Trapped wind in babies is one of the most well-known triggers for colic. This is when your baby is struggling to pass wind and suffers with trapped air bubbles and a build up of gas.
A common, albeit false, school of thought is that gas may be the cause of colic. Sure, it's true that a colicky baby can be gassy (usually from swallowing too much air as they cry), but that's not always the case. While infant gas and colic can coexist in your baby, they are two completely different conditions.
Infant colic is regular, unexplained crying fits that usually last for at least three hours. The cause is unknown, but theories include immaturity of the bowel, food allergies and 'gas' or 'wind'. Colic tends to go away without treatment after a few weeks.
Symptoms of trapped wind
Bloating, stomach cramps, pains and burping or flatulence are common symptoms. If your baby has these, they may seem grizzly, cry or find it hard to settle. If your baby is posseting (bringing up a small amount of milk after feeds), is colicky or has reflux then burping your baby can help.
Simeticone Brand names: Wind-eze, WindSetlers, Infacol, Dentinox Colic Drops. Find out how simeticone treats farting (flatulence), bloating and trapped wind, and colic in babies, and how to take it.
Colic episodes can last for about 3 hours a day until your baby is about 6 weeks old; then, these episodes may get shorter and last about 1 or 2 hours a day until your little one is about 3 or 4 months old.
Colicky crying is louder, more high-pitched, and more urgent sounding than regular crying. Colicky babies can be very hard to calm down. Babies who have colic may show symptoms such as: Burping often or passing a lot of gas.
Lying still at night: When we sleep, typically, there's minimal movement of our bodies. Therefore it's harder for air to move around and work its way through our system. Immature digestive systems: Babies have immature digestive systems and their little bodies are learning too!
Colic is a condition to describe a healthy and well-fed baby's excessive crying. Commonly, babies with colic cry inconsolably for more than 3 hours, more than 3 days of the week. Babies who need to pass wind can be unsettled, wakeful and behave as if they're in pain.
Also, babies with colic may burp frequently or pass a significant amount of gas, but this is thought to be due to swallowing air while crying, and is not a cause of colic. The face may be flushed. The abdomen may be tense with legs drawn toward it.
Avoiding Your Baby's Triggers
Foods that are passed through your breast milk to your baby may trigger colic. If your baby is colicky and you are breastfeeding, avoid eating or drinking the following foods for a few weeks to see if that helps. Stimulants, such as caffeine and chocolate. Dairy products and nuts.
In general, colic is defined as crying for three or more hours a day, three or more days a week, for three or more weeks. Features of colic may include the following: Intense crying that may seem more like screaming or an expression of pain.
Infacol works by helping the small trapped gas bubbles join into bigger bubbles, which your baby can easily bring up as wind – helping to relieve their pain and discomfort. Clinically proven Infacol is the UK's No. 1 selling treatment for wind, infant colic and griping pain.
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.
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.
Colic can stop gradually or suddenly, or flare up and down until it eventually disappears. Symptoms will usually pass within a few weeks (or months, in some cases)!
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.
Symptoms of colic in babies
The crying spells can occur around the clock, although they often become worse in the early evening.
Colic can start a few weeks after birth. It's generally the worst between 4 and 6 weeks of age. Babies usually grow out of colic by the time they are 3 to 4 months old.
Open your hand and gently drum your fingers from the bottom of your baby's stomach to the top as you walk your fingers from the right-hand side of your baby's tummy across to the left-hand side. Repeat six to eight times. Make the strokes gradually lightly to signal that the stomach massage is coming to an end.
How soon should I see Infacol working? Treatment with Infacol may provide a progressive improvement over several days. You should see a difference in the frequency and severity of your baby's crying attacks over a period of days.
If I offer too much accidentally is that going to harm the baby? Simethicone is an inert substance that is not absorbed into the body. Infacol has no pharmacological activity. If your baby or an adult accidentally swallows a large quantity of Infacol it is unlikely to do any harm.