Brief overview
- What is 3-month colic? Phase in infants characterized by an unusual amount of crying and restlessness.
- From when and for how long? Usually three-month colic begins two weeks after birth and lasts for three months (rarely longer).
- Three-month colic – when is it at its worst? The peak of discomfort is usually reached in the 2nd month.
- Three-month colic – what helps? e.g. regulated daily routine, change of breastfeeding or feeding position, pay attention to normal drinking quantities, burping and the correct feeding technique, deflating drops, bedtime song or soothing sounds, physical contact, baby massage, warm bath; possibly acupuncture, chiropractic treatment of the spine, fennel extract.
What is three-month colic?
Three-month colic (3-month colic) in babies is when babies cry excessively and are restless. Normally, a baby cries for about 30 minutes a day on average, such as when he or she is hungry or tired. A “cry baby,” on the other hand, cries for more than three hours a day on at least three days a week and for a period of more than three weeks.
Typically, the babies are very restless and are difficult to calm down, often not at all. Many crying babies also have problems falling asleep and staying asleep. During the crying and restless phases, they often stretch and writhe and also have a distended abdomen.
Regulatory disorder instead of three-month colic
When do babies get 3-month colic?
About two weeks after birth, 3-month colic begins in most affected babies – exactly when varies from individual to individual.
3-month colic: When worst, when over?
It is difficult to predict how long three-month colic will last in individual cases.
What helps with three-month colic?
A crying baby can be very stressful and take you as parents to the limits of your endurance and beyond. Therefore, first and foremost, realize that this is a phase that will pass and that neither you nor your child are “to blame” for it.
Breastfeeding babies are also often sensitive to certain foods consumed by the mother. For example, it can help if breastfeeding mothers avoid highly flatulent foods such as onions, cabbage or legumes, or cow’s milk. It is best to seek advice from your pediatrician or midwife.
3-month colic – what helps in other cases?
If pathological causes (such as intolerances) have been ruled out, the following tips can help three-month colic in babies:
- Be sure to drink normal amounts, burp carefully, and use proper feeding technique. This alleviates the discomfort for many babies.
- Often, the troubled little ones are also helped by deflating drops from the pharmacy – due to all the crying, they often swallow a lot of air.
- Make sure you have a regular daily routine to give your baby peace and a firm structure.
- Parents’ voices and physical contact have a particularly calming effect on babies.
- Try a baby massage or a warm bath.
Seek support
If nothing helps and you notice that it is getting too much for you, ask family members or friends for support. This way, you can allow yourself short periods of relaxation in between.
In severe cases, a relationship analysis with video feedback or parent-child psychotherapy may be useful: for example, the behaviors of parents and baby can be analyzed and possible misunderstandings in communication can be revealed.
3-Month Colic: Do medications, acupuncture & co. help?
Medications such as painkillers or sedatives are not suitable for treating the crying fits. On the contrary – they can rather harm the baby.
The most likely to help, according to studies, seem to be chiropractic treatments of the spine, as well as probiotics and fennel extract. Be sure to talk to your pediatrician before resorting to these remedies and methods.
Three-month colic: Causes
However, as things stand today, experts believe that three-month colic is due to a triad of triggering factors:
1. regulatory disorders
The affected babies do not yet have the ability to self-soothe that is normally already present at their age. Doctors refer to this as a regulatory disorder in infancy.
2. problems in parent-child communication
3. excessive demand
As a third factor, the parents are overtaxed and overburdened by the crying attacks that last for weeks. Then a kind of vicious circle develops: The child is irritated in view of the “wrong” reactions of the parents, becomes even more tense and cries accordingly more intensely. The parents, in turn, are increasingly overwhelmed, helpless and nervously overloaded, which in turn is transferred to the baby, who then cries even more.
If your baby cries for more than two hours a day for a long time, you should go to the pediatrician to rule out the possibility that the little one is sick or in pain.
The pediatrician will first ask you in more detail about the nature and manner of the crying (medical history). Possible questions are:
- How often do the crying episodes occur and at what time of day?
- How long do they last?
- Is there any relation to mealtimes?
- What steps do you take to calm your baby?
Then he will examine your child. For example, he can determine if he is constipated or has an illness such as otitis media or a urinary tract infection. An incarcerated hernia may also be causing all the crying. Further investigation such as blood and stool analysis may be needed to diagnose such conditions.
If no physical cause can be determined, it is probably a cry baby.
Three-month colic: prognosis
Risk: Shaking trauma
Shouting babies can push their parents beyond the limits of their endurance – often with fatal consequences: According to studies, crying babies are particularly at risk of suffering potentially fatal shaking trauma because unknowing, stressed-out parents shake it in desperation to bring the bawling infant “back to its senses.”
There are about 400 cases of shaking trauma per year in Germany alone. In Austria and Switzerland, the number is lower – in line with the smaller population size. A quarter of the children affected die from the shaking trauma, many others suffer severe consequential damage.
