Stomach colic in newborns. The importance of feeding technique

Prevention of colic in newborns

1. To reduce attacks of intestinal colic, in addition to eliminating harmful foods, the mother must breastfeed the baby properly. It is necessary to ensure that the child grasps the halo with his mouth along with the nipple.
2. Let your baby breastfeed as much as he needs. If possible, do not supplement with infant formula or cow's milk, as introducing new foods into your baby's diet will only worsen the problem. Any new product is a colossal burden for the baby’s digestive system, and he does not have the enzymes to digest cow’s milk at all. Therefore, use all methods to increase lactation and continue to breastfeed your baby, while not forgetting about the diet.
3. After feeding, hold the baby upright and wait for the burp.
4. Take short breaks between feedings of 2-2.5 hours to allow the food to digest well. If your baby is bloated and has a tense tummy, do not feed him. Help your baby get rid of excess gas by performing light exercises aimed at eliminating them.

Should I continue breastfeeding if my baby has colic?

Many mothers mistakenly believe that if they stop breastfeeding and choose an expensive, good formula for feeding, they will solve the problem of intestinal colic in infants. This is strictly not recommended. Breastfeeding is an important and necessary period in a baby’s life; not even the best formula can replace mother’s milk, which helps strengthen the immune system and provides the child with all the nutrients, microelements and vitamins he needs.

Why is colic dangerous?

Despite the fact that colic in babies is a natural physiological process, parents are still required to consult a pediatrician. In some cases, in the absence of supervision from a doctor, diseases of the baby’s digestive system may be overlooked and ignored. Only an experienced doctor will be able to distinguish the symptoms of ordinary intestinal colic from serious disorders and pathologies of the development of the newborn.

Symptoms that should promptly contact your doctor:

• a prolonged attack of pain that lasts more than 4 hours, a significant deterioration in the baby’s condition;
• elevated temperature, with colic it remains normal;
• vomit;
• diarrhea or loose stools with bloody or greenish discharge.

Parents should remember that a baby's cry is a cry and a request for help. The task of adults is to recognize the cause of the baby’s bitter crying and come to his aid. Intestinal colic is not a disease, but a natural physiological process in a child’s life. This difficult period for everyone brings him closer to his mother, allowing her to better understand and feel the needs of the baby. Use our tips and don’t forget that this temporary phenomenon will soon end, and you can continue to enjoy happy motherhood.

Colic in infants is such a common phenomenon that all young parents dread the period when their newborns begin to cry and become upset. As a rule, the first symptoms of colic in infants begin 2-3 weeks after birth and last up to 3-4 months. Colic occurs in almost all children, regardless of health, conditions of birth and even nationality; for example, among the Chinese, the period of colic in newborns is called “one hundred days of crying,” which approximately characterizes the average duration of this unpleasant phenomenon. Why does colic occur and how does it manifest in infants, what to do with colic to help the child?

Features of the digestive system of infants

After birth, the baby’s digestive organs, like his whole body, begin to get acquainted with new living conditions. The circulatory system and muscle tissues adapt to the new force of gravity, the vestibular apparatus and perceptual system learn to recognize what position the child is in, the respiratory organs get used to the very process of breathing, because before birth, air did not enter the lungs of the fetus. And the digestive tract begins to get acquainted with food.

Despite the fact that nature provides the most optimal of all possible nutrition for a child - breast milk, the stomach and intestines need to get used to it. Movements, contractions of internal organs, balance in the production of digestive enzymes, even breathing patterns - all this affects the state of the food digestion process and causes colic in infants. How does this happen?
Colic refers to several manifestations of discomfort: spasms in the intestines, pain due to increased gas formation, difficulty with bowel movements. These normal, physiological phenomena occur in the body of every person, but babies are especially sensitive to them. What are the causes of colic?

Why do colics occur in the tummy?

