The Colic Myth

Having a newborn at home, especially for first time parents, is hard enough. But, when you add on a little person who was born three months early, sometimes more, things can get messy. Fast.
After more than nine months of incubation, a baby is born. But, doctors are saying that even though the baby is out of the womb, it's incubation process is far from over. Even if the baby was born "right not time" he's still premature.
Here's why:
If other animal species' newborns are considered it would be easy to see the major difference between human newborns and any other species. The non-human babies are self-sufficient right out of the womb. They can walk, feed themselves, and interact with their parent on day one. Human babies on the other hand are not really a part of the world (so to speak) until two or three months of age.
According the Dr. Harvey Karp, writer of the best selling book "The Happiest Baby on the Block,"  it's because human babies are born three months too early.
"In our culture," Karp states, "we are mistakenly taught to whisper and tiptoe around our babies, believing they need a quiet and still environment. Nothing can be further from the truth!"
The fact of the matter is, newborns scream and cry, sometimes for hours on end, not because of "colic" but because they miss the womb. Inside the uterus is a loud, hot place where babies get queues on how the world outside is. For example, if a mother is stressed, the baby will assume that the world outside is a stressful one. If the mother is calm, then the baby may think that it's a happy and calm place.
Colic has long been blamed for a fussy or outright screaming baby, but doctors are now saying that colic has nothing to do with gas. New babies are entering their next and final trimester. The Fourth Trimester.
These babies still need the comfort of the womb, the loud and hot place they are used to. Therefore, to calm a "colicky" baby is not to give them gas drops, but to recreate the womb. It's easily done by using Karp's "Five S's."

1. Swaddle
2. Side/Stomach position
3. Shushing
4. Swaying
5. Sucking

Swaddling a crying baby in a receiving blanket will not only keep him warm, but it confines them as they were in the womb. It's very cramped in the uterus. To be in the vast open world after only knowing the confines of the womb, babies have a falling reflex (where they feel the sensation of falling). Swaddling helps them feel safe and secure.
Side/stomach positioning while sleeping or falling asleep may help sooth a crying baby though most doctors say, including Karp, that positioning babies on their backs should be the safest and most effective position.
Shushing loudly and close to the baby's ear stimulated the sound of the womb. The sound of being submerged in water and the sound of the placenta whooshing passed sounds very much like a shushing sound. The shushing must be louder than the crying.
Swaying recreates the motion of the mother. After a baby is swaddled and shushing is going on, swaying from side to side is the next step in calming a screaming baby.
Sucking is a self-soothing technique that all babies know. Putting a pacifier in the baby's mouth or even a finger can help calm the baby.
Any or all of these methods have proven successful. In other cultures they do not have "colic." Babies are simply calmed within a minute or less using a variation, if not these exact techniques. Remember, there is no such thing as holding a newborn too much, or spoiling a newborn. They cry because they need something. It may be a simple thing of the baby being scared now that they have found themselves thrusted into a greater, brighter world. It's our job to help them through their final trimester so they can be a happy, strong, and secure baby.