Colic

How to identify symptoms of colic and what you can do to help your baby.

Colic affects many babies within the first three months of life. If you are able to identify it, help is available. A baby with colic cries for hours a day, usually in the late afternoon or evening. Often the baby pulls its legs up, clenches its fists, screams and turns red as though in pain. None of the usual methods to pacify a newborn will seem to comfort a colic baby.

No one really knows for certain what causes infant colic though it is thought that one quarter of all babies suffer from colic at some time. Theories include:

• Pain due to spasms of the intestine
• Baby’s intestines haven’t yet fully matured
• Wind in the digestive tract
• An anxious baby
• A baby sensing parental anxiety
• Allergy or sensitivity to certain foods
• Parents who smoke.

What You Can Do

Relieving Wind

Burping your baby after feeding can reduce wind. Air can be swallowed when your baby is crying or if the flow of milk is too fast. If you are breastfeeding, try expressing some milk before feeding to reduce the flow. If you are bottlefeeding, try using a teat with a smaller hole.

 Relax Your Baby

Gently massaging your baby’s tummy, back and shoulders can help. Stroking its forehead and head is also calming. Babies love rocking. Walking with your baby in a sling, driving in a car or riding in a pram can help. Music can soothe a screaming baby. Clicking noises made with your tongue can sometimes stop a baby crying. Simple and effective, a warm bath works wonders.
In an oil burner, burn 2 drops of lavender essential oil. If your baby is congested, add a drop of eucalyptus essential oil.

For some obscure reason, babies love the sound of a vacuum cleaner. Parents have been known to record the sound of a vacuum cleaner and play it back as a lullaby. It works!

Herbal Colic Mixture

Australian herbalist and pharmacist Des Lardner is famous for his herbal colic formula that is used for treating tummy troubles, especially colic, in babies.
This formula, prepared at his herbal pharmacy in Horsham, Victoria, is made from a 1934 recipe that Lardner has carefully refined. It is a combination of traditional Chinese and modern medicine and includes belladonna, dill seed (a calmative for wind and flatulence pains in infants) and sodium nitrate.

Lardner, a qualified pharmacist, has three additional degrees including an Associate Diploma of Theology; a Graduate Diploma of Nutrition and a Graduate Diploma of Herbal Medicine. He was the 1997 recipient of the Pharmaceutical Society award for his knowledge of modern medicine. Lardner has great faith in melding traditional and modern medicines and believes in taking a wholistic approach to health.

Telephone consultation is essential. If you are interested please phone Des Lardner on toll free 1800 066 998 (in Australia only) or internationally (+61) 35382 6006