Here - Health Promotion Agency

The first weeks
If you’re finding it hard to
cope you may need some help or
support. Look on pages 124–6 for
suggestions. You could also ask for
help from a friend, your health
visitor or doctor. Or contact
Cry-SIS (see page 147) who will put
you in touch with other parents
who’ve been in the same situation.
COLIC
Many babies have particular times in
the day when they cry and cry and
are difficult to comfort. Early
evening is the usual bad patch. This
is hard on you since it’s probably the
time when you are most tired and
least able to cope.
Crying like this can be due to colic.
Everybody agrees that colic exists, but
there’s disagreement about what causes
it or even if there is always a cause.
Some doctors say that it’s a kind of
stomach cramp, and it does seem to
cause the kind of crying that might
go with waves of stomach pain –
very miserable and distressed,
stopping for a moment or two,
then starting up again.
The crying can go on for some
hours, and there may be little you can
do except try to comfort your baby
and wait for the crying to pass.
If you are concerned about your
baby’s crying, you may want to ask
your GP or health visitor about it.
Make a list of the questions you want
to ask them so you won't forget
anything. It can help if you keep a
record of how often and when your
baby cries, for example, after every
feed or during the evening. This may
help you to identify the times when
you need extra support or to see if a
change of routine could help. For
example, if your baby cries more in
the afternoon and you go out in the
morning, taking him or her out in the
afternoon may be better. Such
information may help the GP or
health visitor to diagnose the problem.
You might want to ask:
• Is my baby poorly?
•
●
Is there any medication that could
help?
Is there anything I can do to help
ease my baby’s pain?
‘At first it really upset me.
I felt I ought to be able to
comfort him, I ought to be
able to make him happy, and
he wasn’t happy, and I
couldn’t comfort him, no
matter what I did. And then
it went on so long, it felt like
forever, and I was still upset,
but I got sort of worn out by
it, almost angry, because I
was so disappointed that
things weren’t like I wanted
them to be. I wanted to enjoy
him, and I wanted him to be
like other babies, smiling,
gurgling, all of that, and he
was just dreadful with the
crying.’
‘It was every evening. We’d
be there, rocking her and
walking up and down. We
got so exhausted we were
desperate. And then it
stopped, gradually. You don’t
think you can bear it, but you
do bear it, because there’s
nothing else for it. And in
the end, it stops.’
‘At some points I just didn’t
want to be involved at all.
The first few months it was so
much of a shock ... I think
that first bit – the sleepless
broken nights and constant
crying – I just couldn’t handle
it. I could quite easily have
left it all to her, but then
gradually I got used to it
and you start to bond
with the baby.’
(A FATHER)
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