Soothing Techniques That May Offer Temporary Help with Colic
"Using Soothing Techniques might calm your baby down for a short amount of time, however, if intestinal gas is causing pain, this won't fix the colic problem"
When parents do research to find out if there is anything they can do for colic, they are usually given the five S's solution. Do these suggestions help? My experience is that yes, it might calm them down for a short amount of time, however, if intestinal gas is causing pain, this won't fix the colic problem, but it can give babies temporary relief. Let me explain why these can give some relief.
Swaddling
My experience with swaddling has been that if the pain is severe and the abdomen is also large and tight, this will usually make it worse. To put this into perspective, if you were bloated and someone wrapped you up and tied your arms and legs down, chances are you would not like this much either. You would want to relieve the pressure on the abdomen, not make it tighter. You also wouldn't want your arms and legs tied, you would instead want to move as much as you could. Babies kick and flail their arms mostly because it gives them a little bit of relief. Occasionally this may calm a baby down, however, more times than not it could make the pain worse. If you want to swaddle your baby, don't put the blanket on too tight. One other thing, colicky babies feel more pain when you lay them on their backs, so if you swaddle your baby and then put it on its back, you will most likely hurt him/her more.
Side and Stomach position
When you change the baby's position to side sleeping, it will cause the air in the stomach and intestine to
move, which will then release some distended pressure on the stomach. If you had
an excessive amount of gas in the stomach or in the intestines what would you
do? You would probably roll over to your side and bring your knees up to your chest. This would change some of the pressure on the intestine and you would
get some relief, however, my guess is that you wouldn't stay in that
position very long.
Stomach sleeping again puts pressure on the abdomen which could increase the pain, however, it can also have the opposite effect by helping move the gas further through the intestine and relieve some pressure. I have discussed this with hundreds of parents and find that babies many times will actually get some relief by lying down on their stomach. As for stomach sleeping causing Sudden Infant Death, I have not seen or heard anyone give any explanation as to why they think stomach sleeping causes SIDS, they just believe it does. My research also indicates that no one knows what is causing SIDS or what the mechanism for SIDS is. There are a lot of theories out there, but no definite proof of what causes SIDS.
Here is a hypothetical situation: If you had a baby who was being swaddled on its back while heavily projectile vomiting, what could the baby do to better the situation since he/she wouldn't have the ability to move? He couldn't move, he couldn't turn his head to the side, he couldn't roll over, so what would be the most likely thing to happen? After he vomits, he would then take a deep breath and try to cry. The milk would most likely come right back in his face. He would then take another deep breath which could aspirate the milk right into his lungs. This could truly be grim. If he was on his side or stomach and not swaddled, what would he do? Most likely he would turn his head, the milk would run down his cheek and he could go ahead and breathe. I would suggest that the chances of aspirating the milk would be far less. What I am saying is that I think this situation needs a lot more research.
Stomach sleeping again puts pressure on the abdomen which could increase the pain, however, it can also have the opposite effect by helping move the gas further through the intestine and relieve some pressure. I have discussed this with hundreds of parents and find that babies many times will actually get some relief by lying down on their stomach. As for stomach sleeping causing Sudden Infant Death, I have not seen or heard anyone give any explanation as to why they think stomach sleeping causes SIDS, they just believe it does. My research also indicates that no one knows what is causing SIDS or what the mechanism for SIDS is. There are a lot of theories out there, but no definite proof of what causes SIDS.
Here is a hypothetical situation: If you had a baby who was being swaddled on its back while heavily projectile vomiting, what could the baby do to better the situation since he/she wouldn't have the ability to move? He couldn't move, he couldn't turn his head to the side, he couldn't roll over, so what would be the most likely thing to happen? After he vomits, he would then take a deep breath and try to cry. The milk would most likely come right back in his face. He would then take another deep breath which could aspirate the milk right into his lungs. This could truly be grim. If he was on his side or stomach and not swaddled, what would he do? Most likely he would turn his head, the milk would run down his cheek and he could go ahead and breathe. I would suggest that the chances of aspirating the milk would be far less. What I am saying is that I think this situation needs a lot more research.
