely exhausted, forlorn, and exasperated. My pediatrician assured me, "It's just colic. It will pass." But not apparently before I thought that I might pass out! We tried soothing baths, long car rides aimlessly around the neighborhood, swaddling, lying her on top of the dryer as I held her steady to feel the vibrations. And everything worked for about 12 minutes.
At my baby group, I was the one out in the hallway along with one other Mom, my now dear friend of 13-years Deborah Drake, as our newborns howled away and we were missing out on the nurse practitioner lending tips about sex post-baby. And here, all we craved was silence punctuated by a few good smiles! And today, if you met my daughter Kyle, you would be amazed by her zen, calm personality, reflective maturity, and compassionate nature. My screamer evolved! At the time, when around 3 and a half months, she stopped shrieking, and it felt like an honest miracle!
So here are some tips to lend perspective, with some excerpted from my parenting book, The Mom Book: 4,278 Tips for Moms.
All babies cry, but when it escalates to the point that your child is crying more than three hours a day at least three days out of the week, this is generally considered colic. While colic is completely normal and will eventually disappear on its own, it can be a source of immense frustration and distress for new parents. While there is certainly no "cure" for colic there are some strategies parents can try to improve the situation and help them regain some their sanity.
Keep a diary of when your baby cries and for how long, what stopped it and for how long, what did not work, and what the circumstances were when the crying started. You may find an emergent pattern that you did not recognize at first.
Experiment with bottles designed to let less air into your baby's stomach.
Burp your baby more frequently during feedings, as well as before feedings.
Change to a milk-free formula or use a predigested formula for a week to see if the problem disappears, or switch to soy-based products (although soy can also be an allergen). Check with your pediatrician for guidance before making changes.
If you breastfeed:
Eliminate all milk products from your diet. Talk with your doctor about whether you should take a calcium supplement while doing so.
Eliminate allergens and gas-producing foods from your diet one at a time and note foods that intensify the problem.
Eliminate excessive stimulation: loud music, television, or bright lights.
Put warm, gentle pressure on your baby's abdomen. Put a warm hot water bottle or heating pad on a low setting on your bed, and lie next to your baby while holding it near to his belly.
Take a warm bath together.
Take a shower together to see if the rhythmic beating of warm water on his back calms him.
Put your baby in an infant seat in the bathroom while you shower to see if the sound of running water soothes him.
Take your baby for a drive in the car.
Lay your baby on his back and bicycle his legs, gently stretching his limbs out in the process, to relieve gas.
Let your baby suck on a pacifier or on one of your fingers. Before doing the latter, make sure you wash your hands with soap and hot water. Try every kind of pacifier on the market until you find one your baby likes.
A full body massage with a gentle lotion or body oil may relax and calm your baby.
Keep a ticking clock in your baby's room, near the monitor if your home is big enough that you need one while your baby sleeps. The ticking lulls your baby while reassuring you that the monitor is working and letting you know if you go out of range.
Place an aquarium in your baby's room to provide a calm atmosphere that can help him relax.
Try placing him, with hands on him at all times, in a car seat on a running clothes dryer for the soothing vibration and white noise.
If your child continues to cry despite your best efforts, do not view yourself as having failed, but rather as having to endure a stage your baby will soon grow out of...really!
Image From: Pampers