Healthy and Green Living

No one really knows what causes colic, that inconsolable crying that some babies go through, usually in the late afternoon, early evening and nighttime hours. The gas the baby expels when in a colicky period has led to the thought that colic is related to an immature digestive tract. Numerous possibilities have been studied and none has been shown to be the cause of colic.

The single most important thing you can do to help your baby is to help yourself, to nurture yourself. You are not the cause of your baby’s crying. If you need a few hours away from the baby, take the time. You can’t help your baby if you aren’t healthy and as relaxed as possible yourself.

Be close to your infant, carrying him, holding him, touching him. Keep your baby in a quiet, peaceful environment. Try swaddling your baby in a tightly wrapped blanket. Try compressing his belly.

The following treatment aims to calm your baby and your baby’s digestive track. The best time to treat your baby is when he’s relaxed, not while he’s in the middle of a crying jag.

1. Start by gently stroking your baby’s forehead from the midpoint of the eyebrows up toward the hairline.

2. Press very lightly on the point that lies between the eyebrows.

3. Stroke around the ears starting at the temples and working around to the back of the head.

4. Gently massage the midline of the body from the breastbone down through the stomach and into the abdomen. Do this several times, using slow, gentle movements.

5. Gently massage the upper stomach, beginning just underneath the breastbone and ending just below the belly button.

6. Massage the muscle on both sides of the belly button, working toward the lower belly. You might find that there are tiny areas of tight muscle in that region.

7. With the baby’s hand turned palm up, massage the pinky and pinky side of the palm of the hand and the side of the upper wrist.

8. With the baby’s hand turned palm up, massage the area 1 inch or so above the wrist fold in the center of the arm.

9. With the baby’s hand turned palm down, massage the area 1 inch or so above the wrist fold in the center of the lower arm.

10. Gently massage the web between the thumb and the index finger.

11. Massage a couple of inches below the knee on the outside of the lower leg.

12. Gently massage the space between the long bones connecting the first and second toes to the foot.

13. Gently massage between the second and third toes and the long bones that connect the toes to the foot.

14. Gently massage the baby’s back in a downward direction on both sides of the spine, from just below the shoulder blades to the sacrum, the flat bone at the bottom of the spine.