Perfect Colic Remedies and Symptoms, Causes

Perfect Colic Remedies and Symptoms, Causes 

There are no known foolproof cures for colic. But natural colic remedies are available which can help soothe and bring relief, not only for these tiny little babies whose incessant screams clearly show they are in serious pain, but also for the overwhelming distress this causes the parents.

How can tell if it is a Colic cry for Help?

• All babies cry, but those who constantly cry is indicative of some form of stress associated with the digestive system.
• Medically, it's colic when an infant cries inexplicably and inconsolably for 3 hours per day, 3 days a week for 3 weeks or more. 
• These episodes usually occur late in the day or early evening, and they may last from a few hours to many hours.

What is Colic?

• Colic is a very painful abdominal condition due to spasms of the muscles of the intestines. It is in plain simple words a "cramp" in the intestines and tends to be most severe in little babies between 4 to 6 weeks old and then gradually subsides by 3 to 4 months.
• Symptoms include sudden, severe spasms of apparent pain, which usually occur in the evening, with the baby crying loudly and continuously drawing their tiny little legs up towards the chest.
• Colic remedies and nutrition may be linked, especially cow's milk consumed by breastfeeding mothers. 

Other experts have blamed alcohol, chocolate, caffeine and cola drinks, but the list is not consistent and there is no firm evidence to back these claims.

Colic Remedies - Try keeping a diary.

As a start, try keeping a diary, make a note of every little detail of each day which may help you determine what provokes these colic attacks.

Not only will this help you establish if there is a pattern to the colic, but you can also save this for one day when your baby has a colicky baby.

Make a note of:-

• What time your baby stars fretting, and when this became a full blown colic attack.
• What your baby ate that day.
• If you are a lactating Mom - what you ate and when you ate it.
• How long the incessant crying lasted.
• And, what, if anything helped to stop or soothe the painful bouts.
• Note anything else you think might be causing the colic.
• Compare these notes each day to see if anything you have changed has helped.

Colic Remedies - Cinnamon and Honey for Mommy.

Make a herbal infusion using Cinnamon Sticks. This is for you Mom if you are breastfeeding.

Take a cinnamon stick and boil up in a cup of water, sweeten if you want to with a little honey.

• Cinnamon has been used through the ages for helping with indigestion, flatulence and diarrhoea.
• When lactating mothers take a fairly strong infusion of cinnamon, it will help stimulate milk supply and some traces of the oils will be passed onto the baby via the breast milk helping baby's digestion naturally.
• The essential oils found in the bark contain these active components, cinnamaldehyde, cinnamyl acetate and cinnamyl alcohol which gives cinnamon its unique healing abilities.

You can also add a cinnamon stick to any tea and give it a sweet and somewhat exotic taste.

And you can also try infusions using Caraway and Cardomon all of which are well known herbs which help relax the painful knots in the intestines.

Natural Colic Remedies and Chamomile Tea.

A Herbal infusion made from Chamomile makes a really nice change from ordinary tea.

It will not only help with digestion as detailed below, but also relaxes the nervous system generally which any Mom with a colicky baby will need desperately.

This colic remedy in the form of an herbal infusion is for lactating Mom's who will pass these benefits onto their babies through breast feeding.

Mom, if you want to give your baby chamomile tea you have to check with your doctor or herbal practitioner.

Drink a cup of tea twice daily.

• Both fresh and dried flowers of chamomile can, and have been used for centuries as a natural treatment for many ailments including colic.
• Chamomile is well known as having anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties due to the active ingredient in the essential oil known as bisabolol.
• So why would chamomile be good for colic? Because apart from the benefits above it has been found to have fairly strong antispasmodic constituents, which have been found to be very effective in treating intestinal cramps, and helps soothe gastric irritation, dyspepsia and flatulence. It also has a bitter constituent which helps stimulate an under active digestion.