Treatments for Your Baby’s Colic

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Colic can cause you high amounts of stress and will often affect everyone’s sleep. It can leave you with any number of negative feelings including frustration, worry, exhaustion, confusion and guilt. Despite this, it’s necessary to foster a special bond with your newborn.

Although a few natural treatments help soothe colicky babies, there isn’t a permanent solution for colic.

It’s best to stay calm. Exhibiting frustration or anxiety to your colicky child is likely to end with additional crying. Remember to never shake or punish your colicky baby. If you believe you’re about to break, find another to care for your child while you step away to gather your wits.

Understanding Colic

If you think your baby has colic, contact your family doctor or pediatrician. After eliminating potential medical causes of extended crying, respiratory issues or ear infections for example, many doctors suggest easy to manage home methods.

Some colicky babies appear to feel better when they’re showered with attention from their parents and sleep in a quiet room. Some experts encourage parents to socialize with other couples for support. If you’ve been through colic with another child, you may choose to contact your doctor if you feel your colicky baby is ill. Colic is sometimes a genetic trait.

Plenty of colicky babies are calmed by certain motions, particularly vibration, as well as consistent background noise like a low hum.

If your child is calmed when riding in your vehicle, this is practically characteristic of the “colic temperament” syndrome. Some normal background sounds that calm colicky babies include vacuums, washing machines and dishwashers. There are also widely available goods that can fabricate white noise.

Although the reasons for colic is undiscovered, experts believe gas in newborns may be one reason for symptoms that resemble colic. There are plenty of over-the-counter remedies that contain the drug simethicone. This can alleviate gas cramps by altering gas bubble surface tension, which turns big bubbles into smaller ones, even though the amount of gas remains the same. Some children also cry less when they’re given this harmless and affordable medicine.

Should your baby experience colic that doesn’t seem to cease, you’ll most likely seek an effective, natural and safe colic treatment to alleviate your baby’s suffering. There are plenty of remedies available for baby colic. As usual, you should contact your doctor before giving your baby any medicine, supplements or remedies.

Keeping Your Baby Asleep With the Ferber Method

Crying Baby

 

Many studies have concluded that parents tend to find that allowing their babies to cry themselves back to sleep can be rather irritating and almost always stressful. Most parents are unable to overlook their newborns long enough for the child to cease their crying and fall asleep by themselves.

The Ferber Method

One way to teach your baby to sleep on her own is known as the Ferber Method. It was developed to train your baby to fall asleep on by herself as well as to return her to sleep should she wake up at after bedtime. Richard Ferber, M.D. designed this approach. He recommends that parents should begin this training when your baby is no younger than 5 or 6 months old. The following outlines how you should do this:

  • Place your child in her bed while she’s drowsy but still awake. When you’re done with her bedtime ritual, exit her room.
  • Should your child cry, sit tight for a couple minutes before checking up on her. Typical waiting times start within 1 and 5 minutes.
  • Upon checking on your baby, soothe her but don’t take her out of her crib. You should also leave after a couple minutes even if she’s still crying. Seeing you will usually be plenty to let your child know you’re nearby so she’ll fall asleep unassisted.
  • Should she continue to cry, slowly add time to how long you wait when heading back to her room. For example, if you wait for 3 minutes the first time, make the second trip after 5 minutes then 10 minutes for each additional visit.
  • The second night, you’ll wait about 5 minutes for the first checkup, 10 minutes for the second, then 12 minutes for each subsequent trip.

Using this method will likely be difficult for about a few days. However, you’ll see your baby’s sleeping pattern begin to develop by third or fourth day. Many parents see significant advances after a week.

If you’d like to attempt the Ferber Method, you’ll want to be rested before the first bedtime. You’ll be spending lots of time listening for your crying baby, looking at your watch, and going in and out of her sleeping area. In the end, however, it’s up to you to decide how you’d like to get your baby back to sleep.

Help Your Newborn Sleep All Night

sleeping baby

 

Children, especially babies, look ever so peaceful in their sleep. In fact, you probably even feel your love for them overcome your body. But when just can’t seem to keep your child to sleep through the night, frustration can quickly set in.

Once you understand the parts of your baby’s sleep cycle you can control and those you can’t, it makes it much easier to prepare for your baby’s midnight wake up calls.

Understand Your Baby’s Sleep Needs

Your baby’s need to eat overrides her sleep needs in the first 2 months of her life. It’s possible that she needs to feed every couple hours if you’re nursing. If you’ve decided to bottle feed, it’s normally slightly less often.

By 3 to 6 months, most babies are sleep about 6 hours at a time. However, when you believe your baby is settling into a routine, right around the 6 to 9 month mark, your baby will start to connect her bedtime to being alone. It’s likely she’ll start crying just to have you nearby.

