As a parent, to know why your child is crying sometimes looks like cracking a hard code. One of the worst puzzles is finding out whether your child has a colic or just gas. While both situations can make your child irritable and uncomfortable, knowing the difference can allow you to react more, and you can learn that you have to consult professionals.
What Is Baby Gas?
Gas is natural and normal for a child. This occurs most often because children swallow air when they eat or cry. Formula-fed babies can swallow excess air by sucking bottles, and breastfeeding infants get gas from food sensitivity in the mother’s diet.
Signs of gas include brief crying or disturbance, especially after eating. Your child can bring his feet towards their stomach, pass gas, or have a tight stomach that relaxes after burping or releasing the gas. When the gas passes, the children usually feel better and resume normal behavior, showing that the pain is temporary.
What Is Colic?
Colic refers to persistent, intense crying in a healthy baby, usually two to three weeks of age, and reaches six weeks. Pediatricians use the “Rule of Threes” to describe colic – crying more than three hours per day, more than three days per week, for more than three weeks. The infant can cry in a high, loud pitch that is different from their normal cry.
These matches are usually at the same time every day, usually in the evening, and it is difficult to relax despite feeding, diaper changes or cuddling.
You can also observe your baby because they hold their fists, bend their back, or make their body hard when crying. Even the colic can be emotionally tedious, but it often passes at the age of three to four months.
Key Differences Between Colic and Gas
While the colic and gas may appear similar, they have some fundamental differences. Gas discomfort is usually short-lived and is associated with feeding. When your child burps or passes gas, they often calm down quickly.
Unlike gas, colic involves long-term crying that occurs in a more predictable pattern and is not easily relieved. The gas can occur randomly during the day and is often related to digestion, while the colic is usually hit later in the afternoon or evening, regardless of feeding times. The intensity of the crying is another clue—gas-induced fussiness will usually be less intense, while colic crying can be loud and tireless.
Children with gas will seem uncomfortable but are generally content between episodes. On the other hand, colic, leaves babies inconsolable even after common soothing techniques have been tried. This is why most parents seek the best colic and gas remedy for babies to provide relief and peace during such difficult times.
When to Suspect Gas
If your child appears generally happy and calm between the period of irritability, the gas is probably the reason for this. The cry may occur immediately after feeding, and your child will look better after burping or passing gas. There’s no predictable timing to the crying, and it does not take a long time. In such situations, helping your baby release trapped air by burping, gently rubbing their stomach, or cycling their legs often provides rapid relief. Feeding positions that minimize air intake and pacing bottle feedings can also help reduce future gas accumulation.
When to Suspect Colic
If your child experiences long periods of crying at the same time every day, it is usually impossible to soothe in the afternoon or evening, it can be the colic. These episodes may include extreme wailing, physical tension such as clenched fists or hard limbs, and general inability to be comforted even after feeding or changing.
Unlike gas, crying episodes last for hours and may leave both baby and parent exhausted. Despite how distressing it feels, colic is a temporary phase that most children outgrow by at the age of about three to four months. Nevertheless, its consistent and prolonged nature can be very challenging and usually require emotional support for parents, along with a calm and patient approach.
What You Can Do to Help
Whether gas or colic, there are ways to help your child through their crisis. For gas, during feeding and later, burping your baby can assist in the release of stuck air. Feeding your baby more upright to reduce air intake can also help, as well as to relieve the discomfort of stomach or legs.
Putting a warm towel on their stomach or some tummy time can also relieve pressure. If you are breastfeeding, you may want to exclude certain foods from your diet, under the guidance your healthcare provider.
For colic, soothing techniques often involve creating a calm and comforting environment. For example, swaddling, gentle rocking, white noise machines, or giving them a pacifier can be done. Holding the baby upright after feeding and keeping feedings consistent and relaxed can also reduce the episode.
Reducing stimulation in your baby’s environmen – reducing lights or reducing noise – can prevent them from becoming overwhelmed. In some situations, changes to your child’s feeding style can help with adjustment, or a change to a new formula (after consulting with your pediatrician) may be beneficial.
When to Call the Doctor
Even though gas and colic are usually not serious, there are occasions when you need to contact your pediatrician. If your child is not increasing weight, does not want to eat, unusually sleepy or dull, vomiting, diarrhea, or fever develops, you should receive a medical consultation.
If the cry appears to be more than a response to pain than normal irritability or if it sounds very different from your baby’s usual cries, professional evaluation is also worth it. A physician can exclude more severe conditions such as acid reflux, food allergies, or infection and provide assurance or advice for the next stages.
Final Thoughts
Knowing the difference between colic and gas, how can you really treat your child and how much you get confident to meet their needs. The gas is usually temporary and related to feeding, with relief coming shortly after. The colic is more severe, long-lasting, and occurs on a regular schedule, often without any reason. Both are common in infants and improve over time.
The most important thing is that you are not alone, and your child’s cry does not indicate anything about your parenting. With patience, love, and some useful tips, you and your child will get together through this difficult time – and it will pass.