Help!—coping with, your baby's colic

Press, 8 May 1986, Page 8

Help!—coping with, your baby's colic

9. POT'S (IIIDf

by

MAVIS AIREY

Some suggestions from parents quoted in “Babysense,” by Frances Wells Burck (St. Martin’s Press).

Some strategies for parents:

• “First on the list is for parents to remain allies with each other. It’s nobody’s fault, and you need each other to talk to rather than vent your feelings upon. Colic brings tremendous tension into a house.”

• “My advice to a mother with a colicky baby is to sleep when he does or at least lie down and relax. .To hell with housework. It takes all your energy, mental as well as physical, to help the poor thing through the night. It does end eventually. It just seems like forever.”

• “In retrospect, I think that her colic was in direct proportion to my bad mood, and was triggered by tiredness at the end of the day. One of the best remedies was to

hand her to my husband, fix myself a drink and take a bath and put my feet up. I had to learn not to feel guilty about handing her to him. Of course he’d been working hard all day, but so had I, and he was much better equipped at that point to walk with her. He also needed to get a chance to know her too.”

Some suggestions for soothing a colicky baby: (1) I warmed her formula instead of giving it to her right out of the refrigerator or even at room temperature. (2) I used teats designed to reduce the amount of air the baby swallows.

(3) I stopped several times during a feeding to burp her. How many times depended on whether or not she was sucking smoothly or. swallowing a lot of air. I adjusted the nipple ring so that it was loose enough that the milk flowed without her having to suck too bard. (4) I walked her in the baby carrier, which also sometimes helped. (5) So did letting her

lie on a warm hot-water bottle. (6) I also rocked her across my knees. - (7) If the gas didn’t come up, I found that letting her He on her side for a couple of minutes and then on her back before I held her over my shoulder also helped bring up the bubbles.

(8) I also heard that fennel or dill water would help relieve gas, a . but never could find the .' correct “recipe." ’« Dr Alvin Eden, who , t writes for “American • , Baby” magazine, con- ; firms this point The re- ... cipe is, “Simply bring : , one pint of water to a boil, pour over one tea- J spoon of fennel tea, cool, strain, and give to baby.” ..

He adds a final word of advice: “With the knowledge that colic is not a disease and therefore nothing to worry = about, relax and enjoy your baby. A baby with colic is healthy. Once ■ you accept this, you will be amazed how much the whole situation will be improved.” (Dr Alvin Eden.)