It can be hard for all parents, both new and experienced, to ascertain the cause of their baby’s tears sometimes. This is challenging because without knowing why your infant is crying, it is hard to calm them.

Here is the first half of a list of ten common reasons why a baby might cry to help you soothe your little one.

Top 5 Reasons Babies Cry:

1. Hunger. Babies need to eat often to get the nutrients they need during this important period of development, so your little one might be hungry more often than you think.
2. Tiredness. An infant also needs a lot of sleep, but sometimes they can be too stimulated to sleep. Putting them in a quieter, calmer, or darker environment might help them get the rest they need.
3. Hold me. Your baby loves to be snuggled and held, so he or she might be crying to tell you that they want to be picked back up.
4. Pain. Without words, your baby has trouble telling you that something hurts. It might be a tag in their new outfit or a hair wrapped around their toe – look for something that could be causing them irritation.
5. Colic. Not sure if those tears mean that your baby has colic? Keep track of how often he or she cries. If the tears last for more than three hours a day, more than three days each week, and more than three weeks in a row, your little one might have colic. Speak to your medical professional for more guidance about this condition.

Colic – not just for infants

When most parents hear the word “colic,” they immediately think of the infant colic that some babies develop – the crying that is inconsolable, occurs for no apparent reason, and is still a pretty big mystery to the medical community.

However, this is not the only type of colic that exists, despite what the parent of a child with colic might try to tell you!

That’s right – adults can get colic too, and unfortunately a swaddle blanket may not be able to help you get through it!

So what is biliary colic?

Biliary colic is a condition in which the patient feels sharp pain in his or her upper abdomen, either in the center or on the right side. This pain is the most common symptom experienced by people with gallstones, the hardened masses that form in the gallbladder.

These masses form when there is an abundance of certain elements, usually cholesterol, and they move from the gallbladder into the liver and intestines. Along the way, they can bump into sensitive areas or become lodged in certain openings or connections, causing blockages.

In either case, they cause the patient extreme pain and will continue to cause pain until they are removed. The pain usually comes and goes if the gallstones are mobile but will continue to occur until the gallstones are removed.

So who gets it?

Characteristics that make some individuals more likely to experience biliary colic include:

• Being overweight
• Eating foods that are high in fat
• Over twenty years of age

While biliary colic may not be a central concern to new parents, it is something to be aware of, particularly if you have any of the characteristics listed above. If you believe you may have biliary colic, contact your medical professional immediately.

Colic is one of those things that you probably don’t care about – that is until you become a parent and have your new baby suffering from its effects. That’s when you need to learn everything you can – and fast!

Over the last month or so, Luna Lullaby has taken on this subject and is offering parents an in-depth look at the various types of colic, what causes colic, as well as lots of information on how to help soothe your infant and possibly avoid dealing with colic.

We sincerely hope that this information might help you learn something you didn’t already know and maybe give your little one a little comfort!

Advice from parents

Please note that all of our articles and blog posts are thoroughly researched before we post them. However, they should be considered as friendly advice from one parent to another, and never considered to be actual medical advice.

In fact, that’s how Luna Lullaby came to be in the first place. Parents helping other parents learn to soothe their children using the best techniques and products they can!

If your baby has colic, you are probably searching everywhere you can think of for suggestions and ideas about how to relieve his or her colic. While all parents of newborns struggle to adapt to sleepless nights and waking each time they hear the cries of their little ones, parents of colicky babies have a particularly difficult challenge before them as they learn to live with a screaming, crying child that they cannot soothe.

No definite right or wrong way

It is difficult to say that one specific technique or practice will be the right or best way of relieving colic in your infant because the causes of this difficult condition are so hazy and unknown. However, there are several ways that are often found helpful by parents when attempting to calm the cries of their colicky child, including the following tips.