Symptoms and signs of colic in a baby are varied, but they all indicate that something is happening in the small tummy that the baby does not like. Moreover, the average time of onset of colic coincides with the period when maternal hormones received during the period of intrauterine development and childbirth cease to act in the body of children. They have a relaxing, relaxing effect, and their removal from the body, as a rule, coincides with the beginning of the “hundred days of crying.” Moreover, it is often accompanied by skin rashes, the so-called “three-week rash,” acne of hormonal origin, similar to teenage skin problems.
Colic can manifest itself as follows:

• the baby is worried for no reason;
• the legs are often bent at the knees and pulled up towards the stomach;
• screams sharply and piercingly during feeding or cries in the evenings, although the rest of the time he is completely healthy and calm;
• Possible difficulty passing stool;
• increased gas formation and flatulence.

The nervous system of babies is imperfect: it is still learning to recognize which impulses are important and which signals from internal organs should not be responded to. The movement of food mass through the intestines can be perceived as discomfort and cause dissatisfaction in the child. This is the first reason for crying from colic.

The second reason, which is often associated with the mother’s diet, is increased gas formation. Many studies have proven that the formation of gases in a child’s intestines is not at all a consequence of a nursing mother’s failure to comply with special diets. Everything that enters the mother’s stomach undergoes a process of splitting into basic elements, and in this form it does not matter at all whether the mother ate the permitted dried goods and boiled beef, or feasted on cabbage, sushi and buns. With an unbalanced diet, milk may contain more or less proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals, but there will not be more or less cabbage. This is why bottle-fed babies also have colic. Although no “forbidden” products are included in the mixture.

So, maternal nutrition does not affect the digestion of a healthy child. Why does colic occur?
The main reason for increased gas formation in babies is learning the breathing process. While eating, crying, or being overexcited, the child swallows air. If it further enters the intestines, then the swelling of the walls causes the same discomfort, which is expressed in sharp crying during feeding and in the evenings, when the child gets tired and the volume of air accumulates.

When does a mother's diet cause colic?

The diet of a nursing mother, as well as an incorrectly selected formula, can cause intestinal colic in newborns and infants if the child has allergic reactions to the components of the food/mixture, or food intolerance.
In such a situation, colic, as a rule, symptoms are not limited to. Signs include skin rashes, loose stools or frequent constipation, frequent regurgitation with an increased volume of excreted masses, even vomiting, swelling of the larynx and difficulty breathing may be noted.
What to do if colic in a newborn manifests itself this way? Go to the doctor to determine the cause of the allergy or food intolerance, and adjust your diet. The most common allergens are cow's milk proteins, soy, wheat, chicken eggs and their processed products. Excluding allergens from the diet of the mother or child (when formula feeding) helps improve the baby’s well-being.

What to do if your baby has colic?

Techniques for helping a baby can be divided into two groups: preventive, which help prevent the causes of flatulence, and “emergency”, which work if colic has already begun.
Preventive measures include:

• Checking the baby's nipple latch. Although nature intended it for babies, babies also need to learn this process. Proper latching on the breast protects babies from swallowing air during feeding. When artificial feeding, you must carefully select the most suitable size and shape of the nipple for the bottle;
• Carrying a baby in a “column” or “soldier” position is an excellent way to help the air masses swallowed during feeding or crying to come out and not get into the intestines. Even if the baby does not have the habit of burping after eating, carrying it on your shoulder for a few minutes will not hurt, but rather will help avoid an evening session of mournful crying.

Both before the onset of colic and during the process, you can use the following simple methods of helping children:

• The “bicycle” exercise is familiar to all experienced parents, in which the child’s legs are alternately bent at the knees and pressed against the tummy. This helps the food mass move evenly through the intestines;
• Tummy massage is a method that is gratefully accepted by infants (as well as mothers in the postpartum period, since their digestive organs also need attention after a change in the volume of the abdomen). With gentle pressure, slowly move clockwise around the umbilical fossa;
• warmth on the stomach, a warm diaper, a warm soothing bath will help relieve spasms that occur due to overexcitation of the nervous system.

