•Keep fresh flowers in the house and always include a few sprigs of lavender.
•Take Rescue Emotion tablets 3 to 4 times daily to ease anxiety and improve coping ability. You can also safely crush and dissolve one tablet twice daily for Baby.
Types of Colic
BABY WITH A SENSITIVE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
If a baby is born prematurely (even induced or born by Caesarean section a week or two before labour would have commenced spontaneously), there seems to be more likelihood of tummy problems like excessive windiness, cramps and colic. Possibly the digestive system is just not quite mature yet.
If one or more close family members have an inherently troublesome digestive system (such as spastic colon, irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, tendency to diarrhoea, indigestion), your baby might strike it unlucky and follow suit, possibly beginning with colic. If this seems to be the case, remember that the tips that help this person might well ease Baby’s symptoms.
Try these tips:
•Preferably breastfeed exclusively as mother’s milk is the most easily digested.
•Brew organic rooibos tea and give 25 ml twice daily for its digestive, soothing properties.
•If rooibos alone does not help, add a garden mint leaf to the rooibos brew and allow to stand for ten minutes before giving to Baby.
•Give Baby the homeopathic remedy ColicCare crushed and offered on a clean finger or dissolved in 5 ml cooled, boiled water 3 times daily, as this greatly aids inherently weak digestive systems.
•If Baby has a very acid odour, crush and dissolve one Nat phos tissue salt tablet 3 times daily – if breastfeeding, you can take it instead.
HUNGRY BABY
If it seems that Baby’s unhappiness and pain is always centred on feeding times and only suckling brings relief, the problem might simply be hunger. This usually has its origins in misunderstanding a baby’s natural feeding patterns. Frequently the problem begins in the clinic when moms are taught to time Baby at the breast and to feed according to a schedule. Colic often only starts at about ten days to three weeks and Baby appears to be frustrated and angry, going red in his scrunched-up face, balling his fists and pulling up his legs. Hungry babies are often very windy, to the top and the bottom, and when they cry it is a strident sound. This is probably one of the more easily treated versions of colic, if one is prepared to let go of old ideas.
Try these tips:
•Do not adhere to schedule feeding from Day One – rather observe your baby’s hunger pattern emerging and feed when necessary.
•Remember that breast babies often need to feed two-hourly for a number of feeds and then take a slightly longer break.
•Breast babies also tend to feed in ‘courses’ – allow them to do this, which will involve a few rest periods between bouts of suckling, before the feed is really over.
•Formula babies also often need to feed very differently from the way generally advised. One practical way of dealing with this is to make up more bottles containing smaller amounts of formula milk, and if Baby seems hungry at the end of a feed, to give another bottle. The overall amount of milk might well be the same but your baby is trying to give you the message that he’d like to feed in response to hunger rather than the clock.
•If you feel that your milk supply is down, rest more, feed more frequently for a few days to build up your supplies and drink more fluids (whenever you are thirsty have water or rooibos tea).
•These babies often respond well to the homeopathic remedies ColicCare and Rescue Digest.
THE CONSTANTLY CRYING BABY
This baby seems fussy and unsettled from early on and is impatient and not easily satisfied. Lines of pain are etched into her face and no amount of soothing seems to bring relief lasting for more than a few moments. Baby’s sleep patterns are erratic and calm never does settle over this household for very long. These babies are often prone to rather runny stools and acid nappy rash. Breast babies tend to latch with difficulty, often pushing away or turning their heads furiously from side to side. Their cries are very whiny and Mom may well feel that she has reached the end of her tether.
Try these tips:
•Bath with Baby in deep, warm water laced with lavender and try feeding in the bath.
•Walk while latching Baby to the breast and only sit down once you feel the tension leaving her body.
•Carry Baby in a pouch often.
•Give Baby Chamomilla Tablets dissolved or diluted in a little water at least 3 times each day for almost instantaneous improvement of symptoms.
•If symptoms do not totally resolve, also give 2 doses a day of the homeopathic remedy ColicCare.
•Place Baby under a tree where she can see the gently waving branches, as movement of any kind generally improves symptoms.
•Moms easily feel close to a state of depression and are very tired with this type of colic and taking Rescue Emotion tablets can help a great deal.
•Arrange a sleep-in morning once each weekend with your partner, as this can help to see you through the next week.
WHAT-YOU-EAT COLIC
Moms, doctors and clinic sisters alike fall into the trap of thinking that what you eat is one of the biggest causes of digestive discomfort. Mom’s diet, Baby’s formula and how Baby feeds can all play a role, but tension cycles, Baby’s personality and misunderstanding the signals they are communicating to their parents are far bigger factors. There are some obvious food-colic connections however, and some you might never have dreamed of before. If you notice that every time you eat a specific food, Baby reacts with digestive discomfort, get the message and exclude or minimise it in your diet. Do not start from a point of exclusion but rather eat a wide variety of foods in moderation.
Try these tips:
•Baby has grown in the environment of what you ate during pregnancy and if you suddenly withdraw all those foods now, colicky symptoms may result. The cure is often to eat that curry or delight in that breakfast consisting solely of oranges!
•If a food or beverage causes symptoms of discomfort in you, it may well do so for your baby too.
•Typically gas-producing foods like beans, cabbage and onions are likely to lead to painful bloating, if taken in large amounts.
•Stimulants like caffeine can make Baby wakeful and excitable, eventually leading to overtiredness and crying, copycat signs of colic.
•Avoid a so-called bland diet largely consisting of wheat and dairy-based foods as precisely this can cause considerable cramping.
•Never prepare formula with just-boiled water as the heat alters the protein structure, making digestibility difficult and causing cramping – allow to cool somewhat before making up the formula.
•Iron added to formula sometimes causes discomfort. If this persists, another type of formula might be called for – specialised formula milks generally give least problems.
•If Baby is a gulpy drinker or your milk comes very fast, walking and lying down while feeding both work well to ensure less air is swallowed.
•The homeopathic remedies Rescue Digest or ColicCare often help relieve symptoms.
BABY IN SPASM
This is probably the most literal form of colic because the hollow, muscular colon is in painful spasm. Typically