Colic 101

Hi I'm Elisa All with Babies Today. I am here with Dr. Anita Chandra, a pediatrician, who is going to help shed some light on a newborn condition called colic. I've got baby Paige here who also is going to assist us on some demonstrations on swaddling and burping. Thanks for being here. Thank you. So tell us a little about colic. I remember feeling confused by it. What is real colic? What is not colic? Tell us a little about it. Well, true colic is actually not that common. But if you found that your baby is crying despite being fed well and changed, and you find that she is crying for three hours a day, predictable times, three times a week for three weeks in a row then it sounds like true colic. Ok, so what causes colic? Is it a mystery or do we know what causes it? No we don't know exactly but what we think it may be some intestinal spasms, it could be that there is a little bit of gassiness, maybe a little bit of lactose intolerance, it could just be a natural behavioral phenomenon that some babies go through. Well what are some things that parents can do to stop feeling so helpless about their baby crying so much? Well certainly you do not want to feel helpless. The things you can try is rocking them, you can try swaddling them, burping them. Maybe even running a warm bath even for them. Well I found that motion, maybe like a car ride or even running a vaccum cleaner for white noise. Is there any truth to the white noise myth? I don't know if there is any actual science to that but anecdotally a lot of parents say it works well and there's no harm in it. And I truly think though that colic typically ends by 3 months. So there is an end in sight. That's a relief. Well we've got Paige here and I'm wondering if you can demonstrate how to swaddle. I think that will be a great thing for parents to see. Sure. So we'll take one her receiving blankets and just lay it across here on a flat surface. Couple different ways to do it but I'll show you one that I like. I'm going to fold the top down a little bit to make it a little bit smaller for her since she is still young. She's only 3 weeks. I know. We're going to lay her down here with her head just above this fold. There you go. Perfect. Then I want you to take one arm, and tuck it down, then take a flap and pull it over. Underneath her chin. You also want to make sure it's tucked nicely under her chin. Then you want to take her other arm, take it down and take the other flap and bring it over. Ok. Perfect. Then you pull up on the bottom, and we'll flatten it out. Perfect. Pull it up nice and tight. OK. Then sort of tuck it underneath. Well now she looks like a little burrito. She does and this works great it makes it easier to hold her as well. Wow. I like that. Look how calm she is. She sure does. Looks like she is getting sleepy. You mentioned also that burping is a technique for soothing colic. Can you show me how to do that? Sure. Why don't we have you come over to this seat. And I'll take a burp cloth and put it up here for you. Just in case she actually decides to actually spit up on you. Ok. If you want to put her up against your shoulder. Most people feel comfortable burping a baby like this. Hold her head because she does not have enough head control yet. And take this hand and firmly pat on her back. Just like that. Good. Not every baby burps right away and it may take a little time. And this is ok. It is certainly comfortable for her and hopefully for you. It does. It feels very natural. The other way if that doesn't work is actually have her seated in your lap, and you bring her down you take your one hand and you hold her chin, because you're going to kind turn her forward a little bit and you want to have some control over her. Ok. Got her chin. Pat her back again? Pat her back again. Exactly. What your doing is just moving the air bubbles around that helps them come up and helps her burp. If that doesn't work, the 3rd way I teach parents is to actually lay her against your legs just like that and then just continue to rub or pat her back just like that. I think she likes it. Ok wonderful. I think she looks like she is ready for her nap actually. So why don't put her down. I want to thank for joining us today, Dr. Chandra. And we'll see you next time on Babies Today.