Colic Relief Tips for Parents

Even though no one really knows what colic is, let’s assume two things: first, the baby has pain in the stomach. Second, this makes the whole baby upset. So, treatment for colic relief is meant to calm the baby as a whole, especially the baby’s stomach. Even though parents need to try different ways to make their babies feel better, most of them involve moving around, rubbing little tummies, and giving the right touch at the right time. Some things you can try to help with colic are:

Colic Relief: Feedings that are slower and more often

Too much lactose in either mother’s milk or formula can cause intestinal gas if a baby eats too much and too quickly. As a general rule, feed your baby twice as often and half as much as you did before. The size of a baby’s stomach is about the size of her hand. Put your baby’s fist next to a bottle filled with four to six ounces of formula or breastmilk to see how big the difference is between how much they usually eat and how big their tummies are. It’s no wonder tiny tummies get tense.

Colic Is Caused

Here are some ways to carry your child that work especially well for dads, who call them their “favorite fuss-busters.” Place your baby on his stomach along your forearm, with his head near the bend of your elbow and his legs straddling your hand. Press your arm into the baby’s tight stomach. Or, you could turn this position around so that his cheek is in the palm of your hand, his stomach is against your forearm, and his crotch is in the bend of your elbow.

Dances Colic

The best way to Colic Relief is to move in all three directions: up and down, side to side, and forward and backward. This is similar to how a baby moved in the womb. The neck nestle, the football hold, and the colic curl are some of the most popular dance positions. Our favorite dance to calm a baby with colic is the “elevator step.” As you walk, spring up and down from heel to toe while holding the baby safely in the neck nestle position. 60 to 70 beats per minute is a good rate for bouncing. This rhythm is interesting because it matches the way the baby’s uterus beat when she was in the womb.

If you have colic, try tummy rolls

With one hand on the baby’s back to keep him still, put him on his stomach over a big beach ball and roll him gently in a circle. The baby bounce is another way to use a big beach ball. You can buy “physio balls” from catalogs that sell products for babies. Hold the baby safely in your arms as you slowly bounce up and down on the ball. As a reminder of our bouncing past, “the big red ball” still rolls around our house.

Touches of Love

A warm bath for two can often help you and your baby relax. Or, when our babies were fussy, I used a technique I call the “warm fuzzy.” While the baby was lying on his back on a bed or the floor, I put his ear over his father’s heartbeat. The warmth of your body and the movement of your chest are known to calm people down.

Magic Mirror

Many times, this trick got our babies to stop crying. Hold a fussy baby up to a mirror and let him watch himself act out. Put his hand or foot up against his reflection in the mirror and watch the baby go quiet.