A colicky baby can take a real toll on parents
She was looking for answers, and I couldn't blame her. With a fussy 3-month-old at home, the tired mother just wanted to know what colic was all about.
"Well," I explained, "colic is a poorly understood condition of early infancy thought to be caused by gut immaturity." That seemed so much better than saying, "We really don't know!"
Infant colic is seen in about 20 percent of babies between the ages of 2 weeks and 4 months, but remains something of a medical mystery.
The standard description of infant colic originated in the 1950s and is still referred to as the Wessel definition: continuous crying for longer than three hours on more than three days a week, for a period stretching greater than three weeks.
Though colicky infants cry and seem to experience major gastrointestinal discomfort, there appears to be no long-term harm done to babies during these episodes.
Their parents, however, are another matter. As hard as colic is on infants, it's that much worse for their parents. Parents of a fussy infant feel helpless as they try to comfort and relieve their newborn's apparent discomfort.
It's difficult for a loving parent to listen to a child cry for an extended period of time without being able to help. That's why my first advice to parents is to take turns during these fussy episodes in order to preserve their own sanity.
I tell parents to spot each other. And it's not enough just to pass the crying baby off to the spouse. One parent should physically leave the baby's room and go watch TV, listen to music or take a long hot shower in order to be refreshed for the next tour of duty.
Pediatricians handle many calls about colicky babies and are always on the lookout for any sign of serious illness (fevers, vomiting, etc.) or for anything in the immediate environment that needs to be modified.
If your child is crying inconsolably, it is important to make sure there is not a hair wrapped around a finger or toe and that the baby is not overdressed, overfed or underfed, or just in need of a good burp.
If a child is fussy all day long, a change in the diet of a breast-feeding mom, or in the type of formula of a bottle-fed baby, can occasionally make a difference. Experimenting with different nursing positions and bottle types, as well as pausing for frequent burping, can help some uncomfortable infants.
For the classic colicky infant who can be perfectly fine in the day but starts to howl between 6 and 10 p.m. (just when you're exhausted and ready to call it a night), there's often not a lot that can be done except biding your time while comforting your child.
Take care of your baby, take care of yourself, and remember that colic is a passing phase in the life of an otherwise normal, healthy infant. Things will get better.
In fact, I can assure you that when your little one grows up and goes off to school, his kindergarten teacher will never know he started off as a colicky baby!