Infant colic, what are they really?

Babies cry. They have no other way of expressing themselves, so they cry when they don't like something, when they feel upset about anything and when they need to be served. That is the normal crying of a baby, asking for someone to provide care. In addition to normal crying, which is not called colic at all, but crying, there are some babies, not everyone, who in the afternoon or evening cry more than usual, for a good while and, apparently, without apparent solution.

It is what is called uncontrollable crying baby (I've also seen it called inconsolable crying of the baby), which is colloquially known as baby colic because they are associated with some type of intestinal or abdominal pain, and that is characterized by episodes of crying that can last up to 2-3 hours a day, that occur more than three days a week and that occur when the baby is less than 3 months. However, What are colic really? Why do they cry so much?

Abdominal pain

Babies cry, arch back and feel that their belly certainly hurts. That is why they are called colic, because they really seem to have some intestinal or stomach problem, poor digestion or something similar, due to immaturity, and that they will eventually stop having them.

When Jon, my oldest son, was born, he cried a lot in the afternoon and we thought that was it. That's why we put him with his back against our chest and with his hand we held his belly. It seemed to calm him a little, but it wasn't that it was the panacea either. Come on, sometimes it served and sometimes not so much.

It has been said that the cause of colic could be some type of bacteria and it seems that some probiotics have worked in this regard, improving the baby's flora and easing the discomfort a little.

In pharmacies they also sell preparations for colic of babies, usually composed of chamomile and fennel, which work very well in some babies but do absolutely nothing to others. This leads us to think that uncontrollable crying of the baby could be a problem with different and different causes.

The one with the tummy ache has never excited me too much for a logical reason: if your belly bothers you, if you have digestion problems, immaturity or a bacteria that is bothering you, your gut should hurt at all hours. Or maybe not at all hours, but sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon and sometimes at night. However, when we talk about this type of crying, late afternoon and evening happen. And a crying with schedule can hardly be due to a physical discomfort, because internal pains, as far as I know, have no schedule, right?

Immaturity in every way

There is also talk of intolerances to milk proteins and similar things, but then we would not be talking about colic or uncontrollable crying, but about that, intolerances, so without addressing that issue and assuming that babies who cry do not necessarily have an intolerance to something that their mothers eat or eat, we have the other hypothesis, with which I do get married, which is what says that Babies are very, very immature and that is why they are not adapted to the environment.

As we have explained on several occasions, human babies are born terribly premature and incapable. Unable to survive without the care of their parents, to move, to fend for themselves, etc. That immaturity (born with the brain developed in only 25% of what it will be in adulthood) affects them in every way. They are not able to reason, they are not able to learn practically anything until weeks and months pass and, consequently, they have serious difficulties adapting to a world that is not always prepared for them.

Noises from cars, motorcycles, doors, plastic bags (which frightens them, hears), voices, smells they do not know, hands that take them differently from dad and mom, lights, various temperatures, etc., and all this you add the absence of what they already know, which is a hot, humid environment with a smell and taste that they already know (the amniotic fluid) and the noise of the muffled mom's voice, the noise of her guts and the constant beating Give Your Heart. That is, it is not only the presence of new stimuli, but also the absence of the stimuli they do know, which leads them to feel out of place.

And that out of place, that "this is not my place", which is not a rational thought but a sensation, a mental block, a far here, ends up expressing itself in the form of uncontrollable crying. Do you know when you can't do it anymore and it makes you want to go out to the window to scream? Well look, there are those who go out and do it, shout. There are those who prefer not to do it and take what they get in the fridge and put everything inside, there are those who call their best friend and let off steam, there are those who… because babies have no window to open, ice cream to devour or friend to who to call, so they only have one left, cry like possessed until they fall for granted.

And what can we do?

If colic is supposed to be due to a blockage, what you have to try is to prevent that mental block. It is said that in cultures in which children always go in arms, children do not suffer from colic, that they do not know what it is that a baby cries for a good time for no apparent reason. That is why it is recommended that parents take their babies a lot.

If it will be true or not, I don't know. I as a father can assure you that my children have spent a lot, but a lot of time in their arms (the third, Guim, did not leave them), and the three were crying after six that was nice. That is, that of the arms, well, maybe, but there could be more.

In these cultures, children are young people, mothers, sisters or relatives take them in rags and they go there all day, without crying. I do not think they differ much from my children, who went all day in arms in that regard, but there was a difference. We do not live where they live, without artificial environmental noises, surrounded by living nature and with probably less visual and sound stimuli in general.

Will that? I do not know, but as we go to live in a town I do not know if it is an option for everyone, and I do not even know if it will be a logical solution for a cry that will disappear after three months, we have no choice but to take the logical thing: give tranquility and security to the baby and have the patience necessary to cope with those moments in the best way we can.

And this is achieved by carrying it vertically (unless there are gases), in arms as much as we can and preventing it from being excessively stimulated with inputs that may bother you: loud sounds, strong or unpleasant smells, go from arms to arms of strangers, keep them awake so that later at night they sleep more (it does not work and it is also cruel to them), etc. And if we suspect that there is some tummy, as said, try some anti-colic remedy in case that breva falls or wait, simply, With much love, much caress and passing the baby to the couple when we can no longer, the day comes when, suddenly, colic has disappeared.

Photos | Jon Collier, Tatiana Vdb on Flickr On Babies and more | Infant colic: what they are, How to relieve infant colic, are probiotics effective for infant colic?

Video: Soothing Colicky Babies (March 2024).