Prevent Shaken Baby Sydrome and learn how to cope with your baby experiencing colic!
Laurie Wing
January 13, 2009
Did you know that one shaken baby in four dies according to the AboutShakenBaby.com website studies. Some studies estimate that 15% of children's deaths are due to battering or shaking, and an additional 15% are possible cases of shaking.
This subject really hit home when I spoke to Nanette Meneses, creator of The Happi TummiŽ. Nanette Meneses gave birth to her baby in 2003. As a result of her experience with colic, Nanette invented her product for babies with colic! It has been proven to provide nearly instant relief for infants with colic and stomach aches. The Happi TummiŽ www.HappiTummi.com consists of a waistband and herbal pouch containing lavender, chamomile, lemon grass, peppermint, spearmint, wheat and flax seed. When heated for 15 to 20 seconds, the herbs are activated to release healing properties which provide almost immediate relief of most common stomach ailments.
Nanette has been a strong advocate of educating new parents to cope with crying babies with the hopes of preventing more cases of Shaken Baby Syndrome. Nanette says, "Crying is an infant´s way of communicating and new parents need to learn how to soothe and cope with their babies who have colic or crying bouts. We want to protect all babies from becoming victims of Shaken Baby Syndrome. There is so much information from experts as well as products to help new parents comfort their babies and we would like to share these tips and advice with all parents!"
First, we would like to share a heart wrenching story about Little Allie Mondok, who is a victim of Shaken Baby Sydrome.
Allie´s mom Charity was 19 years old when she gave birth to little Allie. Allie´s father Paul was in town when Allie was born and came to visit her twice before he moved away to California. When Allie was six months old, Charity decided to move to California with Paul. The two of them wanted to raise Allie together. Evidently, from the time Allie arrived in California, Paul started taking out his frustrations and impatience on Allie. In late April 2006, Paul shook and squeezed Allie to get her to stop crying. She not only stopped crying, she stopped breathing.
Allie was in a coma for about ten days. Paramedics assisted her breathing until she got to the hospital. She was on a breathing machine for a week. At the time of her admission into the hospital, she had a broken leg, a broken rib, and a broken collar bone. Each injury was in a different stage of healing.
Charity´s parents (Allie´s Grandparents), Susan and Bryon have legally adopted Allie and are her legal parents and biological grandparents. The youngest grandparents they know. Susan is 42 and Bryon 43. They've been married for 22 years.
It has been about 18 months since this all happened. Allie has cerebral palsy, cortical visual impairment, and pale optic nerves. She's legally blind. She's a quadriplegic. But she continues to improve. When this all first happened, she was fed through a g-tube. Now she eats and drinks orally. She gains more and more measurable use of her arms and legs every week and Allie´s family and friends are very hopeful!
Allie´s biological father, Paul, is in jail.
Whether Allie had colic or just normal crying to communicate, we will never know. Colic is a pattern of unexplained, inconsolable, and intense crying that can continue in the early time of baby´s life. Unable to console their child, parents can feel like failures. If your baby does develop colic, it will probably make its first appearance when she is three or four weeks old. Other reasons your baby may be crying is all of the changes they are experiencing such as teething in older babies. Have you ever had a toothache? It´s unbearable! Imagine your little baby, who doesn´t know how to communicate to you, experiencing that kind of pain.
Shari Criso, IBCL, Midwife, Lactation Consultant and Author of My Baby Experts Simply Breastfeeding DVD says, "Did you know when your baby is born, their stomach is the size of a mentos (those little candies) or a little bigger than a marble? Sometimes we are overfeeding our babies and their little stomachs cannot handle the amount of milk we are giving them which results in spitting up and stomach pain. This is not a case of more is better. Many small feedings set up a healthy eating pattern right from the start."
Dr. William Sears (aka Dr. Bill) is the Author of over 30 books on childcare, a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and a fellow of the Royal College of Pediatricians (RCP). Dr. Bill is also a medical and parenting consultant for BabyTalk and Parenting magazines and the pediatrician on the website Parenting.com with appearances on more than 100 television programs such as 20/20, Donahue, Good Morning America, Oprah, CBS This Morning, CNN, NBC's Today Show and Dateline.
We talked to Dr. Bill about colic and comforting our babies. Dr. Bill stresses the most important thing to know is that colic is a description it is not a diagnosis. He is getting away from using the word "colic." Colic is usually a five letter word meaning the doctor doesn't know. So, he changes the term to "the hurting baby!" As soon as you change the term, it motivates the doctor to find out why the baby hurts and the parents to search for reasons why the baby hurts so they can cope better.
There are several reasons why a baby may be hurting. There may be an underlying medical cause. Reflux is common in babies and Dr. Bill offers his remedies to deal with Reflux. The Rule of Twos. Twice as often and half as much feedings. When a baby gets fed more often but smaller amounts, the immature intestines are able to adjust. This is the most important and simplest tool. This also coincides with Shari Criso´s advice about small feedings because of the small size of a new baby´s stomach.
