Breastfed babies are not exempted from colic. How do breastfed babies get colic? There are several factors that contribute to this.
First is diet, where there are foods nursing mothers should avoid. These foods do not react well on a very young and fragile body, triggering the colic behavior.
- Caffeine – soda, chocolate, coffee and tea.
- Grains and nuts – soy, peanut, wheat and corn.
- Any dish that is spicy.
- Gassy food.
Second is smoking. Colic in breastfed babies can be due to secondhand smoke.
As we all know, aside from the irritability it triggers, secondhand smoke is more dangerous than first hand smoke. Likewise, it takes 95 minutes for half the nicotine to be taken away from the body when you smoke otherwise it gets transmitted to the child through breastfeeding.
Smoking might result to the any of these that in turn causes colic and other serious health issues.
- Milk supply let down.
- Iodine deficiency.
- Sleep disturbance for the baby.
Therefore, the baby’s ability to absorb all the necessary nutrients from the breast milk would be compromised.
Colicky Baby Symptoms
To set the record straight, colic is neither a disease nor a diagnosis rather a term for relatively healthy babies who cry excessively.
There are a few colicky baby symptoms that you may want to take note of:
- Starts the inconsolable crying spell around three weeks old.
- Cries for at least three hours at a stretch.
- Happens at least three days a week and persists for at least three weeks in a row.
- Baby pulls legs up to the tummy, face turns red, clenches the fists and arches back too.
- Most often, the baby cries in the late afternoon or evening.
- The baby will not settle down no matter how much you try – feeding and putting the child to sleep will not do.
Though there are no concrete studies, colic in babies might be caused by these factors:
-
Sensory overload
Babies are oversensitive and to channel the stress caused by the surroundings they do it by (endless) crying. A possible explanation is that once the baby learns to adjust and filter environmental stimuli then they become calm again.
-
Immature digestive system
The very young digestive system of babies may not break down sustenance completely resulting to gas pain.
-
Acid reflux
Gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD is a result of an infantile lower esophageal sphincter that irritates the esophagus.
-
Food allergies
This is caused by either the baby’s lactose intolerance or the mother’s diet that transmits through breastfeeding.
So, how to do when baby has colic?
Have no worries as this separate article shows you the colic remedies for infants.
Hi Kiev,
Good one! I didn’t know that smoking and diet of the breastfeeding mom contribute to a baby’s colic. I though they just have not been burped properly and therefore get colicky. There’s always something new to learn every day. Thanks for sharing! Will keep this in mind.
Cheers!
This is indeed true: every day there’s always a chance to learn new things. Thanks for your relentless great support, Pitin…
Sigh… my son had a 2 hour episode of non stop loud crying when he was around 2 months old. And that wasn’t his only long crying episode. He would cry angrily in the evenings and nothing I did helped. Till today (he is 2 years old now and doing well) we still don’t know why he cried, but my husband suspected it was colic.
Colic is so mysterious, i don’t even know where to start dealing with it.
Thanks…
Thank you for this post. I never knew breastfed babies are at risk too. On the foods to avoid is something everymum should take note of. I will also like to see a post that tells new Mums on how to achieve the fist main is not easy to stay away from caffeine.
Thanks…
This was an interesting article to read, as I have had 3 healthy boys. Only one of which had colic, and it was so tough as a parent having a baby with colic. But, I just wonder how he ended up with it. I looked at the foods that could trigger it, the nuts, gassy foods, caffeine and spicy foods. All of which I don’t eat/drink anyway, ever. I also have never smoked a day in my life, so I think sometimes it must just be luck of the draw.
Thanks…
Thanks for the info on this topic. Parents deserve all the peace they can get! I have two children. My son is 3 years old and my daughter is 7 months old. We did a lot of trial and error experimentation because our kids both did a lot of crying, as most babies do. The biggest factor we discovered was my wife’s diet. I agree with all your recommendations here, but for us the biggest contributor was milk products. When my wife stopped consuming anything made with cow milk (cheese, ice cream, yogurt, milk chocolate, etc…) Our children seemed much less colic-y. I think it had something to do with their immature digestive system not being able to handle the lactose. However, goat and sheep milk products were all OK… just wanted to share our experience.
Thanks…
Hi there,
Great article once again:) I always enjoy reading your blogs, they are fascinating!
I wish I would have read this article when my children were still babies. It would have helped me a lot at that time. I was so frustrated about what to and what not to eat and drink. One of my friends is going to give birth soon, and I am sure she will love this article. I am bookmarking your website so I can navigate in it and enjoy more articles.
Thank you very much!
Thanks…
What a fantastic article!! Very informative and extremely helpful for first time parents. I love how you point out the possible connections can be caused by many reasons. Breastfeeding your children have amazing benefits. But some mothers forget or dont realize, that what they eat and drink still have an effect on the baby when nursing. Great article, I will definitely be sharing it.
Thanks…