Holding your baby Babies who have colic can sometimes respond well to different ways of being held or rocked, including: Across your arm or lap while you massage their back. Upright, if they have gas. Rocking your baby in your arms or by using an infant swing.
Although no one is certain what causes colic, these babies seem to want to be cuddled or to go to sleep. Colic tends to occur in high-needs babies with a sensitive temperament. Colic is not the result of bad parenting, so don't blame yourself.
The most commonly accepted definition of colic, which originated in 1954,4 describes using the “rule of three”: crying for more than three hours per day, for more than three days per week, and for more than three weeks in an infant that is well-fed and otherwise healthy.
Let your baby cry—for a little while. If walking, rocking, singing, massaging, and the like don't seem to make a difference, put the baby in the crib for 10 to 15 minutes and see if he or she quiets alone. Sometimes a baby needs a little time alone—and you may need it, too. Take a stress break.
These bouts of crying may last for three hours or more and occur mostly in the afternoons and evenings. The baby seems to be suffering from abdominal pain. Colic affects around one in three babies. Usually, cuddling or trying to soothe the baby's cries does not work.
What time of day is colic the worst? Typically, colicky babies cry most frequently from 6 pm to midnight (a period of time often referred to as “witching hour”). Parents often describe these cries as louder, more high-pitched, and more urgent than normal wails.
Parents around the world have invented all kinds of variations on the calming womb-like sensations that I've dubbed the 5 S's: Swaddle, Side-Stomach Position, Shush, Swing, and Suck.
One in five babies cry enough that people call them colicky. Colic usually starts when babies are about 3 weeks old. It gets worse when they are between 4 and 6 weeks old. Most of the time, colicky babies get better after they are 6 weeks old, and are completely fine by the time they are 12 weeks old.
Colic is when a healthy baby cries for a very long time, for no obvious reason. It is most common during the first 6 weeks of life. It usually goes away on its own by age 3 to 4 months. Up to 1 in 4 newborn babies may have it.
All babies cry, but your baby may have colic if they cry more than 3 hours a day, 3 days a week for at least 1 week but are otherwise healthy. They may cry more often in the afternoon and evening.
Colic usually starts when a baby is a few weeks old and stops when they're around 4 to 6 months of age. If your otherwise healthy baby cries inconsolably for 3 or more hours a day, at least 3 days per week (and it's been happening for 3 weeks or more), it could be caused by colic.
LI4 is located on the back of the hand, between the thumb and pointer finger. This point has a number of uses such as migraines, but studies have shown it to help colicky babies find relief. UB2 is an indentation on the inner eyebrows also known as the supraorbital notch.
One reason colicky babies can fuss more at night, he explains, is that serotonin levels peak in the evening. This imbalance, the theory goes, naturally resolves when babies start making melatonin, which relaxes intestinal muscles.
Colic occurs when there is an obstruction within a hollow internal body part, such as the intestines, gallbladder, rectum, kidneys, or ureters. To try to rid the body of the obstruction, the muscles contract vigorously around it, and these spasms cause pain.
All newborns cry and get fussy sometimes. During the first 3 months of life, they cry more than at any other time. But when a baby who is healthy cries for more than 3 hours a day, more than 3 days a week, a health care provider may say the baby has colic (KOL-ik).
You do not need to stop nursing. 1 Breastfeeding is not a cause of colic, and babies who take infant formula get colic, too. Switching to formula may not help and may even make the situation worse.
Colic typically starts within the first few weeks after birth. It peaks between 4 and 6 weeks of age. Then, it usually ends rather abruptly when your baby is 3 to 4 months old.
Change your baby's position: Sit them up if they have been lying down, or hold them face-out if they have been facing your chest. Hold your baby near low, rhythmic noises, like the sound of the washing machine or a recording of a heartbeat. The steady hum of a fan or a white noise machine can also be soothing.
Colic episodes are more intense, louder, and higher pitched than "normal" crying. Infants with colic may sound as if they are in pain or are screaming.
The positive news is that if it's just colic -- which usually surfaces at age 2 weeks to 4 weeks -- your baby isn't in any physical danger, and the remedy is relatively simple: wait it out.