COPING WITH COLIC By Lisa Hurt Kozarovich

Four days after giving birth, Missy Goodson was falling into a comfortable
routine with her adorable daughter. But by day five, her bundle of joy
suddenly had become inconsolable, wailing non-stop for hours on end.
"Babies cry," friends told her. "It's colic - just wait it out," the
pediatrician said. Neither was any consolation to the Louisville, Ky.
mother of two.

The fact that doctors simply don't know much about colic, including what
causes it or exactly how to treat it, left Goodson feeling helpless.
"Therewas no soothing her. She cried day and night, no matter what we did. We
tried swaddling her in a blanket, rocking her, bouncing her - nothing
worked. I felt like I was losing my mind," she says.

"The low point was probably when I took Sydney to the emergency room after
she had been crying for six hours straight. I handed her to the nurse and
she stopped crying. I thought I must just be the worst mother ever,"
Goodsonsays.

That's a typical reaction for a mother of a baby with colic, according to
Dr. Barry Lester, Ph.D., who sees patients at the country's only colic
clinic, located at Women & Infants Hospital in Rhode Island.
"About 45 percent of the moms who show up at our clinic are depressed,"
says Dr. Lester, a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at Brown University.
"Oftentimes,they bring home this 10-pound Gerber baby and everything is going great,
then literally overnight, this kid starts screaming and is inconsolable.
Frequently, the mother blames herself or some misinformed
relative tells her it's no big deal and she's overreacting,"

In fact, no one knows just what causes about 20 percent of all babies to
get colic, which generally begins at about 4 to 6 weeks and last for several
weeks, according to Dr. Andrea McCoy, M.D., director of primary care at
Temple University Children's Medical Center in Philadelphia. However,
colic can begin almost immediately after birth and last up to four months, she
says.

Clear signs of colic are unexplained, persistent and hard crying in an
otherwise healthy baby, restlessness, inconsolability, the baby's curling
of fingers and toes, arching of back or breath holding, McCoy says.
"Those are the behaviors we call colic. What we don't know is cause, but
we're coming to find it's probably a mixed bag of causes," says Dr. Marsha
Ellett, D.N.S, R.N, who is conducting studies on infant colic at Indiana
University. The five most probable causes, and some possible solutions,
she says, are:

In Sydney's case, the cause was an allergy to proteins in milk - both the
initial formula she was on as well as the soy-based formula she was
switched to. Finally, after three months, Sydney was put on Alimentum, a
hypoallergenic formula. "Two days after that she was a new baby. I just
wished the pediatrician had taken this more seriously from the start and
maybe we could have solved the problem a lot earlier," says Goodson.
An immature digestive system was blamed for causing Susan Nielsen's son to
have colic from 10 days old until he was 16 weeks old. "He had terrible
gasand would burp many times before he calmed down," says Nielsen, a Spokane,
Wa. mother of two. "Nothing really worked, but the most soothing thing for
him was a ride in the car."

While colic doesn't cause any long-term health problems, there's evidence
that it can affect parent-child attachment bonds that can last drive a
lasting wedge into the relationship, Dr. Lester says. "Colic itself is a
short-lived problem, but some aspects of colic make it much more
complicated. It's a problem that pervades the whole family," he says.
Goodson knows just what he's talking about. Built up frustration and anger
led to tension in her marriage and problems with her older son, who was
upset both with the constant crying and the fact that the family couldn't
go on outings because of it.

"I can tell you, as a pediatrician who had a baby with colic, that the
sleeplessness and frustration can really get to you," says Dr. McCoy. "I
remember one particularly bad night that I was up at midnight crying and
fighting with my husband over this. Just remember it's normal to be
frustrated and angry. The best thing you can do for you and for the baby
is to ask someone to watch the baby and give yourself a break."
But if you feel something more serious might be wrong, trust your
instincts, she adds. Red flags that a problem other than colic is to blame are if the
baby is not gaining weight, has a fever or is crying for more than three
to six hours, Dr. McCoy says.

And remember, the colic will eventually go away and you'll have your
bundle of joy back, Nielsen says. "When the colic ended, with textbook
abruptiveness, we fell in love with our son all over again."


Expert Q&A, answered by Dr. David Fay

Question: My baby has white bumps on her face. What are they and what can
I do about them?

Answer: The most common reason for white bumps on a newborn's face is
milia. This occurs in 85 percent of normal infants, and disappears spontaneously
a few weeks after they appear. Frequently they cause concern because they
seem to "spread;" in reality, they develop and resolve at different times in
different places on the face, thus giving the appearance of spreading.
There is no treatment, and it causes no lasting problems.

Another common cause is sebaceous gland hyperplasia, a condition of mild
overgrowth of the glands. This, too, is not serious and will go away on
its own. Any dermatologic condition is difficult to diagnose without seeing it. If
you are concerned, it is best to have your child seen by his doctor.

This article first appeared in Baby Years magazine. Baby Years is
available where all good magazines are sold.

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