what exactly is colic?

ive looked it up,but cant find what it actually is.

DD2 just started screaming tonight, for about 20-30 seconds, then stopped for 5- 10 mins, then started again. it went on for about an hour, i tried feeding her, but she wasnt really interested. i spoke to MIL, she said they tend to draw their knees up to their tummy? she didnt seem to be doing that, but she was very red in the face, and was screaming, not just crying.

ive just managed to get her off to sleep, with a dummy and rocking her. hoping she has a decent sleep, as she's been awake since about 6.30. so this is the longest time she has spent awake.

any ideas??? thanks in advance!

Some people say Colic is wind pain... but most of what I read classifies it as an unsettled baby that screams for a few hours at the same time everyday(usually early evening) for a few weeks (or something like that)

I'll see if I can find something else for you...

isnt it to do with overstimulation which leads to screaming which = wind???

thanks Sally, thats the gist im kinda getting... what i read says 'spasms of the intestines' but i figure wind is similar?

i also read that that it occurs at the same time of the day. does that mean its not an all day/all night thing? and could just last an hour or so? or a couple of hours.. whatever it may be?

i always burp her after a feed, she doesnt always bring up anything, maybe i need to do it for longer? she has stayed settled for now.


ETA: AJP, what do you mean by overstimulation?

Sally is right - it basically means that they cry for hours a day. It is particularly unhelpful as a term in fact! I had a baby with colic, which I now think maybe was reflux, and possibly dairy intolerance. And having it called colic was useless as there is really nothing you can do for colic.

The only things that helped us at all were frequent use of a sling (although it only worked if I was constantly walking so it was still exhausting), and a baby swing helped some of the time. If I could go back and do it over, I would try eliminating dairy from my diet to see if that helped. I have a strong suspicion it would have. In your case I would also get her checked for reflux.

I hope it settles down for you hun. It is also possible it's just a reaction to something different that you have eaten. Try and get some rest when you can - colic babies are very hard work :hug:

Everything I've read says that the cause is unknown.

If you google Colic under the Australian link you'll see quite a few pages that say pretty much the same thing....

Brendan had Colic, he would scream for about 1-2 hours at around 5-6pm everynight and it lasted about 4-5 weeks for memory.

KB, many babies don't need burping. If she doesn't bring anything up then there's probably no wind to bring up so don't worry too much about it.