Most Popular Baby Names - Names and their Meanings

 by: Cherie Stirewalt

It doesn’t make sense does it? You do everything possible as a new parent to keep your baby healthy and happy. So why is it, your baby decides to start screaming inconsolably right around dinner time? Just when you need it least.

Ask yourself…

• When your baby starts crying, is it for spells of 3 or more hours at a time?

• Do these crying spells happen 3 or more times a week?

• Did you notice the crying spells becoming more apparent about the 3rd week after you brought your baby home?

If you’ve answered yes to the above questions, you might have a baby with colic.

Colic is the diagnosis many pediatricians tag on a baby who is otherwise healthy and thriving, but follows the “Rule of Threes” as stated above. A colic baby has episodes of inconsolable crying beginning around the 3rd week of life, lasting at least 3 hours a day, for at least 3 days a week.

Attempting to calm a colicky infant can leave a parent emotionally battered and physically exhausted. Some doctors believe the cause of colic stems from your baby having a pain in the gut. “Colic” actually comes from the Greek word kolikos, which means “suffering in the colon.” Sometimes, simply changing the baby’s diet can help dramatically (or changing the mother’s diet in the case of breastfeeding).

However, another theory is emerging about the cause of colic.

Some doctors believe an underdeveloped and immature nervous system may be the cause of colic crying. When a baby is born, its head isn’t big enough to house a brain that is mature enough to have all the survival tools a human infant needs. A baby’s brain is only the size of an apple. The birth canal cannot handle a bigger head. So, when a baby is born, the only inherent survival skills they possess are sneezing, sucking, swallowing and….CRYING!

Eighty percent of babies are capable of crying for a reason, and then calming themselves down. They are awake for awhile to learn and accept stimuli. Then they sleep to recover and awake to take in more stimuli.   (continued...)

Sweep Away Colic Baby Crying with White Noise
  Page 2