Rachael says,

> However, I do completely agree that every option of calming / soothing
> should be tried before it is assumed that the baby is in pain. However I
> don't get too many calls from Moms with colicky babies where the Mom or Dad
> hasn't tried every trick in the book. Do you really find Moms who haven't
> tried soothing techniques?
>
Oh yes -- they've tried every trick in the book -- for about 10 seconds each.
 They switch from jiggling to juggling to jumping to patting to praying to
putting the baby on the dryer to swinging to swaying to --- you get my drift.
 The problem is, if something doesn't "work" in virtually the space of a
heartbeat, they try something else.

This is not a diatribe on mothers -- it's simply that they don't know HOW to
calm and soothe a baby appropriately.  There are some babies that start
crying (for whatever reason), and get "stuck" in crying mode.  It's really
hard for them to get out, and the constant changing of soothing modes makes
it even more difficult.

Doing the 5 S's gives the parents a way of soothing -- all belonging to the
same family of soothe, I guess you could say, which generally can calm that
baby stuck in screaming mode.

Jumping on changing mom's diet as the first line of defense is NOT something
that I do.  I try some less interventive things first -- including making
sure we don't have lactose overload symptoms in a baby that has a gut
assaulted by antibiotics -- and ways of calming these babies.  Many of them
are not carried by their parents -- aren't "worn" (because, of course, that
will spoil them), but are put into a plastic bucket as soon as the requisite
15 minute on each side feeding is ended.  Many parents are told not to let
their babies fall asleep at the breast -- a "bad habit" that they won't be
able to break.  How much of the painful screaming we hear so much about is
the pain of separation?

Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC -- Wheaton IL
Lactation Education Consultants
www.lactationeducationconsultants.com

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