My firstborn cried a lot. I mean, a lot. It felt like he cried all the time despite my endless efforts to soothe him. I had him before I was a pediatrician and remember when I was in class one day and heard the medical definition of colic:<\/p>\n
\u201cPeriods of constant crying lasting at least 3 hours a day, at least 3 days a week, for at least 3 weeks. It typically begins around 2 weeks of age, peaks at about 6 weeks, and is usually resolved by 3 to 4 months.\u201d<\/p>\n
That wasn\u2019t a completely adequate description of the experience we\u2019d had. My son cried every night, all night. It was hard to watch him cry. And it felt like something must be wrong with him.<\/p>\n
In general babies cry for many reasons \u2013 when they\u2019re hungry, hot, cold, in pain, or uncomfortable. They cry when they\u2019re tired or overstimulated \u2013 and sometimes it appears they cry just out of boredom!<\/p>\n
Most pediatricians agree that a baby who cries too much \u2013 especially in clusters of hours of constant crying in the evening and when there\u2019s no reason for it \u2013 has colic.<\/p>\n
This is a better definition \u2013 but you know, there are a few things doctors don\u2019t always remember to say to new parents. Colic is not your fault! You have done nothing to cause it, and you can\u2019t make it go away. Colic is also really, really hard on parents, who often start crying along with their babies \u2013 I know I did at times!<\/p>\n
Colic is not a serious medical problem<\/strong><\/p>\n Even with all that crying, nothing medically seems to be wrong with colicky babies. They eat normally and gain weight well. It might look like their stomach hurts, when they clench their fists and stiffen their stomach and legs when crying.\u00a0They may arch their back or pull their legs up.\u00a0But when we examine them \u2013 there\u2019s no serious medical problem causing all that drama.<\/p>\n Now to be clear, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and blood or mucus in the stool is not a symptom of colic. If your baby has any of these, please talk with your pediatrician.<\/p>\n With my colicky firstborn, I worried all his crying meant something was wrong. I worried that the crying itself might hurt him. And I worried it would predict his future personality.<\/p>\n Do colicky infants differ in their future behavior, personality, or development? Current research doesn\u2019t support this. In fact, a recent study<\/a> shows babies with colic whose crying resolves on its own don\u2019t experience any negative effects in behavior, temperament, or development, and any stress from colic is short-lived.<\/p>\n So hang in there and have faith colic will pass without lasting harm to your baby. I know that you will always remember how hard it was, though!<\/p>\n But for now, learn as many ways to calm your crier<\/a> as you can \u2013 and don\u2019t forget to take care of yourself, take breaks, and accept help.<\/p>\n Find more resources for parents:<\/p>\n The American Academy of Parents My Doctor Online My firstborn cried a lot. I mean, a lot. It felt like he cried all the time despite my endless efforts to soothe him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":5013,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[667],"tags":[451,424,449,450,558,668,425,557],"class_list":["post-2604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newborn-care","tag-calming-a-crying-baby","tag-colic","tag-colicky-baby","tag-crying-baby","tag-gerd","tag-infant","tag-infant-crying","tag-reflux","ages-baby"],"metadata":{"_edit_lock":["1747421803:6"],"_edit_last":["6"],"slide_template":[""],"video_format_choose":["youtube"],"_custom_body_class":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["90"],"qode_animate-page-title":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-text":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-image":["no"],"qode_show-sidebar":["default"],"qode_hide-featured-image":["no"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_ages":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw_text_input":["Colic"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":["Colic"],"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":["76"],"qode_seo_title":["Colic. Gas, Pain, or Something Else."],"qode_seo_keywords":["Colic, gas, pain, baby crying"],"qode_seo_description":["Colic in babies is not a serious medical problem. Babies who cry at least 3 hours a day, at least 3 days a week for 3 months, have colic. "],"_thumbnail_id":["5013"],"wpfp_favorites":["4"],"ase_chapter_enable_timeline":["off"],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["3"],"_yoast_indexnow_last_ping":["1747421818"],"ase_map_component_start_point":["a:2:{s:3:\"lat\";d:29.76;s:3:\"lng\";d:-95.38;}"],"ase_mapbox_style":["openstreet"],"_wpb_vc_js_status":["false"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_keywordsynonyms":[""]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2604"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3443,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2604\/revisions\/3443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nHow to Calm a Fussy Baby: Tips for Parents & Caregivers<\/a><\/p>\n
\nColic<\/a>
\nCrying or Colic?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"