But there is good news in the midst of this. The good news is that your baby, even though she’s been crying for hours on end and will likely go through the same routine several times per week at roughly the same time of night until she’s about four months old has absolutely nothing seriously wrong with her.

Doctors have no real clue concerning what causes colic. Some theorize that it may have something to do with intestinal distress, while others think it may be caused by the lack of stimulation for a newborn baby outside of the womb compared to the constant stimulation she enjoyed while she was tucked all snug and warm inside your tummy.

Btu experts all pretty much agree on one thing: colic is nothing to worry about. Most experts these days tend to agree that colic is just the extreme side of what is normal for a healthy baby. In other words, they figure that all babies do a good amount of crying, and colicky babies simply excel at it.

In other words, even if your baby does have colic, she is perfectly normal. Even if we grant you that colic isn’t “normal,” per se, you would have to agree that any condition which affects 1 out of every 4 babies is fairly commonplace, and not something to be terribly worried about if it doesn’t threaten life or limb (and it doesn’t).

Of course, the fact that colic is relatively normal doesn’t make it any easier to go through. There is much good advice available on the subject of surviving colic, and we won’t repeat it all here. Suffice it to say that you will only have to ride the storm out for a few weeks, and then colic will pass forever into the rearview mirror.

Just because stretch marks are likely doesn’t mean you shouldn’t attempt to keep them from appearing, however. While you might not be able to keep them away altogether, there are a few things you can do to reduce the risk of getting stretch marks, or at least their severity:

• Understand what causes them. Stretch marks come from – you guessed it – your skin stretching beyond its normal boundaries in a relatively quick period of time.
• Control the pace of your pregnancy weight gain. If possible, try to spread your weight gain out over your pregnancy. Obviously, you can’t control how fast your baby grows, but you can eat a healthy diet and talk with your doctor about the pace of your weight gain.
• Some herbal remedies can help. There are herbal mixtures made up of things like cocoa butter, Vitamin E, and chamomile that may, in some cases, help prevent your stretch marks. These remedies can, even if they don’t prevent stretch marks, help your body recover from them, and help them to be less visible to the eye over time.
• Moisturize. There are even moisturizing creams that are aimed specifically at helping with stretch marks. Often, they use some of the same herbal remedies mentioned above.
• Eat a balanced and healthy diet. This will help to keep your skin strong and healthy. Healthy skin is better able to stretch, expand, and contract. It won’t prevent them altogether, but it might help reduce the severity of your stretch marks.

None of these steps are guaranteed to keep you from getting stretch marks. Often, they just come with the territory of being pregnant. However, if you follow these tips, you do reduce your risk, and you will probably find that your own stretch marks aren’t nearly as severe as they might have otherwise wound up being.

While the thumb has been around for a long time, the pacifier is a relatively new occurrence. Babies can also use a pacifier to help themselves calm down. The modern idea of the pacifier has been around for more than a century, appearing in the early 1900s. Before that, parents would use any number of materials for baby to suck on, including things like cloth and even silver.

For many babies, sucking is comforting. A baby’s instinct is to suckle when he’s hungry, of course, but also when he is tired or when he is stressed. Most infants will fall asleep suckling. When babies get older, sucking can still help to soothe. You can’t and shouldn’t feed a baby every time he tries to suckle, because sometimes he’s not hungry but rather just needs comfort.

Most of the time sucking on a thumb or a pacifier won’t cause any permanent damage. Most dentists believe that there’s no danger to the teeth unless your child is still sucking by the age of four years old or so. If that’s the case, you might think about doing something to break the sucking habit.

Experts aren’t always in agreement about whether sucking a thumb or sucking a pacifier is better for your baby. Chances are pretty good your baby prefers one or the other anyways. While there is some evidence to suggest that thumb suckers may maintain the habit longer than babies that use pacifiers, it isn’t set in stone. There is also some research that suggests a pacifier at nap time may reduce the risk of SIDS, although more research in that area is needed.

If you’re concerned about your baby’s sucking habits, talk to your pediatrician. She may be able to offer some helpful advice.

There are homeopathic ingredients you can try to use to help to calm your baby’s stomach. Most of the homeopathic treatments for colic make the assumption that the colic is caused by some sort of a disturbance in your baby’s gastrointestinal tract. One of the most common homeopathic treatments for colic is chamomile, or chamomilla. Chamomile is a homeopathic treatment that is thought to provide pain relief, as well as relaxation for your baby with colic. Another possible homeopathic treatment for colic is Wild Yam, also known as Dioscorea. Wild Yam helps to prevent spasms in the gastrointestinal tract. A third homeopathic treatment for colic is bitter apple, or colycynthis. Bitter apple is used to prevent or to relieve intestinal cramping.

One of the most common homeopathic treatments for colic is something called gripe water. Gripe water often uses herbal as well as homeopathic treatments to try to reduce or eliminate your baby’s colic. Here again, gripe water operates on the theory that colic is related to the gastrointestinal tract. Gripe water uses things ike ginger, fennel, sodium bicarbonate, and often Chamomile to treat colic. If your baby’s colic is caused by gastrointestinal problems, gripe water may be the answer.

