Babies Tale

If your baby cries uncontrollably all the time he may have colic. Colic affects 10 to 30 percent of all babies and is not an actual disease; it is just a term to describe an otherwise healthy baby that cries for longer than three hours a day, but the phenomenon is present in almost all babies, only in varying degrees. Colic can be a very difficult thing to deal with and can cause the stress of having a newborn to start to feel overwhelming but thee are things you can do to help your baby and yourself through this time. Here are some facts about the causes of colic and tips to help you deal with a colicky baby.

Causes of Colic:

1. Broccoli, cabbage, onions, cauliflower, garlic, or other spicy foods in mother’s diet often cause uncomfortable gas or irritation and cause colic.
2. Babies on formula may be reacting to the cow’s milk present in it. Cow’s milk is a very common food allergen/reaction in children. If your child is on formula and has colic try switching to a soy-based formula, a pre-digested formula or a hypo-allergenic formula.

No one knows for sure why some babies get colic and others don’t but there is a lot of speculation around it. Some people believe it is due to some babies having a more immature or sensitive digestive systems than others. Some experts believe colic is a physical release for babies whose nervous systems are still developing and are overwhelmed or can’t handle all the new stimuli surrounding them so they cry to get the stress out.

What Can You Do?

1. Stay calm, it is very important for you to stay calm so that you can properly care for your child. If you feel yourself getting angry or depressed put your baby in the crib or another safe place and take a short break to regain your senses, call a friend to help, cry, whatever you need to do but only pick your child up again when you feel you can care for them safely.
2. Offer a pacifier between feedings.
3. Try using the football hold, and holding the baby on their stomach and walking around.
4. Play quite music or sing to your baby.
5. The one that gets the most praise is to take your child on a car ride; the vibration usually puts them to sleep.
6. Try a formula change from cow-milk formula (usually Similac or Enfamil) to a soy-based formula (usually ProSobee or Isomil).
7. Gentle rocking can be very calming.
8. Run a hot shower and rock your baby in the bathroom as the shower runs, the steam and beating of the water has been known to calm a screaming baby.

It may seem like it but Colic won’t last forever so don’t get discouraged, Colic usually only lasts three to six months and sixty percent of babies will be through the worst of it by three months. Whatever you do make sure that you look after your own health, having a colicky baby can become very stressful and leave parents feeling inadequate. Just remember to stay calm and come to terms with how you feel.

Some parents feel guilty for the their feelings when they have a colicky baby its natural to feel some resentment and anger even though you know your baby is not crying on purpose and you know that its not your fault. Recognize your feelings and take comfort that other parents are experiencing the same feelings and going through the same thing and don’t beat yourself up.

If your baby is a boy, you will decide to have him circumcised or not. In hospitals it is usually done in the second day of life, and parents do need to use special care in diaper changes and keeping the area clean for a week or two after surgery. If you decide not to circumcise, there is no special care of the penis. The one thing to remember is that at birth the foreskin of the penis is usually not separate from the end of the penis, as it is in an older uncircumcised boy. Therefore, you should not try to pull the foreskin back. To do so could cause tearing of the skin and scarring, which could be a real problem later in life. The best care for an uncircumcised penis is to leave it alone except to wash and rinse it whenever the baby has a bath.

Some researchers conclude that there are significant health benefits to both the circumcised male and his future spouse-other investigators disagree. Although most men and boys in the United States are circumcised, the practice of non-religious circumcision remains controversial.

To treat simple diaper rash or ammonia rash, keep your baby as dry as possible, changing diapers frequently, even if they are only slightly wet, and avoid any airtight coverings. If you favor cloth diapers, use double diapers during the daytime. Triple diapers at night. Put a pad under the baby and let him lie undiapered sometimes, if possible. Wash the diaper area with plain water each time you change your baby, and apply a protective cream or ointment such as petroleum jelly, zinc oxide, or vitamin A&D ointment, or an ointment combining zinc oxide, cod liver oil, petroleum, and lanolin. Use only one type of ointment at a time, unless your doctor has instructed you to use more than one. Do not dust the baby’s skin with cornstarch, a remedy that used to be recommended, it has been found to encourage the growth of fungi. Try a different brand of laundry soap on cloth diapers and do not use fabric softener on every wash load, because your baby may be sensitive to buildup of the product. Give cloth diapers a try if you are using disposables, or switch brands; and try disposables if you are using cloth diapers. Cut down on the use of powders and oils for your baby, and be sure that any you use are mild and non-allergenic. If you are using colored toilet tissue to clean your baby’s genital area, switch to plain white.

