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Got Colic?
A Colic Primer for New Parents
By Laura Cone
Neville suggests keeping a journal and recording the baby's sleeping and crying patterns. "Often the crying is more at one time of the day than another," she says. "It may be a predictable time of the day they cry. If they do, that's helpful because you get a better idea of what to expect."
Some people confuse a child's disposition with colic. "Temperament becomes really much more visible at 4 months of age, after the colic," Neville says. She says studies have shown colicky babies do not necessarily grow up to be uptight or angry. Some temperament traits show up in infancy and some don't show up until later. For example, babies who scream when they are hungry may grow up to have an emotionally charged temperament.
Some infants are fussy for reasons other than colic, Neville says. "Some things that get confused with colic include high-energy babies who tend to be fussy," she says. "This was my daughter. She did not have classic colic but was on the fussy side. It didn't get better at 3 months. It got better at 6 months. The moment she could crawl, she cried less. She was one of those high-energy kids. She hated being unable to move."
She says infants who have trouble adjusting to change or adapting to new schedules may be fussy but do not have colic. Such infants often become fussier in the late afternoon. "It's like the baby is communicating, 'Hey mom, this world is so new and different, by the end of the day I'm fed up with all these new and different changes,'" says Neville.
Finally, although it may be hard for haggard parents to accept, the only real cure for colic is time.
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