How to treat Colic

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How to treat colic - Home Guide Expert
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How to treat Colic

Colic is both uncomfortable and your baby and stressful for you.  There is nothing worse seeing a child unhappy and unsettled, but help is at hand with our step by step guide.  So, how to treat colic?

What is Colic

When a baby cries for no apparent reason when he/she looks perfectly well, is difficult to soothe, will not settle and clenches his/her fists, it could be a sign of Colic.  So how to treat colic?

  • When your baby cries more than 3 hours in one day and you cannot find a physical cause, always call 111.
  • If the cry is either a high pitched sound, very weak or does not sound like their normal cry, take your child to your nearest A&E straight awayClick here to find your nearest A&E.

What causes Colic

  • Babies find it difficult to digest food when they are young.
  • Babies can swallow air whilst being bottle-fed.
  • Babies may have an allergic reaction to the type of formula being used.

Follow our guide:

  1. When your baby cries more than 3 hours in one day and you cannot find a physical cause, always call 111.
  2. If the cry is either a high pitched sound, very weak or does not sound like their normal cry, take your child to your nearest A&E straight awayClick here to find your nearest A&E.
  3. Use a feeding bottle with a slow flow teat.  (Bottle feeding should take around 15-20 minutes).  If your baby is taking around 10 minutes, the flow of the teat may be too fast and your baby will be gulping too fast which means he/she could be taking in too much air).
  4. Prepare the feeding bottle 15 minutes before you normally feed, give it a good shake and let it stand.  Do not shake the bottle again before you feed the baby, this should reduce the number of air bubbles in the bottle.
  5. Hold the baby upright whilst feeding to help him/her control the flow of the milk.
  6. If the baby shows an allergic reaction to a certain type of milk, change it until you find the right type for your baby.

During bouts of Colic, you can

  1. Reduce any visual stimulation by lowering the lights.
  2. Gently rock the baby back and forth, this may help bring up any wind.
  3. Gently move the baby’s legs up and down whilst the baby is lying on his/her back.
  4. Rub the baby’s back whilst the baby is lying face down.

What products prevent/treat Colic

In the UK, there are specialist baby bottles/teats that can be used to help prevent and treat Colic.

Medela Teats, Bottles & Pumps

The Medela range of bottles and teats work perfectly together to combat and prevent Colic in babies.

Buy here

The combination of using both of these will help a baby feed at a much more manageable pace, the baby will not be able to gulp down milk too quickly which in turn prevents Colic.  The teat is very unusual.  It has a one-way valve that prevents flooding or overwhelming the baby.  The slow flow teat is perfect for babies who are no longer being breastfed or are having both breast and bottle. These teats are designed for special needs babies with a cleft palate but make no mistake, limited air gets into the teat so the baby will not have very much wind to bring up.  This will prevent colic.

To purchase 150ml bottles (pack of 3) (buy here).

To purchase 250ml bottles (pack of 2) (buy here).

To purchase 3 Medela feeder teats (buy here).

The bottles work perfectly with the Medela Breast Pump if you are breast and bottle feeding.   You can express a feed and add a little formula to the feeding bottle when trying to get a little more sleep at night or if it’s Dad’s turn to do a feed to bond with the baby.

Buy here

Medela is a truly fantastic brand, we used them when our daughter was born up to the age when she no longer needed a bottle because the bottles come in two sizes.  The Medela range has many different accessories to make breastfeeding to bottle feeding easier including the easy expression hands-free pumping Bustier.

Buy here

We chose the Medela brand and special needs feeder after a friend recommended a book called The Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg.

Buy here

At first, we were not sure about the weird shape of the teat but sure enough, hardly any wind at all and a very happy baby as a result of using it.  Another good tip in the book is dream feeding your baby after you have put the baby down for the night.  You can do this just before you go to bed sometime later.  Whilst the baby sleeps, gently feed him/her.  The baby will take the feed calmly and with a little winding afterwards, the baby won’t even realise you’ve given a feed.  You may just get a little more sleep too!

We hope you found our How to treat colic guide helpful.

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