Many factors could lead to your baby crying for an unusually long time. They may not be symptoms of colic at all but could be due to either some easily solved stress factor or a more serious illness:
Transient Causes Of Crying
Factors you should eliminate include:
- Overheating – your baby could be too hot or too cold when you feel comfortable.
- Itching – examine your child’s skin and clothing to see if they are too rough, have poking or rasping labels, buttons or scratchy surfaces.
- Hunger or thirst
- Wind from drinking too quickly of from a wrongly sized teat (if breast fed)
- Lack of human contact – Some babies require far more contact and reassurance than others.
- Pain or discomfort – Check your baby’s position, is there possible pain, cramp, a wet nappy, a painful skin rash etc.
Crying Due to Illness
On the other hand, while colic may be worrying, it is far worse to assume your child has colic when your child is actually distressed because of a more serious condition.
If your child exhibits one of these symptoms of pain or illness in addition to continuous crying you should definitely seek medical help.
- Poor or reduction in weight gain or actual loss of weight
- Raised or lowered temperature.
- Vomiting – especially if it is has an unusual colour is bloody or continues over several days.
- Any abnormal changes to your babies stool patterns including being constipated, diarrhoea or stools containing blood or mucous.
- Listlessness or lethargy, weakness, disinterest, sleeping for unusually long periods, feeling to weak to suckle properly.
- Change in crying pattern to moans or weak crying
- Sharp and high pitched crying – you should eliminate environmental factors, clothing or a rash as the cause before assuming sickness.
- Disturbed eating patterns or behaviour before, during or after meals.
- Abnormal irritability; with all day almost unceasing crying for days.
- Any bulging of the soft spot on your baby head.