According to the Spanish Association of Pediatrics, infant colic is defined as recurrent and prolonged episodes of intense crying or irritability, which occur without an apparent cause and that caregivers are unable to resolve.
Crying is the baby's way of communication, and it is normal for them to cry due to various situations: hunger, thirst, cold, heat, because they have a wet diaper, to call their parents... The most common thing is that the crying stops when they meet your needs. However, with colic the baby continues to cry. It is very frustrating for parents because, in addition to the fact that today it is not known exactly what causes them, there is also no effective treatment.
Colic appears in babies fed with formula milk and in breastfed babies, although in the latter it is somewhat less frequent. The AEP notes that the cause of colic is not well understood, although various explanations have been proposed. On the one hand, it is believed that they may be influenced by psychological and social factors (excessive stimulation of the baby, exaggerated or anxious response to his crying, constant changes in the daily routine, fatigue and inexperience of the parents, especially in the case of infants). first-timers).
On the other hand, digestive causes are also attributed to it, such as the immaturity of the baby's digestive system, which makes it very easy for the muscle fibers of the intestine to contract, generating painful colic and difficulty in expelling gases. This difficulty in passing gas makes breastfeeding mothers wonder if something they eat that passes into the breast milk is causing more gas in the baby and therefore aggravating the problem.
You may hear that gas-producing foods make your baby gassy too, and so you stop eating broccoli, legumes, green leafy vegetables, etc. However, there is no evidence that any food eaten by the mother causes gas or colic in the baby.
Yes, we would have to except the case that we are dealing with an allergy to cow's milk protein. As the AEP points out, this allergy "can be a trigger for colic in a small part of the cases, which would improve by using a special milk formula or by removing dairy from the mother's diet in the event that she receives breast milk." ”. Therefore, the nursing mother would have to remove cow's milk protein products from her diet. For the rest, the mother can follow a normal diet, which is healthy and balanced.
So if the baby has colic, you have to be aware that it is something benign, that it will disappear in a few months and will not leave any sequelae. You can consult the pediatrician or midwife to give us some guidelines that can help calm the baby, such as rocking it, giving it gentle back or abdomen massages, putting it to breastfeed or sucking on a pacifier, carrying it, walking it.
