Colic - one word every new mother has heard of but you never expect it will happen to your baby...natural human instinct...we always wish the best things to happen to our babies and the worst to stay away! So when Riaan had his first colicy episode - back in Agra (remember the crazy crying) - I had no clues what it was and the last thing that came to my mind was colic.We had happily come to my mom's place post our Agra trip - I wanted to discuss this job thingy with my mum and obviously its always good to be back :)
Since we had started to travel with Riaan now, I was hoping this week to be much like normal where I will be able to go out for a while..meet some friends and basically spend some happy time!The day we reached we were all too exhausted so we slept during the day but the very next day my little one had a scary surprise for me. He wasn't sleeping...like a max 20 min nap after bath and he was fussy for no reason...I thought may be he is finding this place new so he is not comfortable...I tried my best to comfort him...I stayed around him all the time...but no...he was still cranky.
On thing that always worked was carrying him in my arms...it was working now too...but the problem was that the moment I was keeping him down he was crying like crazy...I was like whats with him...why has he turned into a howling baby all of a sudden?? My mom suggested to give him some boiled water with fennel seeds (sauf ka pani as we all commonly know it) which should help if he has some gas. Now babies are known to be gassy...they pass a lot of gas and which is supposed to be good and healthy...but obviously if they do not pass it then it's a sign of trouble..so I tried that...he had the water but no result.
After a while we tried giving him milk...he had his usual quantity and was asking for more...so my mum said may be he is hungry and he has been crying for so long...you should give him more milk...so I did...and wow he had double the quantity he usually has...but he was suddenly like extremely quite...no sound...no crying...nothing..but still peace is better than a wailing baby so I was like cool..may be it was just hunger.Then in less 5 seconds of me thinking ...he puked like really badly...and the crying started again this time with more rigor...and I was like shit...what the hell is wrong with my baby?? Before this I was quite irritated with him but when I saw him puked up and so uncomfortable I started to worry...I obviously understood he is not enjoying this for sure (which I was thinking earlier...you tend to get cynical about your babies listening to their endless crying at times).
That is when I first realized that it might be colic.I had his colic drops handy and I gave him that....it took some time but he got a little better in a while...but he still was not his usual self.That was one one of the toughest days for me in the entire tenure of me being a mother till now...I was so scared for him and I didn't know how to comfort him...when he finally slept for sometime I did all the research on Colic - high time.
So what is colic?
Colic is uncontrollable crying in an otherwise healthy baby.A baby is considered colicky if he's younger than 5 months and cried for more than 3 hours in a row on 3 or more days a week for atleast 3 weeks (phew!).Colic isn't a disease and won't cause your baby any long term harm, but it's a tough thing to go through for babies and their parents.
How long does it last?
Colic tends to peak around 6 weeks and then improves significantly between 3-4 months.By 4 months of age, 80-90% of infants are over colic.
Tips to deal with Colic:
- Lay him across your lap and gently rub his back
- Apply Heeng (Asafoetida) on his tummy (around his belly button)
- Try infant massage
- Soak him in a warm bath
- Put a warm water bottle on your baby's belly
- Have him suck on a pacifier
- Use White noise to sooth the baby
- Use colic drops (as prescribed by your Doctor)
What worked for me was Heend, warm water and massage along with colic drops.
The reason I have made this one more of an informative entry is because I had a really hard time dealing with this and I would want to share all the information which helped me during that phase.Like in Riaan's case that entire week - almost 4 days at a stretch we faced this problem and it takes a toll on you when you see your baby crying that badly - after a point I just wanted to shout and cry myself...I had run out of patience.
I remember calling my husband and just venting out my frustration on him...he was patient enough to listen to me and that's a big help...I just needed to let out all the irritation which was built up during the day...we used to have long discussions on what could have possibly caused it.We decided to take him to his doctor once I was back home.
Finally on friday we had a normal evening...we were all too scared to believe it...he didn't cry but we were fearing it might happen any moment...it was funny how this little fellow had scared us that bad!I don't think I can forget this week ever...experiencing such fear and worry at the same time along with crazy levels of frustration - I felt like I'm so done with babies - and if any one dares to suggest me to have a second one I am just going to burst out in anger and slap that person really hard.Something like this chic below :D
Colic does that to a mom :) but always remember - be extremely patient with your baby...try the remedies listed above or if you have any other option - try that out and do not hesitate to check with your doctor - I am not aware if there is a way to prevent colic - couldn't find anything - but we surely can deal with it and help our babies feel better :D
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