Every expectant mother looks forward to the day when she gets to hold the precious baby growing inside her. The first-time mom sees her baby, the first kiss and the first moments of motherhood are something treasured forever.
This new little life brings much joy, but colic can quickly turn things into a nightmare. As many as 20% of newborns (and consequently their families) suffer from colic.
Colic is defined as incessant crying for more than three hours at a time for three or more times per week. The baby appears to be in pain with fists clenched, legs curled up and painful wails that nothing seems to help. This is extremely draining on an already sleep-deprived new parent and can really take its toll on the entire family.
It is important to take a close look at the baby’s digestive health when colic is present. Does the mother suffer from GI troubles? If so, it is more likely that this will be passed on to the infant because the mother is responsible for populating the gut bacteria of her child.
When breastfeeding, what the mother lacks in helpful bacteria cannot be passed along to the infant. A change in diet may be a good idea for mom to include foods that have probiotics in them.
For more information on how to make your own formula, contact the Weston A. Price Foundation for raw milk, goat milk or liver-based formulas if you are looking for a superior choice to commercial formulas.
In the meantime, Mom should consider eating kombucha, kefir, sauerkraut, kim chee, kvass, etc. Until this piece of the puzzle is ironed out, get out your homeopathy kit and start treating your babe.
As you may know, Chamomilla is a primary remedy for cantankerous teething infants. Infants needing Chamomilla 200C are deeply irritable, and the remedy is beneficial in colic when the infant wants to be carried endlessly or calms a bit when taken for a drive.
Another key remedy for colicky infants is Colocynthis. This remedy has a classic picture of colic, with an angry baby who pulls his legs tightly into his chest, clenches his fists and screams. The baby will feel some relief with firm pressure or rubbing the belly.
When in doubt, Hyland’s Baby Colic Tablets can come to the rescue. This mixture of Dioscorea, Chamomilla and Colocynthis in 3X potency can take the guesswork out of finding a helpful solution in a time where seconds feel like hours. This is especially valuable for those babies whose colic is a more occasional problem and not a chronic problem. [Editor’s note: Hyland’s Baby Colic Tablets are no longer available.]
For a more chronic setting, consider what I learned from the Banerjis in Calcutta as follows:
Nux vomica 30C, mixed with Colocynthis 200C given twice daily. Nice and easy. Wholesome and simple. Powerful and effective. Can we ask for more?
Keep these helpful solutions in mind for your family and share them with the expectant mothers in your circle.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crying_newborn.jpg
Chamomilla is one of my favorite remedies for babies. It does wonders for teething infants.
Thanks!
This is great information for future reference…my daughter is pregnant with her third!
I KNOW this has helped many of my friends. Thankfully, my kids weren’t plagued with colic. Thanks so much for the info!
Oh my…. I wish my mother had known this. I was the prototype colicky baby! 🙁
I wish I had read this sooner because I’ve had sleepless nights during the first few months of my baby girl because of acid reflux. Fortunately it was just mild; small frequent feeding helped and of course burping. I’ll share this to my friends.
Hello, i am not familiar with the banerji protocol and I was just wondering if I would mix 4 pillules of each remedy together into 4 oz. of water, for the Banerji protocol for colicky babes. My granddaughters gas and screaming follows each and every meal now, and mommy and babe are both exhausted. My heart is breaking for them as nothing seems to be helping.
The method of diluting the 2 remedies in water is the way I’ve done it for years. I’d use a little less water though…probably half that amount.
Once the 2 remedies have been diluted, how many milliliters of the diluted solution do you give as one dose?
I guess i should also note that my granddaughter is a preemie and all was well with her gut, until she was administered ferrous iron in the hospital at 1 month without my daughters awareness or approval. her symptoms started almost immediately after the first dose, and these symptoms were blamed on my daughters diet. I think the ferrous iron poisoned my granddaughters system and knocked her whole digestive system off balance.
I have the 100 remedy kit from you, I know the coloc is only 30c, so I went ahead and got the 200c while getting refills. My question is, how long do you do give it to them? I started the nux and coloc, for 3/4 weeks and I stopped to see if he was okay with out it, and for a little bit it seemed like he was okay…I used Cham 30c a couple times a day. But now I feel like he’s back to being colicky again. What’s your thoughts on this?
Usually a remedy chosen for a chronic condition is needed for at least 6 weeks. At that time it needs to be assessed as to whether it acted, even only partially. If it has, then it is continued until the condition is resolved.
I don’t think all of their protocols made it into their book. I have the book now, but several of their protocols you’ve written about aren’t in there.
They have hundreds. After all, there are thousands of human ills. In an effort to simply get some of the more important ones out, they went ahead and published. That is why I spent many months over 3 years working with them in their clinic…to gather those that are missing and to flesh out their methods. What I teach are those that are missing from their book.
You need to write a book Joette… I was just remembering when my first granddaughter had colic I took her in the bedroom and gave her a dose of Chamomilla she quieted down so quickly, my daughter in law shouted from the other room “what cha do, kill her”.. lol..no I just gave little Sara something to help her. Now Sara is thirty and uses homeopathy for her family, and her mom too! Now I’m trying to teach them both to come here to learn from you….
Chamomilla 200…one of my all time favorites for babies and petulant teens.
I have written a number of books…all incorporated in my courses.
The store I was at only had colocynthis in 30c. is that ok to give my baby with this protocol or should I really get the 200c?
Hi my baby is about to be a month old on 22 of this month
She is cranky but there’s no routine about it. She cries as if she is in utmost pain turns red moves her hands and leg in towards center and is disturbed unless she passes the wind. She is unable to get deep sleep because of this. As soon as I put her to bed she is awake when she has to go through all the fore mentioned symptoms. When in deep sleep she passes the wind easily. And she has a lot of episodes of hiccups. She is somewhat calm when we take her up.
Please let me know what medication should she be given and in what doses?
I don’t give personal advice here…that is except to urge you join one of our study groups “Gateway to Homeopathy” so that you can learn how to take care of your family yourself.
Would Chamomilla be a good option for an infant who is struggling with reflux?
Read the article again and I believe it will make more sense to you once you use the symptoms and concomitant conditions as your guide.
How do you administer the remedies to breastfed babies? Thank you for sharing this info!
In the mouth, just like anyone else.
Would be interesting to know if any gut bacteria is passed onto the baby if they are born in the caul. In any case this is good info!
How often is Chamomilla 200 given? Just when there is an episode of crying?
If its a chronic condition, we usually use CHamomilla 2D until very much better and resume at a later date if needed.