Shushing sounds
I think this is a normal response by the parent to distract the baby in hopes he/she will stop crying. Whether this has anything to do with the sound of blood flow when the baby was in utero, I am not certain. I have found that this can distract the baby a bit and if the pain is not severe, it seems to help. However, if the gas pressure is more excessive and the pain is more severe, then no sound seems to help. Will shushing hurt the baby? No. Will it help the patient? My advice is always, if it does no harm and has the potential to help, then go ahead. Anything you can do to help your baby stop crying is well worth it.
Swinging
Does this help? Yes it does. The reason I believe this helps is because, again, it changes the amount of gas pressure on certain spots of the stomach and intestine and it helps relieve the pain when the gas moves. It's like if you drove your car into a lake, all the air would go to the top of the car and would be trapped in the roof area. If your car rolled over or moved sideways it would change the position of the air pocket. I believe this is what happens when you swing, rock, or take the baby for a ride in the car. You put her in an inclined seat then you move by starting, stopping and turning. This relieves the pressure points of the air pockets and will give her temporary relief. If you notice when you stop the car, the baby will probably start crying again. This is an expensive way to give your baby relief, however, desperate times often call for desperate measures. One word of caution, swing your baby gently and make sure the head is well supported because if swung too aggressively, this is where head and neck injuries occur.
Sucking
Sucking does relieve the baby to some degree, which is one reason why your baby wants to eat all the time. It is not because he is hungry as much as the milk is going into the stomach giving him some relief as it continues to stimulate the digestive process. Overfeeding eventually aggravates the problem and increases pain because it causes too much pressure in the stomach with the excess milk and with the intense abdominal pressure pushing up against the stomach and diaphragm. This is also the major reason for spit up and projectile vomiting.
The sucking action does affect the nervous system because the nervous system controls everything else, however, I believe that the major effect of sucking stimulates the digestive system and helps move the bowels. We know that when a baby breast feeds, the bowels will move with almost every feeding. I also believe the reason bottle fed babies' bowels don't move as often is because of the iron content in the formula as well as the lack of hormones the baby is missing from the mother's milk.
One of the things I have learned is that most colicky babies, especially when they are more severe, won't take the pacifier well. They continue to take their tongue and push the pacifier back out, then the parent continues to put it back in, and the cycle continues. After some time, the baby is hurting while trying to cry and breathe and the parent keeps putting the pacifier back in its mouth to quiet the baby down. Finally, the baby will take its little hand, put it behind the pacifier and pull it out if its mouth very violently, shooting it across the room. What does the parent do then? Pick it up off the floor, wash it off, and start putting it back in the baby's mouth again. We just don't get it. The baby is trying to tell you it can't breathe. Only use the pacifier when the baby isn't hungry or isn't hurting. Appetite is controlled by blood sugar, not how empty the stomach is. In my opinion, the 5 S's are not the cure for colic, but some of these do help temporarily relieve some pain.
The sucking action does affect the nervous system because the nervous system controls everything else, however, I believe that the major effect of sucking stimulates the digestive system and helps move the bowels. We know that when a baby breast feeds, the bowels will move with almost every feeding. I also believe the reason bottle fed babies' bowels don't move as often is because of the iron content in the formula as well as the lack of hormones the baby is missing from the mother's milk.
One of the things I have learned is that most colicky babies, especially when they are more severe, won't take the pacifier well. They continue to take their tongue and push the pacifier back out, then the parent continues to put it back in, and the cycle continues. After some time, the baby is hurting while trying to cry and breathe and the parent keeps putting the pacifier back in its mouth to quiet the baby down. Finally, the baby will take its little hand, put it behind the pacifier and pull it out if its mouth very violently, shooting it across the room. What does the parent do then? Pick it up off the floor, wash it off, and start putting it back in the baby's mouth again. We just don't get it. The baby is trying to tell you it can't breathe. Only use the pacifier when the baby isn't hungry or isn't hurting. Appetite is controlled by blood sugar, not how empty the stomach is. In my opinion, the 5 S's are not the cure for colic, but some of these do help temporarily relieve some pain.