An allergic rash from foods or drugs is more likely to occur in an older baby who is eating several different kinds of foods, or perhaps taking some kind of medication than one who is fed only on breast milk or formula. The treatment is to stop giving any new foods, beverages, or medicines started within the past month, and then to give the child one of these items each week. If one causes the rash to return, the culprit has been found and can be eliminated permanently. Remember to consult your doctor before starting or stopping medication.

Treat a rash caused by an infection or contagious disease by washing the diaper area with soap and water and frequently applying an antibiotic ointment, such as bacitricin, or neomycin. If your baby has any other symptom of illness, such as fever or loss of appetite, if the diaper rash is spreading or severe, or if it gets worse after two days of home treatment, see your doctor. He or she may identify the rash by appearance or may culture or scrape the rash to identify bacteria or fungi. The doctor may prescribe a medicated ointment.

When you are bathing or changing your baby, you are likely to see signs of diaper rash; almost all babies have it at one time or another. Diaper rashes may be caused by moisture, urine, irritating chemicals in diapers, whether cloth or disposable. These rashes can usually be identified by their appearance, their location, and other typical symptoms of different types of rashes.

Simple diaper rashes are red, slightly rough, and scaly. The rash may appear over the whole area touched by the diaper. The skin may be irritated by chemicals used in laundering cloth diapers-detergent, bleach, whitener, water softener, or soap. Plastic or rubber pants worn over cloth diapers sometimes affect the skin. The skin may also react to the chemicals used in manufacturing disposable diapers.

Ammonia rash is a form of diaper rash caused by the urine itself. The skin is literally burned by the ammonia that is formed when urine is decomposed by normal bacteria on the skin. Not surprisingly, ammonia rash is worse after the child has been asleep for a long period of time without a diaper change. It is identified by an ammonia smell, noticeable when you change the diaper.

Besides these two basic diaper rashes, a variety of other rashes may appear in the diaper area, including those caused by an allergy to a food or drug, by a skin infection, or by a contagious disease, such as chicken pox or measles.

If your baby develops a rash in the diaper area, look for the signs that indicate these different types of rashes. The appearance and location of the rash, an ammonia odor, or a rash elsewhere on the body are all clues. Asking yourself a few pertinent questions can help you and your doctor find the cause of the rash. For example, have you recently switched from cloth to disposable diapers, or changed brands of disposables? Have you made any changes in your laundry products? Has the baby been given any new food [a change in formula, perhaps, or the addition of cereal to a feeding], or medication?

Cradle cap [seborrheic dermatitis] Is a skin condition which yellowish, scaly or crusty patches made up largely of oil and dead ski cells appear on the scalp. The condition is most common in infants, but it is seen occasionally seen in children through age five. Some temporary loss of hair may even occur. While the patches most often appear on the scalp. They may extend onto the forehead. They may also appear on the skin fold behind the baby’s ears, behind the ears themselves and in the diaper area. The most typical area is over the soft spot [ anterior fontanel] on top of the baby’s head.

Cradle cap is quite common and not difficult to treat. Mild cases can usually be cleared up by daily shampooing, using regular baby soap on a wet, rough facecloth wrapped around your hand. Soften the crusts first by massaging a small amount of baby oil into the baby’s scalp and leaving it there overnight. Rub the baby’s head vigorously during both the washing and the drying, don’t worry about the soft spots; you won’t hurt them. Gently comb the baby’s scalp, whether or not he has hair.