In some cases, a pediatrician may recommend carminative drugs (fennel teas, dill infusions) or simethicone drugs (Sab-Simplex, etc.). They reduce the amount of gases in the intestines and make it easier to get rid of them, but do not remove the cause of increased gas formation - swallowing air, and therefore do not contribute to teaching the baby to eat and breathe properly. And the period of colic may drag on.

Intestinal colic in infants is a problem that many parents face. According to statistics, about 70% of kids go through this test. Scientists cannot accurately answer the question of why colic begins. There are several hypotheses explaining the causes of restless behavior in children. Let's look at foods that cause colic in infants, and also find out how experienced mothers and Dr. Komarovsky advise to deal with attacks.

Symptoms

In most cases, colic occurs according to this pattern: it begins at the age of 2-4 weeks, lasts about 3 hours a day, and goes away by 3-4 months. For some babies, they end at 5-6 months. Their main symptoms:

• unreasonable, high-pitched crying that begins suddenly (often during or after feeding) and goes away after a while for unknown reasons
• the baby arches his back, draws his legs in, blushes

Most often, this picture is accompanied by signs indicating gas in the baby’s tummy:

• the anterior abdominal wall swells and tenses
• gases come out, after which the baby calms down

The child may experience constipation (infrequent, dense stools) or diarrhea (frequent liquid stool with mucus and a strong odor). But these symptoms are not necessary.

Only a doctor can understand what happened to the child. When your baby cries inconsolably for no apparent reason, you should show him to the doctor, and not just wait until the colic goes away.

The specialist must determine whether the baby has any diseases.

Prerequisites

1. It is assumed that the causes of colic are air bubbles that stretch the intestinal walls, as a result of which the nerve endings are irritated and the baby experiences severe pain. Why are gases found in the intestines in such large quantities? Basic prerequisites:
2. Immaturity of the gastrointestinal tract. In the first year, the baby’s digestive system matures: the synthesis of enzymes is established, the microflora of the mucous membranes is formed, and intestinal motility is normalized. The food that the baby receives is not digested enough, fermentation occurs, and gases are formed.
3. Swallowing air during feeding or crying.
4. Overfeeding. When a child eats more food than he can digest, the remains are not broken down and become a breeding ground for pathogenic bacteria.
5. Overheat. When the ambient temperature is high or the clothes are too warm, the child sweats and loses moisture. Intestinal juices thicken, and the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract worsens.
6. Consumption by a nursing mother of foods that lead to gas formation.
7. Inappropriate mixture.

Constipation.

Dr. Komarovsky believes that the main factors predisposing to colic are overfeeding and overheating.

Prevention

1. What should parents do to prevent colic? It is impossible to influence their main premise – the immaturity of the child’s gastrointestinal tract. But it is quite possible to reduce the influence of other negative factors and alleviate the baby’s condition.
2. Apply correctly to the breast - the baby should grasp the areola.
3. When bottle-feeding, you should hold the bottle so that there is always milk in the nipple. You can use an anti-colic bottle.
4. Before each meal, place the baby on his stomach and/or do a light massage of the abdomen - around the navel as the clock progresses.
5. Do not overfeed. An artificial diet should eat as much as is required by age. If the baby is gaining weight well, Komarovsky advises making the mixture less concentrated.
6. Keep your mom on a diet. The body's reaction to foods is individual. But for most people, gas formation is caused by cabbage, legumes, corn, whole milk, fatty cheeses, tomatoes, nuts, coffee, yeast dough, and the peel of raw vegetables. A nursing mother should avoid them.
7. Do not overheat. Komarovsky advises dressing the child according to the weather, offering him water, and monitoring the air quality in the room.

When breastfed, it is more difficult to control the amount of food eaten. Different experts give different recommendations. Komarovsky believes that it is necessary to maintain intervals between meals (2 hours) and not feed longer than 15 minutes. Other doctors advocate feeding on demand without restrictions. The mother’s task is to find a feeding algorithm that will suit her and the baby.

How to help without medications?

