I have had mentioned to me a number of times over my years looking after babies that “colic doesn’t exist” or “colic has no cure as the cause is unknown”.
In some ways I agree when people say this but I also disagree too!
Colic used to be misunderstood and “unknown” but it really isn’t now.
Colic is a label that is generally used for a windy baby that cries a lot with some sort of tummy pain. In this respect it is a useful term that tells people that a baby cries a lot and doesn’t sleep much.
But as far as being useful to helping a baby get better it really isn’t the best term as it simply describes the SYMPTOM a baby has (wind), not the CAUSE or causes behind it. Once you understand the cause of the colic then you can put actions and treatment in place to help that cause and then the colic will ease. It is said that colic will naturally pass at 12 weeks although I have very often found this not to be the case and virtually all parents I’m sure are very keen to have a happy, sleeping baby much sooner than 12 weeks.
In my book called Calming Colic I wrote about the 10 causes of colic and each cause can make your baby windy and unhappy. Fortunately each cause is able to be helped with a combination of gentle treatment and nutritional advice. Let’s look at a couple of examples.
It is scientifically proven that colicky babies have a different make up of the bacteria in their bowels. The colicky babies have more “bad” bacteria and less “good” bacteria or they have a different balance between the many different types.
What is also scientifically proven is that having a C-section also causes an upset in this good / bad bacteria balance. And so too does a stressful birth.
Another major cause that alters this unfavourably is antibiotic use.
Antibiotic use around the time of birth will be essential for either the mother or baby so it is useful to know that steps can be taken to easily correct a colicky baby afterwards.
By simply connecting the dots we can see that C-section or antibiotic use can create a colicky, windy, irritable baby. This means we have the CASUE of a baby’s colic. You might say a baby has “colic because of C-section” or “colic because of antibiotic use”. Others might be “colic because of a long stressful birth”, “colic because of certain trigger foods the breast feeding mother is eating” or “colic because a baby is cow’s milk protein intolerant”.
Another common cause might be if a baby doesn’t have a poo for a few days. They get “colicky” as they become in pain and desperate to fill their nappy, then after they have all is happy again!
I hope you can see from this brief introduction that there are causes behind your unhappy baby and I honestly think there is always a cause to be found and once it is found we can look at ways to correct that and get your baby happy a lot quicker than 12 weeks.
Do you have any questions? Feel free to email me christian@theperrymount.com and have a look at my baby help ebooks here: www.calmingcolic.com
