I was casually scrolling through my Twitter timeline yesterday when I saw an exchange between two female health professionals, nurses to be precise, discussing what their post partum lifestyle looks like and how no amount of preparation actually prepares anyone for it. In other words, it has to be experienced first hand before one can know what it is like.
One of the issues raised during he social media exchange is a phenomenon that is quite common in babies, especially in he first few months after birth. Infant colic pain, as it is medically known, has to do with an abdominal pain experienced by babies which is often indicated by crying/wriggling, especially after feeding sessions.
The mention of colic pain made me to dig further into the conversation because I was interested in knowing how they are able to deal with it in their babies as a medical professionals. As someone who has fathered three children and participated fully in their growing up, I know how frustrating crying due to colic pain can be, especially to new parents. I also know that while there are no proven medications against this phenomenon, many medications claiming to be for infant's colic pains exist in pharmacies all over the world.
As health professionals, I expected the women to know that colic pains can only be managed by observing a little change in approach in taking care of babies before and after feeding, I was a bit surprised and disappointed to find them discussing drugs like gripe water and infacol as the solution to their babies predicament. I tried to chip in into their discussion to educate them a bit about their wrong perception, but they would not have any of it. After all, I am a man that do not even know what it is like to give birth, let alone educate mothers about what works for their babies.
As a new mother or parents in general, if you find your newborn feeling uncomfortable, crying, or wriggling in what looks like pain, there are high chances that it is due to colic pain. The exact cause of this pain remains a subject of investigation in the medical world, but some factors that have been hypothesized to be the cause include indigestion, gas in the stomach, sensitivity to something in the breastmilk or the infant formula they consume, developing nervous system and a host of other factors.
Infant colic pains can also vary and this is often indicated by the the reactions of babies which vary from just simple grimaces or wriggling to prolonged crying. As someone who has an experience working in retail pharmacy and who has seen mothers rushing to buy drugs for infant colic pains, the first thing I got after the arrival of my first baby is infacol, a popular drug claiming to work against colic pains. Even though the baby still passed through some episodic colic pain, the orientation then was that the drug significantly reduced the pain.
Over time, I got to understand more about the condition and how there are no specific drugs to tackle it yet (there can only be drugs for conditions whose causes are known, right?) and how simple activities such as proper burping after feeding, placing babies on the shoulder, etc. are enough to manage the situation. Thus, I opted for these methods with my subsequent babies instead of resorting to overpriced and overadvertized drugs that are placebos at best. Interestingly, I had it better with my other two babies when compared to he first one as far as colic pain is concerned.
I know there are still many people out here who think that there are drugs against colic pains in babies who may find the message in this blog totally new. Some people even go as far as employing herbs to tackle this phenomenon that could make some babies cry excessively. This can create further problems for babies as their system may be too tender to process some of the metabolites in the herbs.
I am extremely interested in reading other people's experiences about colic pains in heir babies. How did you manage yours? Do you believe in drugs?
Your contributions will be genuinely appreciated.
Than you for reading.
Resources
https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/colic.html
https://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/what-is-colic
