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My 4 1/2 months old baby is still very colicky although he was exclusively breastfed for 3 1/2 months. He needs to be burped twice after each feed otherwise he will be very unwell.
Asked by Lynda Lai - Posted 1 year, 5 months, 3 weeks, 4 days, 23 hours, 18 minutes ago.
Hi Lynda,
Thank you for your question.
First my apologies for the late reply. Been on holiday for a bit.
Most babies with infant colic tend to present at 1 month of age and get better by 3 months. The assumption often is that there may be ‘wind’ in the tummy. Most of the time this is not true as almost all medications we have for ‘wind’ don’t seem to work.
Colic is defined as persistent difficult to console cry occurring for at least 3 hours a day for at least 3x a week. The problem is more apparent if its the 1st child, and if grandparents are staying with you. What is certain is that the more anxious you and all the people around you are with the cry, the more your baby will cry. As long as your baby is feeding well and growing well, then its unlikely anything serious is going on.
You can try the progressive approach where you allow your baby to cry and progressively wait longer before you go to him. What you are trying to achieve is self soothing, he soothes himself rather than you trying to sooth him. This may take about a week for the cry to improve. You may want to warn the neighbors to expect more cry though.
If your are still concerned discuss this with your paediatrcian.
Best of luck
Dr. Sanjay Woodhull
Consultant Paediatrician