How to treat a baby suffering from colic? It is impossible to completely get rid of them, but it is worth trying to help your son or daughter. There are several ways to relieve intestinal spasms and facilitate the passage of gases:

1. Heat the diaper with an iron and apply it to the baby's tummy
2. Mark the baby on your stomach or chest (can be combined with the first method)
3. Do a massage and exercise “bicycle” or “toad” (bend your knees and pull them towards your stomach)
4. Place your baby on her stomach on a flat surface or on your lap.

The effectiveness of all these methods is based on the fact that abdominal massage is performed, which improves blood circulation and helps excess air escape.

Folk recipes

Many plants have carminative, antispasmodic and sedative effects. Treatment of colic with their help must be agreed with a doctor. The most popular means:

1. . It is used to make “dill water” and tea. To make “dill” water, you need to stir 0.05 g of fennel essential oil in 1 liter of boiled water. Tea is prepared from seeds - 2-3 g of raw material is poured into 200 ml of boiling water, infused for 30-60 minutes, and then filtered.
2. . Pour boiling water (0.2 l) over a teaspoon of dried flowers, leave for 20 minutes and strain.

It is better to check with your doctor how much chamomile or fennel infusion to give to your child. These same plants can be used for bathing. Proportions – 3 tablespoons of raw materials per 0.5 liters of water. Such baths are good for relieving colic symptoms. Before swimming, you should massage your tummy.

Drug therapy

No. 1 remedy for infant colic in Europe and America from Mommy’s Bliss. For a description of the composition and dosage regimen, see.

How else can you help your baby when he is experiencing pain due to gas in his tummy? You can get rid of excess air in the intestines by taking a carminative drug. In pediatrics, simethicone (Espumizan, Sub Simplex, Bobotik) is most often used.

Simethicone

Simethicone is an organic defoamer that has the ability to destroy gas bubbles. As a result, the air contained in them is freely released from the intestines. This substance acts only in the gastrointestinal tract, without penetrating into the bloodstream.

How much to give simethicone? It is better to discuss this issue with your doctor. For example, the drug “” in the form of a suspension is recommended to be taken not at the moment when colic begins, but before each meal. Dosage for infants – 25 drops diluted in milk, formula or water.

Symptoms of colic are associated with imperfect bowel function. Komarovsky advises not to “feed” the child with medications and wait until his gastrointestinal tract matures. But if the baby is in severe pain, many doctors consider it necessary to help the functioning of his digestive system and prescribe probiotics and enzymes.

Probiotics and Enzymes

Probiotics are medications containing bacteria that should normally colonize the intestinal walls. The most commonly used are “Bifidumbacterin”, “”, “Bifiform”. Enzymes are synthetic analogues of enzymes that are not yet produced in the child’s body. Popular drugs are “Creon” and “Mezim”. Both groups of medications facilitate the digestion of food, thereby significantly reducing gas formation. It is permissible to treat a child with their help only after consultation with a doctor. The doctor must determine how much medicine to give the baby.

Phytotherapy

Another category of medications used to combat colic are phytotherapeutic agents (“Baby Calm”, “Bebinos”, “Plantex”). They contain extracts of plants with carminative, antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory and soothing effects - anise, chamomile, fennel, cumin, dill. Before giving them to your baby, you should ask the doctor’s opinion and carefully study the instructions. A common side effect of taking them is.

If medications and massage do not work, you can help the baby by installing a gas tube. Its tip should be lubricated with Vaseline and carefully inserted into the anus by 1.5-2 cm (no more). You should not use this device constantly, so as not to disrupt intestinal motility.

Help with constipation

Symptoms of colic are more severe if the baby is constipated. What can be done to alleviate this condition? Here are some recommendations:

1. You need to start treating constipation by normalizing your diet. “Artificial drinkers” should introduce fermented milk mixture into the menu. It is important not to overfeed your baby. When breastfeeding, the mother needs to reconsider her diet. It should also contain thermally processed fruits and vegetables.
2. The best remedy to help if your baby is constipated is abdominal massage.
3. A quick way to help your child is to do. The baby must be placed on his back or left side. Take 50-70 ml of water (temperature 25°C) into a small rubber balloon, lubricate the tip with Vaseline, insert 2-3 cm into the anus and slowly release the water. It is not recommended to treat constipation with enemas on a regular basis.
4. A laxative medicine that can be safely given to an infant is lactulose syrup (“”). Komarovsky warns that the dosage must be increased gradually, otherwise flatulence will increase.

