I was in the drug store the other day and noticed an age old treatment for colic still being sold: Gripe Water!
My mom used that on all of us kids, who are now ages 28 to 44 and I in turn, learned to give it to my kid whenever they developed an upset tummy or cried uncontrollably during the night or day.
It went out of fashion because although it is a relatively medication free solution, a lot of new moms and modern treatments prefer all natural solutions.
The thing about colic is that doctors do not know what cause it though we think it has to do with digestive problems and/or gas in the baby ‘s tummy.
Based on my experience as a veteran mom to three kids and auntie and Godmom to many more, here are four tips and tricks I recommend you try performing when your baby is crying for no reason with no sign of letting up that you try three things:
- Walk him by swaying gently but with big moves. I am so bold that I once got a couple to hand over their colic baby who cried all the way through a red eye flight, and who I suspected had colic. I did the slow rock with the baby and he stopped crying. Of course, I couldn’t do this all flight and as soon as I handed the frantic new parents back their baby, she started wailing all over again.
- Feed him a spoon full of warm water. I know a lot of pediatric healthcare practitioners tell new moms, especially those that are breastfeeding that the baby gets all the water he needs from breast milk. However, there is nothing wrong with a little water clearing out a tummy full of milk. It cannot hurt to try when you have an inconsolable newborn on your hands.
- Give her a tummy massage. take your hand into a letter “c” and massage the baby’s tummy to break up any gas that may be in there. Doing this will cause the baby to either burp, let out flatulence or poop. Any of these three outcomes are likely to cause some relief.
- Give him a full body massage. Finally, take some baby oil or some other scented essential oil like lavender, peppermint or eucalyptus and massage your baby’s body. Look up sample videos of how to give an infant massage on YouTube. Massages calm you as an adult, and babies enjoy them too.
I shared these tips on an old video post I did on this blog’s verified YouTube Channel a few years ago that you can check out here! Excuse the poor lighting!
I can almost guarantee these tips will work wonders. And if they don’t, you cannot go wrong with breaking out your gripe water! It’s worked for ages. They were selling it for about $12 at my local Target Pharmacy but you can get it online for about $6 from Drugstore.com or Amazon.