If regular shampooing doesn’t work, you can use a special shampoo that contains coal tar or salicylic acid. Your doctor or pharmacist can recommend one. Ointments containing sulfur, salicylic acid, or coal tar can be used for especially difficult cases. Be especially careful to keep medicated shampoos and ointments out of your baby’s eyes, and stop using them if the scalp or skin becomes irritated or red. If the cradle cap doesn’t respond to treatment, see your doctor, who can determine if a yeast infection or an allergic reaction may be causing the problem.

Many babies are bathed daily, though, because bath time can be so much fun for both parents and baby, once the initial apprehension wears off. Fathers often opt for this pleasant activity simply because it is so enjoyable. You’ll want to set up and follow a regular routine for bathing, at least until you are well accustomed to the procedure. At the onset, though, remember: Never leave your baby alone in the water for any reason! No matter how much or how little water is in the tub, or how quickly you will return, the bath is never a safe place for an unattended baby or small child. Do not even turn your back. Your child requires constant, second to second supervision! Now here’s a bath procedure you might follow:

1. Be sure the room where you will bathe your baby is warm and not drafty. Lay out everything you will need, including the clean clothes in which you will dress the baby when the bath is finished. Consider unplugging the telephone, you will not interrupt the bath if it rings.
2. Put a portable tub or basin on a table or countertop at a comfortable height. Or bathe the baby right in the kitchen sink, being careful to run cold water last so the baby won’t be burned if her skin touches the faucet.
3. Unless you use a specially contoured tub designed to keep the baby from slipping, line the tub or sink with a towel.
4. Put only a couple inches of lukewarm water in the tub or sink, until you get used to bathing the baby. She will enjoy deeper water in which to move about when you are a lot more confident. Remember that water that seems comfortably warm to your hand will be too hot for your baby. It should register about 90 degrees to 100 degrees on a bath thermometer or feel pleasantly warm on the sensitive skin on the inside of your elbow.
5. Ease the baby gently into the tub. Using a soft cloth, wash the baby’s face with plain water. The baby’s face will not be really dirty, and soap in the eyes will only hurt the baby, and make the rest of the bath both miserable to parent and infant. You might like to wear a pair of old, white cotton gloves, which will serve as a washcloth and reduce the chances of a slippery baby escaping your hands. Hold the baby with a “football grip,” with your hand and wrist supporting her head and neck. Sing and talk as you go along to entertain the baby and to reassure both of you.
6. Wash the baby’s abdomen and back, arms and legs, and genitalia and rectal area carefully, using a little mild baby soap if you wish. Pay special attention to the skin folds and creases. If your baby boy has not been circumcised, gently pull back the foreskin and wash the tip of the penis, then completely pull the skin over it again.
7. Using soap, especially if the baby has cradle cap, rub the baby’s scalp gently but vigorously with the cloth or your gloved fingers. Still holding the baby like a football, tip her head backward slightly and rinse the soap off, being careful not to get any suds in the baby’s eyes.
8. Take the baby from the tub and quickly pat her dry. If you pin a large, soft towel around your neck before you start the bath, it will be available to wrap up the baby warmly as well as keep you dry during the bath.
9. Use cotton swabs to clean creases in and behind the baby’s ears, but never use them to clean the ear canal, nose, or any other body opening.
10. Be sparing in the use of any powders or oils after the baby’s bath. If you do use powder, shake it into your hand first, away from the baby’s face so she will not inhale it and draw it into the lungs. Be aware also that powder can build up in the creases and cause rashes.

Most babies love being immersed in warm bath water, almost from their first baths. Later, it’s common for them to be afraid of the water. Enjoy the bath while you can and try not to hurry it. It’s really playtime for your baby to relax her muscles and make little swimming motions with the arms and legs, enjoying the buoyancy the water provides. Occasionally a baby will not care for the bath at first though, and will scream loudly to let you know that she is too hungry to wait, that the water is either too warm or too cold, or that her sense of security is threatened by being put in the bath water alone. A happy solution may be to bathe together. Run water in the big tub, a little cooler than you usually have it, and holding the baby closely in your arms, ease down into it. Enjoy the skin to skin contact. Mothers can nurse the baby if he or she wishes it.