Establishing a Bedtime Routine

Many studies concluded that babies who follow a regular bedtime routine fall asleep quicker, sleep better, and wake up in the middle of the night less.

Your baby’s bedtime routine could be any mix of regular bedtime functions. Some of the most effective are:

  • Play high-energy activities during the daytime and low-key games after dinner. This will keep your child from getting overly energetic right at bedtime.
  • Do the same activities in the same order every night.
  • Every activity should be peaceful and calm. This is especially true when you reach the end of the bedtime ritual.
  • Your child’s favored activity should be last, and do it in her sleeping area. It’ll help her associate her bedroom with other things she’s fond of.
  • Keep the way her bedroom looks and feels consistent. If she wakes when everyone else is sleeping, the lights and sounds in her room should be the similar to when she fell asleep.

Teaching your baby to fall asleep on her own through your bedtime routine is an important step in your child’s development. It teaches her to put herself back to sleep when she wakes up in the middle of the night and gives her a little taste of independence. Consequently, you’ll sleep more soundly and be better rested for the next day.

Getting Ready to Go It Alone

 

 

Maternity leave is a wonderful opportunity for you to focus on those final weeks of your pregnancy, prepare your home and your own mind for the little one and to enjoy the early days of your baby’s life. Unfortunately, the stress of simply knowing that maternity leave is going to end will set in soon; for many women, it happens almost immediately after your baby is born.

To make matters worse, chances are pretty good your spouse is going to go back to work before you do. It can be intimidating – the thought of being alone all day with a brand new baby – and you may not know quite what to expect.

Encourage and schedule visitors

One of the best ways to get through the rest of maternity leave without feeling alone and overwhelmed is to ask friends and family members to stop by. Even an hour or so during the day can help you relax, take time for a shower and give you some “adult time.”

Prepare yourself for your partner being away.

Be ready for whatever happens. It may be a hectic few days at first, where you feel like you don’t even have time to stop and make yourself something to eat. Pack a couple of lunches for the week ahead of time; you’ll want something you can grab quickly in between feedings and diaperings.

Spend some time outside

If the weather cooperates with you, take baby for a stroll around the block. If you live in town, you can head down to a coffee shop and enjoy some fresh brew until your little one wakes up. The sunlight will help your mood, and being around other people will help you feel less isolated.

Talk to other moms – or just anyone at all

Joining a new moms’ group can be a wonderful way to share your experience with others and gain from their experiences as well. If you’re feeling alone, isolated and down, give an old friend a call on the telephone. Even just five minutes of long-distance interaction can do a world of good.

Benchmarking Your Baby’s First Year

 

Happy Crawling

The first year of your baby’s life is one of the most exciting times you’ll experience. This is the time when your child develops skills at a rate faster than any other time. It’s filled with “firsts” like first word, first step and first food. But with all the excitement, how can you be sure your little one is progressing on time?

Below you’ll find the benchmarks regarding your newborn’s development. These are simply guidelines for when to watch for your baby’s next experience. Since each child is different, there’s no need to worry if your child advances faster or slower than what’s presented here.

The First Three Months

In this timespan, your baby experiences rapid growth and begin to exhibit awareness self and of others. Your baby should:

  • Smile socially and at the sound of your voice.
  • Study your face intently.
  • Begin to discover his/her voice by cooing.
  • Respond to soothing touches and textures.

Three to Six Months

This is when your child makes advances with physical abilities and skills. They should also progress with recognition and external stimuli. Some of this includes:

  • The baby should recognize and be happy to see you.
  • Showing interest in sights and sound.
  • Babbling and other random mouth noises.
  • Lifting his/her chest and head off the floor.
  • Gauging how far away an item is.
  • Eating baby food.
  • Sitting up with support or possibly without support.

Six to Nine Months

Here you’ll notice advances in the child’s mobility, hearing, and eyesight. Watch for these benchmarks:

  • Crawling.
  • Near adult eyesight.
  • Recognition of words and phrases.
  • Rolling over back to front and back again.
  • Responding to his/her name.
  • Facial expressions.

Nine to Twelve Months

One of the most exciting time frames of your toddler’s life. Within this time frame your baby will:

  • Point at and reach for items.
  • Wave.
  • Speak single words aside from “mama” and “dada”.
  • Stand up without assistance.
  • Cruise furniture or possibly walk.

With the proper guidance, your little one should develop on par with these benchmarks. However, there are sometimes factors that may affect when your child reaches a particular benchmark. Some of these factors include autism, diminished sensory input or physical or mental defects.

Should progression be a little behind, you have nothing to worry about. However, if your child misses a benchmark by a significant amount, you’ll want to contact your family doctor.