Parent tested tips for relieving infant colic:

-        Swaddling. Wrapping the baby snugly in a soothing swaddling blanket such as the one offered by Luna Lullaby can be an enjoyable way to sleep more soundly for your little one.

-        Changing the baby’s feeding schedule. Instead of a few larger meals, consider trying more frequent, smaller meals to see if this aids in digestion.

-        Changing your own diet. If you are breastfeeding, some of the foods you consume may be irritating to your infant when he or she receives your breast milk. Re-evaluate your own diet and see if that makes a difference.

-        Adjust the position of the baby while feeding. If they are positioned correctly, feeding and digestion will be easier for the infant, making irritation less of an issue.

Food & Colic – A Tricky Combination

If colic can be understood as a condition that results from digestive issues or immaturity in an infant, then it makes sense that changing what you eat could solve some of the digestive problems. For mothers who breastfeed, what is consumed by the mother is then given to the baby through the mother’s milk.

A baby who has colic may have an easier time digesting their mother’s milk if the mother avoids certain foods that can be irritating, cause gas, or trigger an allergic reaction.

Some problem foods may include the following:

*  Dairy products. Lactose intolerance is a major issue in the adult population, and many infants are also unable to digest products that contain the proteins from cows’ milk. Cut out eggs, milk, and cheese to see if lactose intolerance is making your infant’s colic more severe.

*  Caffeine. This stimulant can be found in coffee, soft drinks, tea, and even chocolate.

*   Beans, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage are all likely to cause gas in adults, so they may do the same in infants.

*  Soy, shellfish, nuts, and wheat can be allergens for adults and may be causing an allergic reaction in your colicky infants too.

If you decide to change your diet in the hopes of alleviating your baby’s colic, it is important to give yourself and your infant two weeks to get the food entirely out of your system. If the baby’s colic has not improved by that point, then that food group is not likely to be related to the crying.

> Learn more about what is colic by visiting our website

Bouncing is a common technique for calming a crying or upset baby and was the inspiration for our Bounce A Bye Ball. You have probably seen more parents than you could ever count pacing back and forth, doing a unique dance to bounce their infant into a calmer and quieter state. This technique is not limited to children without colic; parents of colicky babies can often help their child find relief and soothing by bouncing him or her gently.

Bouncing – fun and helpful!

Despite the fact that the exact cause of colic is not known for certain, there is a significant amount of anecdotal evidence to support the fact that bouncing is extremely helpful for colicky babies. Possible explanations for the effectiveness of this approach to soothing colic include the following three:

1. The baby may be able to release gas that has built up in the digestive system. For infants who are having trouble with digestion and gas, bouncing may be a necessary supplement to burping after meals to release pressure and alleviate pain.

2. Bouncing may also have a soothing sensation because it mimics the feeling of being carried in a mother’s womb. A child inside his or her mother’s body feels the sensation of bouncing as she goes through the running, walking, sitting, and standing of her daily routine. Bouncing may mimic this sensation in a way that is enjoyable and relaxing for your baby.

3.   Finally, bouncing may be a way to stimulate the development of the vestibular system, a part of the baby’s neurological system that supports coordination, gross motor skills, and balance.

For the parent of a baby with colic, there are only a few questions that truly matter. First, how can colic be treated or cured. After they find out that there is no certain cure for the crying that comes with colic, there is only one question that remains: How long will the colic last?

When it comes to this question, there is some good news and some bad news.

The good news:

The good news is that colic is temporary. There will be a time when your child stops crying for no reason and his or her cries become less anguished. In most cases, children first show signs of colic around three weeks after they are born. The symptoms are the worst around weeks six through eight, and by week twelve, the symptoms have abated.

The bad news:

For some babies, colic symptoms persist until the baby is six months old. There is no way to tell if your child is one of the children who will outgrow it by the age of three months or if your little one will keep crying for another three months.