Keep in mind that homeopathic treatments for colic have not been clinically tested and approved by the FDA. This does not mean that they can’t work, only that there is not government oversight in the manufacturing process of such treatments, and the possible negative effects of those treatments have not been studied. As always, you should consider speaking with your health care provider before administering any treatment for colic.

While there’s no denying that cloth diapers’ stigma for being inconvenient is based in truth, there have been many changes in recent years to the way cloth diapers are made which have addressed most of these issues. If you’ve decided to go with disposable diapers because of the extra convenience, consider these things before dismissing the possibility of using cloth diapers:

• Diaper pins are outdated. When most people think of cloth diapers, they think of big, sharp diaper pins. They’re inconvenient, rather ugly, and have the nasty tendency of poking you or, worse, your baby. Most cloth diapers today don’t need them, however. These days, you can buy cloth diapers with Velcro tabs which hold the diapers in place much as the disposable diaper tabs do.
• You don’t need to stink up the house. Most cloth diapers today use disposable inserts, which can simply be flushed down the toilet. In addition to saving our landfills from a lot of unfiltered waste, this is just about as convenient as wrapping up and throwing away disposables. The diapers themselves can be kept in a sealed diaper pail. In most cases, you’ll have less odor that you would with disposables.
• You can use disposables on the go. With the linings being flushable, there’s no need to wrap up diapers and stick them in the diaper bag to throw away at home later. Besides making your diaper bag a couple pounds lighter, this gives you one less thing to worry about while you’re on the road.
• You can save a lot of money using cloth diapers. Sure, you have to wash them, but you’re going to be doing laundry anyway. It really doesn’t add more than a load or two per week. When you add up the costs of disposable diapers over the two to three years baby will be wearing them, it adds up to a lot of extra jingle that could be staying in your pocket and being put to better use.

Colic is especially difficult because it can cause a great deal of stress on a family. While there are no long term health effects of colic, the sheer mental agony can be very frustrating, especially for parents. Add in the fact that those parents are probably operating on a limited amount of sleep and you have a dangerous equation.

Colic is usually relatively easy to recognize. Here are the three identifying symptoms of colic:

• You can predict when your baby will cry. Very often (but not always) a baby with colic will cry around the same time each day. In many cases, this takes place in the afternoon or the evening. Each time your baby cries, it may last just a few minutes or it may last for three hours all at once. This crying will usually stop and start for no visible reason. Toward the end of the crying, your baby might have gas or a bowel movement.
• Your baby’s crying is inconsolable. Crying from colic is often high pitched, and may be hard or even impossible to comfort.
• Your baby changes posture significantly. Your baby’s legs are likely to curl up, her fists are likely to clench and she’s likely to tenser her abdominal muscles, as well, during a colic episode.

If you think your baby may have colic, it’s worth talking to your baby’s doctor. She can offer some advice about how to handle things, and in some cases may be able to identify whether there is a different issue causing the crying, such as a health concern that up to this point hasn’t been detected.

By the time you’ve given birth, you’ve heard just about all there is to hear about eating right. Still, nutrition continues to be important after you’ve given birth. It’s especially important that you eat a balanced, nutritious diet if you are dealing with postpartum depression.

Taking care of a newborn baby is a tough job for anyone. Even those who are in great physical and mental/emotional shape can find it tough keeping up with the constant feedings, changings, crying, and everything else that goes with being a new mom. The last thing any new mom needs is to try doing it all without adequate energy. Unhealthy eating habits (or going without eating) can leave you even more tired-and more depressed- than you were before.

When you have postpartum depression, it can feel like everything is hopeless and you are helpless. Choosing to eat a balanced, healthy diet is one thing you can control. It’s one thing that you can choose to do for yourself and your baby regardless of how you’re feeling. Making the choice to take proper care of yourself, in and of itself, can help you feel a little better.

While this is not intended as a complete nutritional guide (see your doctor or nutritionist for that), here are some tips for healthy eating while you are going through postpartum depression:

• Drink lots of fluids. You’d be amazed at how many physical and emotional problems are linked to dehydration. Drink water, milk, and juice. Lay off coffee and soda as much as you can.
• Eat plenty of fresh fruit and veggies. This isn’t exactly new advice, but it’s good advice. Mix things up with a variety of fresh vegetables and fruit.
• Protein. Don’t skimp on protein postpartum, especially if you’re dealing with postpartum depression. Eat plenty of lean protein. Oily fish (salmon, tuna, etc.) is an excellent choice. If you’re vegetarian, eat plenty of soy, whey, tofu, or nuts.
• Don’t focus on losing weight. You’re going to lose some weight naturally, but don’t get down on yourself if you don’t fit into those pre-pregnancy jeans after your baby is born. Most women take several months to get back to pre-pregnancy size. 

Colic, while it can be frustrating for the other people in the household, is generally not considered to be harmful to your baby. Still, as a parent you naturally feel some concern when your baby seems to be so unhappy. Unfortunately, there is no known cure for colic. Part of the problem rests with the fact that we just don’t know what it is that causes colic. It may also be that different things may cause colic for different babies. Because there are no known medical remedies for colic, many parents have turned to alternative forms of treatment for colic. Among these include things like gripe water, white noise CDs, and swaddling blankets. There are even homeopathic remedies for colic that may help to reduce your baby’s crying, if not eliminate it altogether.

