Gassy or colicky baby- causes and remedies

Newborn baby fills the entire family with joy and excitement. Everyone likes to play with the little one.
But some of the days, these joyful bundles get extremely cranky, not consolable by feeding or any other measures. This is more common in evening or at night.
One of the common causes for this irritability is colic or gas.
Baby’s digestive system is growing so the muscles often go into spasm causing tummy ache. Sometimes, it’s due to milk allergy or indigestion of formula milk.

Whatever be the cause, colic is troublesome for both parents and babies. Here are a few remedies to ease your baby

1. Tummy time: Make your baby lie on his tummy and pat the back. This measure helps the baby fart and expels gas.

2. Hing: Applying “hing” or asafoetida on baby’s belly acts as a carminative, helping her to burp or fart.

3.Antigas drops. You can ask your doctor for antigas medicine. This can be used in severe cases , when above measures don’t work.

4. Changing the formula: Babies who are on formula milk are more likely to have gas. If possible, stop top milk altogether. If somehow that is not possible, try switching to hydrolysed formula milk.

5. Distraction: You must have observed that sometimes you are taking your baby to doctor for her irritability. But , by the time you reach the clinic, baby is sound asleep. This is because babies get distracted by change in surrounding. And, the crankiness disappears.

 

Mum’s diet and colic

Intake of certain foods by breastfeeding mom sometimes may cause gas symptoms in baby. You can observe the connection between your diet and baby’s symptoms.

Some of these foods are cauliflower, cabbage and citrus fruits like orange. If you are allergic to milk or dairy products, it might cause symptoms in your baby.

However, there is no hard and fast correlation between mom’ s diet and colic in baby.

Gripe water and colic

Many parents swear by this remedy for gas. However, scientifically speaking, there is no evidence for role of gripe water  in relieving gas.

Friends, good news is that colic usually starts resolving by 3months of age and totally disappears by 6-12months.

I hope these remedies help your baby in being gas-free.

Happy parenting!