It is advisable to treat constipation in a child under the supervision of a doctor. He should prescribe a laxative regimen that allows you to normalize intestinal function and gradually abandon medications and improvised means.

If a baby develops intestinal colic, it becomes a real torment for the whole family. As a rule, they disappear by 3 months, less often by six months. It is impossible to predict how long this difficult period will last for a particular child. The exact causes of infant colic have not been established. They are believed to be associated with flatulence and intestinal cramps. Constipation and dysbacteriosis can worsen the situation.

What should parents do to alleviate the baby’s condition? Consult a pediatrician to rule out serious illnesses and prescribe treatment. It most often includes abdominal massage, anti-flatulence medications, and probiotics.

Every young family is familiar with the troubles that intestinal colic causes to a newborn. The baby begins to cry a lot, bends his legs and does not calm down even when rocked in his arms. Is it possible to prevent colic in newborns? What should parents do in such situations?

What is colic?

Symptoms appear almost the same in children. Colic occurs around the beginning of the third or fourth week of a newborn's life and can last several hours a day. The baby experiences pain in the tummy, which is caused by muscle spasms in certain parts of the intestines. Colic can occur with the same frequency regardless of the time of day, but most often it bothers the child in the evenings.

Typically, intestinal colic in newborns goes away by 3 months. This is explained by the fact that by this period the child’s digestive system is fully formed, the feeling of discomfort disappears on its own.

How to recognize?

It often happens that inexperienced parents explain any anxiety in the baby as colic. This cannot be done, as serious diseases such as pyelonephritis, appendicitis, and pneumonia may be missed. Therefore, you should always consult a pediatrician and know the main signs of colic in a child. These include:

• anxiety;
• severe prolonged crying (up to 3 hours or even longer);
• during attacks, the baby raises his legs and knocks them;
• tummy is hard and swollen;
• unexpected onset of an attack (during breaks between feedings and the baby’s activity);
• regurgitation of milk;
• the child’s hands are pressed to the body, and the legs become cold;
• the attack stops after defecation or release of gases.

Colic in newborns: what should parents do?

In a one-month-old baby, colic can occur several times a week and last for 30-40 minutes. Over time, their frequency and duration increase. In order to correctly diagnose the disease, the mother needs to record the time of occurrence of attacks, frequency, duration and find their connection with meals and time of day.

Young parents should clearly understand that diarrhea, rash, vomiting, cough, high fever and difficulty urinating cannot be symptoms of colic. If such dangerous manifestations are detected, you should immediately call a doctor!

Causes of pain

Although the symptoms of colic have long been known, modern medicine cannot clearly identify a number of factors influencing their occurrence. For each child, seizures begin at a certain time, and there are cases of complete absence of spasms.

However, there are a number of reasons that affect colic in a newborn. Komarovsky, a famous children's doctor and candidate of medical sciences, believes that this painful process is primarily caused by the immaturity of the child's digestive organs.

Such manifestations can especially worry premature babies, as well as children born in the summer. Boys are more prone to colic than girls. The likelihood of their occurrence is high in children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy.

The main causes of colic are:

• allergic reactions of the baby;
• severe gas formation in the intestines;
• improper nutrition of the mother during lactation;
• child overeating;
• swallowing air during feeding;
• errors when preparing infant formula;
• lactose intolerance;
• hormonal disorders.

However, you should not be alarmed if you have identified colic in your newborn. Komarovsky and many leading pediatricians claim that these painful sensations do not pose a danger to the baby and will soon stop on their own.

What can you do?

If colic bothers the child very often, the mother should review her menu and exclude foods that contribute to increased gas formation.

