Is your baby’s never-ending crying driving you nuts? If the crying spells last for more than three hours, we hate to break it to you, but your baby might be suffering from colic.
Colic normally starts in the second or third week of a baby’s life and lasts for 6 to 8 weeks. Unlike normal infant crying, attempts to relieve outbursts by changing diapers, rocking, burping, or feeding are ineffective if it’s colic-induced.
To help make the situation less stressful for you, here are a few tried and tested tips to calm your colic baby.
1. Change Their Cradling Position
Most parents try calming their crying babies by cradling them with their face up. This might help you calm down a regular, crying infant but not a colicky baby.
To calm down a colicky baby, you should place your hand under their abdomen and rest their head on your forearm with their face down. The pressure on their stomach helps release the gas that is bothering them.
2. Wrap Them Up
Swaddling may make you feel as if you’re wearing a straitjacket. But for fussy, crying infants, it’s like going back into a safe den: a mother’s womb. Wrap your baby burrito as tightly as possible.
They shouldn’t be able to move their legs and arms free. Ensure you’re placing them on their back when swaddling. When they start turning over, stop swaddling them.
3. Recreate the Soothing Sounds in the Womb
The best way to calm down your colicky baby is to make them feel they’re back in the womb. One way of doing this is to turn on some white noise.
White noise can make your baby feel as if they are still in the womb. There’s a lot of whooshing and background noise when they’re inside the womb.
Therefore you can try imitating the same soothing sounds by tuning a radio to static, turning on the shower, running your vacuum machine, turning on the fan, and several other ways that will help break the silence. You want a low-volume, steady sound to calm them down.
4. Keep Them Moving
In the womb, babies are accustomed to a lot of movement. If you get your infant moving, they may feel the protection of a womb and fall asleep quickly. You can cradle them in a rocking chair or make a swing for them to sleep peacefully.
Placing them in a vibrating infant seat is also a good substitute. You could even go for a drive in the car and enjoy yourself with your partner while your child sleeps peacefully.
5. Give Them a Massage
A colicky baby can benefit from the soothing power of your own touch. Skin-to-skin contact is a favorite of many babies. Infants love massages and tend to sleep better and cry less. Simply uncover your child and massage their face, chest, back, arms, and legs with firm, slow strokes.
Consult your pediatrician before applying any lotion or oil to ensure it’s safe for your baby. To relieve pressure for your gassy infant, stroke their abdomen in a circular direction or bicycle their legs.
If you’re an infant’s parent and want your early parenting years to be bliss, look no further than A thru Z Pediatrics.
We have one of the pediatrician for new born babies Stone Oak, San Antonio, and Schertz. We aim to provide a one-stop solution for parents.
Get in touch with us today for more details.