Homeopathic remedies for colic work on the assumption that colic is caused by a gastrointestinal problem of one sort or another. It could be that certain food has irritated your baby, or that he or she is feeding too quickly. It may even be that he or she is swallowing air during teething. Therefore, homeopathic remedies for colic tend to rely on ingredients that help with the gastrointestinal system.

One of the most common sorts of homeopathic remedies for colic is chamomilla, also known as chamomile. This homeopathic remedy provides pain relief, and also helps your baby to relax. Colycynthis, or Bitter Apple, is used to relieve intestinal cramping, which may be the cause of colic for some babies. Wild Yam, also known as Dioscorea, has properties that help prevent spasms in the gastrointestinal tract. There are even tablets that you can give to your baby that will contain these homeopathic remedies for colic.

There are other homeopathic remedies for colic, each of which may help with a different type of colic. These include Magnesium phosphorica, Dioscorea, and Magnesium muriatica. As with any supplement, it is recommended that you speak with your health care provider before giving homeopathic remedies for colic to your baby.

By now, most of us know that breastfeeding is best for our babies. On the off chance your doctor hasn’t already told you, it’s ideal to breastfeed your baby exclusively for the first six months, and to continue breastfeeding for a year or more after that. Unfortunately, some moms and babies have problems breastfeeding.

If you are having trouble breastfeeding, consider seeing a lactation consultant. Lactation consultants are health care professionals who specialize in helping mothers overcome breastfeeding problems. Common problems addressed by lactation consultants include:

• Problems latching on
• Milk supply problems
• Engorged breasts
• Nipple soreness
• Breastfeeding sick babies
• Determining which medications are safe for mom to take while breastfeeding
• Babies not gaining weight while breastfeeding

A lactation consultant is more than just a health care professional. Think of a lactation consultant as a sort of mentor or coach who comes alongside you to encourage and teach. Even though most of us know that breastfeeding our babies is best, the choice to breastfeed isn’t always easy. Sticking to that choice can be even tougher.

Lactation consultants differ from support group leaders or peer counselors such as you might find through La Leche League (LLL) and other organizations which promote breastfeeding. While there’s nothing wrong with LLL or their leaders, a lactation consultant is an actual health care professional who is licensed and carries malpractice insurance. Lactation consultants do charge for their services. Most of the time, these charges are covered by major insurance companies.

If breastfeeding is going well for you, you won’t need a lactation consultant. It’s still a good idea to involve yourself with support groups like La Leche League, but you will only need to consider calling a lactation consultant if you are having problems breastfeeding which your LLL leader or peer counselor can’t help you with.

Mothers with minor breastfeeding problems may or may not need to see a lactation consultant. If you’re not sure, ask your doctor. Keep in mind that it’s best to get help with breastfeeding sooner rather than later. Most breastfeeding problems will not just take care of themselves.

Breastfeeding is important, both to your baby and to you. If you’re having problems breastfeeding, seek help, either through a breastfeeding support group or a lactation consultant.

Nearly one third of deliveries in the US are by C-section. Whether a C-section is planned or not, it can affect a new mom’s ability and desire to breastfeed. Make no mistake; you can still breastfeed after a Cesarean section delivery. In most cases, though, breastfeeding after a C-section will be delayed slightly to allow the new mom time to recover.

Occasionally, mothers who deliver babies via C-section feel intimidated by breastfeeding. Some feel that if they were unable to give natural, vaginal birth, they may also be unable to breastfeed. However, delivering by C-section does not hinder your ability to breastfeed your baby normally. Once you are comfortable enough to hold your new baby, you can begin breastfeeding her right away.

There are many benefits to breastfeeding, both for your baby and for you. These include:

• Bonding experience between mom and baby
• The best nutrition available for baby
• Natural antibodies in breast milk help immunize baby
• Breastfeeding helps protect mom against breast cancer, osteoporosis, and other health problems

Challenges to Breastfeeding after a C-Section

If you’re feeling up to it, you can start breastfeeding right away after a C-section. In fact, having undergone a C-section gives you one advantage over those who have had a vaginal birth: You will still be under the effects of anesthetic. This can help you avoid pain often experienced during the first few breastfeeding experiences.

There’s no need to worry about the anesthetic affecting your baby. While minute amounts of it do find their way into your breast milk, the medications are not harmful to your baby. The benefits your baby receives from your colostrum far outweigh any effect the anesthetics would have on her.

The only real negative effect from the anesthetic is the increased likelihood of thrush, both for you and your baby. Talk with your doctor about the signs of thrush so you can recognize and treat it right away if you are affected.

One other challenge to breastfeeding after a C-section is that babies who are delivered via C-section are usually drowsy. If you have trouble breastfeeding your baby, don’t get discouraged and don’t give up. Your baby will soon be ready to feed as actively as any other baby. If you find yourself becoming discouraged or having trouble breastfeeding your baby, ask your health care provider about the possibility of having a lactation consultant work with you and your baby.