A - Z Encyclopedia
Understanding Colic
the Basics | Symptoms | Treatment | Prevention
Prevention
How Can I Prevent Colic?
You can't prevent colic, but if you think the distress is related to feeding, you may lessen the frequency of episodes by trying the following:
- Hold your baby upright when feeding; burp often.
- Feed smaller amounts more frequently.
- To prevent him from swallowing air, feed your baby slowly.
- If you are breastfeeding, try eliminating from your own diet cow's milk, caffeinated drinks, and broccoli and other cabbage family vegetables, all of which can promote gas pains in your child.
- If you are bottle-feeding, try a formula free of cow's milk such as a soybean formula.
Cow's milk protein is a common cause of allergy or feeding intolerance in children, particularly under 6 months of age. The small amount of cow's milk protein that can enter breast milk if mom drinks cow's milk can cause problems for some babies. In addition, some babies appear to be unable to digest the milk sugar lactose, due primarily to low levels of the required enzyme lactase. But these babies rarely have problems when breastfeeding, because breast milk has lower levels of lactose than cow's milk. Goat's milk also has low levels and causes less allergy than cow's milk, but it is missing the essential amino acid lycene, so it must be fortified with that to be safe for babies.
The big picture: Overall, if your baby does not respond to gas reduction or formula changes and your being calm, then your baby is probably one of those who just cries a lot. This appears to be a matter of innate temperament and is not well understood. Try the simple vibration and white noise techniques discussed above and get as much sleep as you can -- for your own health. And most important, remember -- this too shall pass!
the Basics | Symptoms | Treatment | Prevention
