Tailored tips to soothe a colicky baby!!

How do I help my colicky baby?

Now, that you have explored and understood the reason behind your baby’s frantic crying. See Colicky baby. Get prepared to help her transform from a crying irritated baby to a smiling relaxed baby. Sounds like a dream!! Nah, you can do that, believe me.

If you find your baby over responsive to certain stimuli. Try to avoid them, as they might overburden her senses. Follow a sleep routine. Dim lights and no loud noise at sleeping hours will help create a peaceful environment for your baby to sleep. You may play the sounds of nature softly, like the sound of flowing water to mimic the familiar sounds in the womb. Massage your baby well and give a warm bath before swaddling in a clean soft sheet for a good night sleep. Stick to one technique, once it works for your baby to help her fall asleep.

The above things may not work perfectly for a baby, who has gastrointestinal issues. Babies gulp in a lots of air, while crying. As a result, their stomach gets bloated up leaving them irritated. Make it a routine to help your baby burp, after every feed by applying gentle  pats on baby’s  back. While doing this, hold the baby in an upright position with head over your shoulder. Alternately, try laying your baby face down across your lap, by giving support with a towel there, to avoid messy spotted clothes.

Try changing the brand of formula milk, if the baby’s diet largely consists of formula. In exclusively breastfed babies, infants may get colic more often when mom’s diet constitutes of certain foods. Identify those culprit ingredients and erase them completely out of your diet. Eliminating the gas producing things like cabbage and cauliflower from your own diet can give relief to your baby from gassy bouts. Sometimes, mothers produce more milk than the infant requires. As a result, baby overfeeds and is not able to digest those extra ounces of milk. Stop taking any supplements known to increase the milk production, if you are already producing sufficient milk.  Follow a nutritious clean diet plan yourself. Babies overfeed sometimes as they want to soothe themselves by sucking. Provide them with the artificial clean nipple to suck on, when they demand the feed after every short interval. Follow a daily timetable of feeding and avoid those extra feeds.

 There are some medicines like colimex available in the market to ease the spasmodic pain due to gas in babies. Give it to your baby only as per the doctor’s advice. Alternatively, Gripe water which  is a herbal concoction of fennel seed, dill seed oil, ginger and chamomile with bicarbonates can be given to a baby to relieve him of colic. Although gripe water is herbal, but anything except breast milk is not absolutely safe for babies. Also, it doesn’t guarantees the colic relief. Probiotic drops contains gut friendly lactobacillus bacteria. These drops when given along with the feed, promotes healthy gut and may relieve baby’s colic too. Always consult the doctor, before giving any stuff to your baby. Grandmother’s tip of applying asafoetida, dissolved in warm water in a teaspoon over the navel area can work wonders to relieve gas in an infant. It is absolutely harmless.

All these remedies and practices are used by parents across the world but all babies respond to them differently. You have to keep trying and find the best fit for your baby. Above everything, keep yourself calm and composed. Believe in yourself. You are the only one and perhaps the best, who can soothe your baby and make her sleep in your arms.