Regardless of whether your child outgrows their colic by three months or not until they are six months old, it is important to remember that it will end. If you feel overwhelmed or exhausted by your infant’s colic, ask for help from friends and family. Keeping yourself balanced is an important part to helping your child get through the challenges of colic.

Colic is a challenging issue for infants, and it can be even more difficult for their parents as they struggle to help the baby and calm his or her tears. Swaddling is a technique that can be of great help to parents as it offers a unique type of comfort to the infant.

What is swaddling?

Swaddling is not a new technique, although it has become more popular in the United States in recent years. Today, most women do not even leave the hospital without getting at least a brief lesson in the correct way to wrap their baby.

When done correctly, the limbs of the infant are bound to his or her body in a way that is tight enough to restrict movement but not so tight as to cause discomfort. The swaddling blanket keeps the baby warm, which helps him or her maintain their body temperature during the first few days after leaving the womb.

At the same time, keeping the baby in a certain position emulates the tight quarters of the mother’s womb, imitating the security and safety the infant knew for the previous nine months. An additional benefit of the swaddling technique is that it effectively counters the baby’ startle reflex. The startle reflex is a way that baby’s will wake themselves by flailing their limbs, even out of their deepest sleep.

When swaddled, the babies are unable to flail their limbs and wake themselves, resulting in better sleep with fewer interruptions.

How swaddling helps with colic

This is a highly effective way for parents to calm their infants, whether or not they have colic. If you are looking for a safe and natural way to keep your baby calmer and quiet his or her cries, consider incorporating swaddling in your routine.

> Watch a swaddling demonstration video

Colic is a condition that occurs among infants fairly frequently. About one out of five babies can develop colic, although the severity of each case can vary.

The main way to tell if a child has colic is by the frequency and duration of his or her crying. Babies with colic are healthy, well-fed infants with no reason to cry; yet they cry loudly and seem to be in pain because they clench their fists, arch their backs, and flex their abdominal muscles. One way to tell if an infant has colic as opposed to just being fussy is by the rule of threes – A child that cries for three or more hours a day on three or more days per week for at least three consecutive weeks probably has colic.

If you suspect that your little one may have colic, it is important to discuss this with your medical professional to get a definitive diagnosis and ensure that it is not a more serious condition.

Colic – normal and usually temporary

It is important for parents of infants to remember that colic is a normal and temporary condition. Colic does not reflect any health problems or illnesses in an infant, and although the crying fits are painful to watch, the infant will not suffer in either development or growth.

Additionally, colic is temporary. Children generally outgrow colic around three months of age, although some continue to exhibit symptoms until six months. As the cause of colic is not fully understood, it is hard to explain why the condition passes on its own, but fortunately for parents who are raising a colicky infant, it does!

Colic and reflux are pretty common for infants. One out of five babies experiences colic, and up to half of all infants have reflux at some point in their first two years. In previous posts, we have covered the topic of colic extensively, so here we will focus more on reflux and how it is both similar and different to colic in infants.

Reflux vs. Colic

Reflux is the shortened name for GER, which stands for Gastro Esophageal Reflux. When acid goes the wrong way through the digestive system, it enters the esophagus from the stomach, and this is referred to as reflux.

Many adults experience this sensation as heartburn. In infants and toddlers, it is because the muscle that connects the stomach and esophagus, the sphincter there, is not fully developed. The sphincter does not keep the acid where it belongs but instead allows it to rise up into the esophagus. If this occurs too often, the esophagus can be damaged extensively and the acid can ruin the enamel on one’s teeth.

Not sure – ask your doctor

It is difficult to determine on your own whether your child is suffering from colic or reflux, so it is always a good idea to consult your physician when you have any concerns. However, one way to tell if your child has reflux rather than colic is if they are over three months of age. If they have passed three months, it is unlikely that he or she has colic because they are outside of the normal age range. Another way to differentiate between the two conditions is appetite: if your child is eating regularly, they probably do not have issues with reflux, as a decreased appetite usually accompanies reflux.