Baby Colic - How To Comfort An Infant In Pain

When a child is born the colon can begin to react to certain enzymes in the system and cause a lot of pain to the infant. Now this reaction can start within a matter of hours or even days and last until the baby is about 8 months old.

Baby colic is a painful condition and parents are helpless when it does attack. During a colic attack an infant will cry incessantly and even scream at times with the pain. Doctors are not certain what causes colic pains and are unsure of how to treat it. Thankfully the colic attacks are not long lasting and too frequent.

Medical experts have studied the condition and are able to pinpoint the causes of the pain. They are of the opinion that bottle fed infants are more prone to colic pains than breast fed babies are. This is, however, not a rule of thumb as breast fed babies have also been known to develop colic pains.

Baby colic can appear without a warning causing the baby to cry out in pain and then it will just disappear almost as soon as it appeared. The best treatment for baby colic is believed to be gripe water. Mothers can also hold the baby upright to her body to relieve the infant from the pain to an extent. It is believed that the soothing warmth from the mother's body soothes the infant's abdomen where the pain is concentrated.

A warm application around the tummy of the baby is also known to help a great deal. Sometimes the colic pains last a very long time and parents have to take it in turn to hold the baby upright and rock it to soothe the pain. Colic seems to attack at a set time when it does. Though the timings will differ from infant to infant, usually the colic attack comes around early evening or late at night.

It is important to establish that the infant's crying is due to colic pains. The reason for this is that there is no apparent treatment for colic and so it must be allowed to run its course. Though there are ways to comfort the infant and reduce the pain. However, the crying must not be mistaken for colic and ignored, there may be another serious underlying condition that may need immediate medical attention.

Colic pains are usually diagnosed by the baby's behavior. If a baby crouches and cringes with the pain and cries more than three times a week at almost set times every time then the discomfort is definitely caused by colic pains. A teaspoon full of gripe water at least four or five times a day has been known to effectively comfort the infant.