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Colic
Causes …
Colic behaviours are caused by:
• unbalanced feeding practices — feeding newborns beyond their physiological stomach
capacity, feeding in quick succession or faster than their digestive processes can manage
and feeding in a way that provides nutrients in an unbalanced manner for the digestive
system (this includes lactose and/or dairy overload which are often present when colic
is diagnosed)
• retained air (wind) — when optimum levels (see p. 72) of air are not released from
the stomach via the mouth, this has to pass through the intestines and bowel which
causes distress
• newborns not swallowing their natural requirement of saliva enzymes — saliva holds
enzymes that aid digestion. When newborns do not swallow enough saliva digestion is
compromised.
• tongue tie — this occurs when the muscle around the tongue, the frenulum, is attached
in such a way as to inhibit fluid movement for sucking. This can cause serious feeding
and digestive problems, with newborns potentially stimulating less milk than required
and swallowing larger amounts of air when they feed from the breast or bottle. Tongue
ties can generally be remedied by having the frenulum snipped or by laser treatment.
If your baby is not putting on good weight (see p. 117), is highly unsettled and makes a
clicking noise when feeding (although not all tongue ties produce a clicking noise), ask
your health professional to check your baby’s tongue movement. Ask for a second or
third opinion because tongue tie is often missed in the early stages and, as with retained
wind and lack of lingual enzymes, some health professionals do not consider it as a
contributing factor to colic, reflux, inconsolable crying and loss of weight.
Newborns can suffer from one or more of the causes of colic. Colic behaviour can happen at
any time of the day and night but it is known to be more prevalent in the evening because of
the daily cycle many parents fall into providing (see p. 30). When the majority of behaviours
listed happen every day, or every second day, then the newborn is generally exhibiting colic.
This may be apparent from Day One but is more often seen when a newborn begins to ‘wake
up’ to the world at around two to three weeks following the birth.
Colic can occur for the first year and sometimes beyond. This depends on how overloaded
the digestive system has been earlier in life and how much overloading and imbalance
continues.
22 | Colic
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