Crying baby with colic

Colic is a condition in which an otherwise healthy baby cries for prolonged periods for no apparent reason. We show you how to comfort a crying baby, especially if they are suffering from colic.

Colic is a condition in which an otherwise healthy baby cries for prolonged periods for no apparent reason. Our mums and experts discuss how they comfort a crying baby, especially if they are suffering from colic.

If your newborn is crying inconsolably, she may have colic. Here's how to soothe a colicky baby - and lower your stress levels

Before you gave birth you probably prepared yourself for some grizzling. But more than one in five parents find themselves with a screaming, inconsolable baby: a child that no amount of feeding, playing with or nappy changes can soothe.

Welcome to colic o'clock. Mothers who have survived a colicky baby describe it as everything from 'a living nightmare' to 'the biggest shock of my life'.

So if you think you've entered this baby house of horrors, be reassured.

'No matter how wearing it gets -- and it does -- there are plenty of parents up and down the country feeling exactly the same as you,' says midwife Maureen Royds-Jones. 'But this phase won't last forever -- colic rarely carries on for longer than four months.'

Just crying -- or is it colic?

'A baby with colic tends to cry or scream intensely, clench her fists and arch her back,' says Maureen. 'A good test is to gently straighten her back; if the crying subsides, she probably does have colic.'

Colic is not an illness as such and a medical diagnosis doesn't exist. No one really knows for sure what causes it.

'Over the decades many different factors have been blamed,' says Siobhan Mulholland, author of Coping With Crying And Colic (£6.99, Vermilion).

'Digestive problems, such as trapped wind, were the most popular explanation, but experts now think it's a normal part of development. In fact all your baby might be doing is merely venting -- crying for the sake of it -- and finding it difficult to stop once she's started.'

Typically, colic starts in the second or third week and is at its worst in the late afternoons and early evenings.

Visit www.motherandbaby.co.uk for more advice