These include:

• cabbage;
• sweet fruits;
• grape;
• carbonated drinks;
• pickles;
• mayonnaise;
• legumes

The diet of a nursing woman should consist of boiled vegetables, cereals, light soups and healthy decoctions of dried fruits.

How to relieve infant attacks?

Many parents are seriously concerned about colic in newborns. What to do, how to help the baby in such situations? First of all, you need to monitor the correct attachment of the baby to the breast. It should cover the entire areola and not rush, which will completely prevent air from entering the stomach.

After feeding, be sure to hold the baby upright for 6-10 minutes. This position promotes regurgitation and the release of a small amount of excess milk if the baby has eaten too much.

Also, intestinal colic in newborns can be caused by an incorrectly selected mixture. In this case, it is better for the mother to consult a pediatrician and choose baby food from a different manufacturer.

Preventive measures

How to prevent colic in a newborn? It is better to postpone treatment with medications and try to get rid of unpleasant symptoms in other ways.

Painful attacks most often bother the baby in the evening, especially after breastfeeding. To avoid colic, the mother should place the baby on her tummy. It is better to do this on a changing table so that the surface is hard enough. During this procedure, the baby's abdominal muscles are strengthened and gases are better relieved.

Massage is good for relieving painful attacks in a newborn. For colic, it is better to do it clockwise in the area around the navel with soft circular movements. You can use a small elastic ball as a massager. You can also iron a small diaper and place it on your baby's tummy.

If all else fails, you should prepare a warm bath and bathe the child. Additionally, you can play calm music to calm him down. After this, you can carry out therapeutic exercises with pressing the legs to the baby's tummy to improve digestion and help the intestines get rid of gases.

Colic in newborns: how to treat?

In case of frequent and painful attacks, pediatricians recommend that parents take comprehensive measures to eliminate them. Along with exercises and therapeutic massage, effective remedies for eliminating colic are:

• Dill water;
• fennel tea;
• preparations with probiotics (Bifiform, Linex);
• antispasmodics;
• sorbents.

During painful attacks, you can use a special tube to help your baby cope with gases. Glycerin suppositories and enemas help well, but it is better not to abuse these drugs.

Of course, parents are very worried when colic begins in newborns. What to do, how to help? First of all, mom needs to calm down. Infants are very sensitive to the emotional state of their loved ones, and anxiety, frustration or stress in the mother can also cause spasms in the child. Therefore, when communicating with your baby, you need to be only in a positive mood, putting aside any worries and negative emotions.

Also pay attention to the diaper: is it squeezing the baby’s tummy? Any tight rubber bands can impede the passage of food through the intestines and thereby provoke the formation of gases.

Now you know what colic is in newborns, how to treat it, and what ways you can help your child cope with pain. Remember that these are temporary problems. Soon the colic will pass, and the baby will again delight you with his smile and good mood.

Colic is considered one of the most pressing and unpleasant problems in the life of a newborn. This is the name for abdominal pain that babies suffer from in the first months after birth. Their occurrence is associated with the immaturity of the gastrointestinal tract of the newborn baby. Most often, such pain appears two to three weeks after birth, while the child is completely healthy, develops normally and eats with appetite.

Symptoms

• The baby begins to worry for no reason. This happens most often in the evening, while during the day the baby is in a good mood and has no appetite disturbances.
• The baby presses his legs to his stomach, as he has cramping-like cutting pains.
• The baby's cry is loud and shrill.
• Sometimes a baby produces gas during colic.
• The skin may turn pale, but more often the little one's face turns red.
• Some babies experience attacks of pain almost immediately after feeding.
• If colic is combined with food intolerance, the baby's stool turns green and constipation may occur.

Colic is harmless, but causes great discomfort for both the baby and its parents.

Causes

The following factors contribute to the appearance of colic:

• Violation of the technique of feeding an infant (a lot of air gets into the baby’s tummy).
• Violation of feeding technique for an artificial baby (incorrect tilt of the bottle).
• Overfeeding the baby.
• Incorrect mixture.
• Poor nutrition of the mother (a large number of dishes made from cabbage, corn, milk, nuts, tomatoes, onions, as well as spicy foods and caffeinated products).
• Smoking of a nursing mother.

