Parenting & Lifestyle for you!!

Colic baby?

With much happiness the newborn is welcomed home , the joys are doubled and the emotions are quadrupled. Then suddenly in close to 2-weeks time, a messy situation is confronted; Crying baby, rather excessive crying baby . All at home seems to be jittered, unaware of the reason. Elders term is being Colic or call infant as Colic baby when they see baby crying for long stretches daily. But doesn’t that “Colic” term sound association with some “pain or disease”, although the crying baby might not suffer from any such painful colic?

What is Colic in infants?

Let’s refer to your questions to find the answers in this post :

What does it means “Colic Baby”?

How to know if baby has colic?

How long does colic last ?

When does Colic starts & when does it ends?

How to treat Baby Colic?

Let us refer to the term “Purple period of Crying” here rather than terming it as Colic. Since to me, colic sounds extreme pain in the stomach or intestine of a baby which definitely creates un-easiness & need medication for the crying baby.

You would be interested in 10 Reasons why babies cry & how to pacify them!

Sharing my Example:

“It exactly started when my kid was in his 3rd week. I encountered a day, when suddenly in the late Evening at 9:00pm my happy go lucky smiling child started wailing.  That was not a normal crying, it lasted for around 3 hours & my mom tried all home remedies for my child , but it all went in vain. Then suddenly after those gory 3 hours, he just went silent & slept to our utter shock with  perfect sleep later & a smiling morning. The complete next morning went away in discussions & we thought to forget it ,as he was happily playing , and normally feeding.

Again the clock struck 9:30pm, next day and those bouts re-started for nearly same duration & the same drama ruled .

We ensured to take my child to doctor the very next morning & to our surprise our family doctor was smiling and said, all is fine. Baby was completely healthy. She then introduced me to the concept of  “Purple period” ,often termed as “Colic” also.

It actually became a routine between 9:30-10pm daily. As soon as the clock struck , fear engulfed me, for nothing could soothe my crying baby. But since it was a “period”, it had to end, so my phobia with the early nights and clocks ended finally after 15 odd days & yes it never returned back;)”

Yes, moms and dads that was my story some 2years back.

Introducing “Period of Purple Crying”, coined by “Dr.Ronald Barr

1. Get ready mommies, nearly 70-80% of the newborns enter this period (2 weeks of birth – 4-5months of birth).
2. Don’t go phobic with the evenings or early nights and clocks (as what happened to me).
3. Don’t see through it as child’s pain, when it actually isn’t with the crying child here.
4. Forget shouting or shaking to the baby for the simple reason, they are inconsolable in this phase.
5. Leave aside the phrase “What to do”; “how to stop crying” & love the phrase “Try try try until you succeed”.
6. All bitter things come to an end, create a positive communicative mode with the crying child.

Peak of Crying : They are showing their potential moms;) !

Baby gradually cries the maximum (usually in 2nd month) and then it lowers down slowly in 3rd-5th Month duration

Unexpected : That’s a secret Crying child holds !

Parents will not be able to know the exact reason as to why these long bouts of crying appears at specific time and goes away automatically after 2-3hours.

Resists Soothing : Yoo..hoo..Will not let anyone succeed now!

Try hard but every effort may appear as failure(remember Edison failing 1000times before finally making a Bulb) . Yes, it could be a harsh reality that baby will not stop crying that easily when in this period.

Pain-Like face : Beware!Kids can take you for a run from birth!

They could make you feel that they are in immense pain, while they actually are not! They are just rejoicing sudden changes in their life:)

Long Lasting : Let me show you my strength!

This crying can have long stretches moms and dads. It can last for 4-5 hours also. Be aware and Prepare yourself.

Evening : Yes, that’s the significant part, you will observe child crying more in late afternoon’s/evenings/late evenings & usually they do maintain the time consistency.

So by now, I guess , you would have acknowledged that don’t get into the trap of crying babies if they show the above quoted similarities & don’t have any medical issues or sudden illness.

How to help baby in the phase of purple period of crying :

1. Hold crying baby closer in arms & try to communicate with him/her
2. Be calm & composed, that’s a magic word, not just during purple period, but during initial 5-6months of the birth of a child.
3. Newborns are undergoing rapid developmental & environmental changes, try keeping them in a positive environment. Do not experiment with varied places in a day, it can impact their stimuli & encourage purple period.
4. Learn to understand & respond to baby’s cues well before they start crying

You must have mastered this “New phobia”, and we suggest that moms, dads and grannie’s to take this easily & calmly ,if the child does not have any health related problem. It’s all very normal for a newborn. Give all the warmth you can and be contented and calm.

Be Happy & Smile all the way!