Colic Baby Bootcamp - Parent Survival Tips

by Cherie Stirewalt

Surviving a baby with colic truly deserves an award of some sort. The relentless screaming can really drive you to the edge.

Unfortunately for the parents of a colic baby, most of the focus of surviving is usually geared towards how to relieve the suffering for your baby. But, what about you’re suffering?

Here are some tips on HOW to keep your sanity while enduring a fit of colic.

1. Buy a baby monitor with lights that indicate the level of noise coming from your baby. Take this monitor with you everywhere, put it on mute and get as far away from the screaming as possible. Physically check on your baby every now and then to make sure everything is alright. When the levels on the lights stop dancing, chances are your baby has calmed down.

2. Put on headphones. Listen to music. Keep the above monitor with you to determine when baby has calmed down.

3. Take a shower. The warm water will relax you, and the noise will drown out the ear-piercing crying.

4. Go for a walk. Exercise is great for alleviating tension and the motion might settle the baby down.

5. If possible, find a sitter and leave. Go shopping, run errands, go work out, go for a walk. Get some distance between you and the baby. Don’t leave the baby unattended. Make sure you have a sitter first!

6. Call friends or family on the telephone. Don’t bottle up your frustration. Let it out. Complain to your hearts content. Your friends and family will understand and you will feel better.

7. Do something therapeutic with your hands. Paint your fingernails, color in a coloring book, do some housework. Do anything that diverts your attention away from the crying and towards something constructive.

8. Vacuum. The vacuum cleaner will drown out the screams coming from the baby. Also, the frequency of white noise output by a vacuum is particularly effective in calming a colicky baby.

9. Surf the internet. Look up ways to calm a colic baby!

10. Keep telling yourself the colic will eventually go away. Take it day by day and know there IS a light at the end of the tunnel. Colic does not last forever!

Remember, you are not an incompetent parent if you’ve done everything possible to relieve your baby’s colic and you need to step away from the situation for a while. This simply makes you human.

Family Guide to Colic

Colic is hard on the baby and the parents, but it can be equally difficult to the siblings of the baby. If your infant’s siblings are teenagers, they can often leave the house or simply occupy themselves when dealing with the colicky baby gets to be too much for them. However, when the baby’s siblings are young or toddlers as well, this can be far more difficult.

This section will help you to make colic easier for the other children in the household to live with your colicky baby. We all know how hard it is for young children to meet a new baby, but if the baby is colicky it can produce a great deal of resentment. Here are some tips for making all of these awkward transitions easier for the siblings of colicky babies. Try the following:

• Take the baby into another room so that your other children may avoid dealing with it.

• Give your other child an activity that allows him to remain busy during the colic episode

• Offer your child a reward after each episode such as stickers

• Take special time out of each day to be with the other child so that he doesn’t feel left out or resentful

• Let the older child participate in the soothing period for the baby, such as by running the vacuum as this will help strengthen the bond between the siblings,

• When the baby calms down, have a treat with the other sibling or share a moment with them

• If you choose to read to your baby, let the older child choose the story book so that you can read to both children

• Take the baby for a drive with the older sibling and stop by to get some ice cream or something.

• Take both children for a walk if the weather is permitting. You can go to the park and sooth your colicky baby while the older sibling plays with the other kids