The best way to prevent colic can only be found through experimentation.

What to do?

Here's how you can help a colicky baby:

• Place the baby on his stomach before feeding.
• Allow the baby to burp air after feeding.
• Apply a heated diaper to the tummy (it can be ironed).
• Place a warm diaper on the mother's belly, and on top of the baby, facing you.
• Stroke the little one's belly with your palm.
• Give dill water or fennel tea after feedings.
• If there is excessive formation of gases, use a tube to drain them from the intestine.
• Replace the formula if the baby is bottle-fed.

Massage for abdominal cramps

It is recommended to massage the tummy to prevent colic both before and after feeding. The movements of mother's hands during this massage should be circular - move your hand around the navel clockwise.

E.V. Dudnik, a teacher of infant massage at the Institute of Professional Massage, in the following video shows the correct technique for tummy massage for infant colic.

Will a heating pad help?

Heat on the tummy area often helps relieve the baby from painful contractions, so using a heating pad during an attack of colic is justified. A heating pad filled with hot water should be wrapped in a thick towel and placed on the toddler’s belly. At the same time, stroke the baby on the back.

A heating pad can help relieve colic

Effective folk remedies

Most often, for colic, the use of dill or fennel infusion is recommended. The proportions for preparing such products are: a teaspoon of seeds per glass of water brought to a boil. The product is infused for about half an hour, and given in a dose of 1 teaspoon before meals three times a day.

You can buy dill water at a pharmacy or prepare it yourself.

In addition to dill or fennel tea, it is recommended to drink chamomile tea for babies with colic. A teaspoon of dried flowers is poured with boiling water (250 ml) and left for about 30 minutes. The infusion is offered to the baby warm, approximately 20 ml, before morning and evening feeding.

People also advise bathing babies who suffer from colic in herbal baths. Mint, lemon balm or motherwort are most often added to the warm bath that the baby will take before bed.

Medicines

All drugs that are used to treat colic in a newborn baby are divided into 2 large groups:

1. Means for prevention. They are used to prevent excessive gas formation in children's intestines. These products are often based on extracts of plant materials such as fennel, anise or dill. Such drugs include Plantex, Dill water, Baby Calm.
2. Remedies. They are used during an attack of colic. The main active ingredient of such medications is simethicone, the property of which is to break down gas bubbles and reduce the child’s discomfort. Such drugs include Sab simplex, Espumisan L, Bobotik.

The doctor may also advise giving the baby medications with probiotics (Bifiform, Linex, Bifidumbacterin and others) and enzyme preparations (Creon, Mezim).

To learn what you need to do to help your baby with colic, watch Larisa Sviridova’s video.

When do babies get colic?

Most babies stop having colic episodes by 3 months of age. In some babies, colic continues until 4-5 months of age, but almost all toddlers no longer have colic after six months. If an attack of colic occurs in a six-month-old baby or older children, you should definitely consult a doctor.

For most babies, colic goes away between 3 and 6 months.

Komarovsky's opinion

A well-known pediatrician confirms that colic appears in approximately 70% of babies from the third week of life and often goes away by 3 months of age. Komarovsky reminds that this is a temporary problem that is not a disease and is not dangerous for babies. In his practice, a popular doctor noted that colic appears more often in newborn boys, and it goes away later than in girls.

Komarovsky names overfeeding and overheating as the main factors increasing the likelihood of colic in babies. In addition, Komarovsky emphasizes that it is impossible to influence infant colic with medications. At the same time, he calls the use of dill water and anti-gas drugs, although useless, but safe methods.

Regarding the diet of a nursing mother, Komarovsky believes that changing the mother’s diet has no effect on the occurrence of colic. But a well-known doctor categorically does not recommend sleeping on the tummy, calling this method of dealing with colic very dangerous.

For more information about this, see Dr. Komarovsky’s program.