Remedies for Colic

There is no single remedy for treating colic. Treating colic basically involves soothing your baby, reducing stress and identifying and eliminating any thing that could be causing the colic.

You should also look not only at decreasing your babies stress levels but yours as well. Babies are very sensitive and if you are stressed they are quite capable of sensing this and becoming agitated themselves.

Environmental

Some simple techniques people use include:

Gently holding and rocking your baby – for example you can gently dance with your baby to soft soothing music.
Carrying your baby with you as you do your tasks around the house e.g. in a sling or in a backpack
Singing to your baby.
Engaging your baby – Keep them engaged with things that move, can be moved, make sounds or that they can use to make sounds – basically anything to catch and maintain their attention continually.
Provide them with a dummy to suck on – they find these comforting.
Keep them upright in a position where they can see what is going on around them.
Take your baby outside where there are lots of stimuli to catch their attention.
Babies often find a slightly warm bath to be soothing.

The “5 S’s” Technique

Diet and Feeding

Lactose Intolerance

Based on the theory that colic is due to intolerance to lactose, if you feed your baby with formula milk, you could switch to another brand containing less lactose.

Alternatively, you can add lactase to your milk formula (or expressed milk, if you breast feed your baby). Lactase is an enzyme that breaks down lactose in the body to help digest it. Newborn babies may lack lactase and only produce enough of it, as they get older, which may be why colic stops after about 3 months.

Allergic Reactions

Some babies appear to react or be allergic to certain foods including wheat proteins, eggs, animal milk or nuts. You can get milk substitute formula feeds that are free from animal proteins or if you breast-feed you can experiment with eliminating dairy products such as milk and cheese from your diet.

If you can, try to avoid formula milks derived from Soya milk as though they may help stop the colic, they may also produce steroid like effects, which could possibly affect your baby’s reproductive systems.

Medicinal Products

Alternative Therapies

Massage Techniques

Aromatherapy