Allergy to Milk - either to the formula, cow´s milk-based formula or a food in a mother´s breastfeeding diet. Dr. Bill suggests the elimination diet. Eliminating all dairy and wheat or trying a hypoallergenic baby formula.
Improve Intestinal Immunity with Probiotics which is the same ingredient that can be found in breast milk. There is good bacteria and harmful bacteria in the intestines. Probiotics will assist in balancing bacteria so the good outnumbers the harmful. If it is reversed, it causes colic ("hurting baby").
Culturelle is a capsule taken once a day in the bottle. It is the same as eating yogurt and helps the intestinal floor /bacteria to be balanced.
Once baby is fed, it is also important to keep baby upright and quiet - no playing immediately after a feeding!
Keep in mind that colic is a common problem, affecting 10-25% of all newborns. It is defined as recurrent inconsolable crying in a healthy and well-fed infant. It usually begins at about two to three weeks of age, is at its worst at six weeks of age and then gradually improves and finally resolves on its own by three to four months. Most importantly, if you need help - just ask -- for your baby´s sake!
This subject really hit home when I spoke to Nanette Meneses, creator of The Happi TummiŽ. Nanette Meneses gave birth to her baby in 2003. As a result of her experience with colic, Nanette invented her product for babies with colic! It has been proven to provide nearly instant relief for infants with colic and stomach aches. The Happi TummiŽ www.HappiTummi.com consists of a waistband and herbal pouch containing lavender, chamomile, lemon grass, peppermint, spearmint, wheat and flax seed. When heated for 15 to 20 seconds, the herbs are activated to release healing properties which provide almost immediate relief of most common stomach ailments.
Nanette has been a strong advocate of educating new parents to cope with crying babies with the hopes of preventing more cases of Shaken Baby Syndrome. Nanette says, "Crying is an infant´s way of communicating and new parents need to learn how to soothe and cope with their babies who have colic or crying bouts. We want to protect all babies from becoming victims of Shaken Baby Syndrome. There is so much information from experts as well as products to help new parents comfort their babies and we would like to share these tips and advice with all parents!"
First, we would like to share a heart wrenching story about Little Allie Mondok, who is a victim of Shaken Baby Sydrome.
Allie´s mom Charity was 19 years old when she gave birth to little Allie. Allie´s father Paul was in town when Allie was born and came to visit her twice before he moved away to California. When Allie was six months old, Charity decided to move to California with Paul. The two of them wanted to raise Allie together. Evidently, from the time Allie arrived in California, Paul started taking out his frustrations and impatience on Allie. In late April 2006, Paul shook and squeezed Allie to get her to stop crying. She not only stopped crying, she stopped breathing.
Allie was in a coma for about ten days. Paramedics assisted her breathing until she got to the hospital. She was on a breathing machine for a week. At the time of her admission into the hospital, she had a broken leg, a broken rib, and a broken collar bone. Each injury was in a different stage of healing.
Charity´s parents (Allie´s Grandparents), Susan and Bryon have legally adopted Allie and are her legal parents and biological grandparents. The youngest grandparents they know. Susan is 42 and Bryon 43. They've been married for 22 years.
It has been about 18 months since this all happened. Allie has cerebral palsy, cortical visual impairment, and pale optic nerves. She's legally blind. She's a quadriplegic. But she continues to improve. When this all first happened, she was fed through a g-tube. Now she eats and drinks orally. She gains more and more measurable use of her arms and legs every week and Allie´s family and friends are very hopeful!
Allie´s biological father, Paul, is in jail.
Whether Allie had colic or just normal crying to communicate, we will never know. Colic is a pattern of unexplained, inconsolable, and intense crying that can continue in the early time of baby´s life. Unable to console their child, parents can feel like failures. If your baby does develop colic, it will probably make its first appearance when she is three or four weeks old. Other reasons your baby may be crying is all of the changes they are experiencing such as teething in older babies. Have you ever had a toothache? It´s unbearable! Imagine your little baby, who doesn´t know how to communicate to you, experiencing that kind of pain.
Shari Criso, IBCL, Midwife, Lactation Consultant and Author of My Baby Experts Simply Breastfeeding DVD says, "Did you know when your baby is born, their stomach is the size of a mentos (those little candies) or a little bigger than a marble? Sometimes we are overfeeding our babies and their little stomachs cannot handle the amount of milk we are giving them which results in spitting up and stomach pain. This is not a case of more is better. Many small feedings set up a healthy eating pattern right from the start."
Dr. William Sears (aka Dr. Bill) is the Author of over 30 books on childcare, a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and a fellow of the Royal College of Pediatricians (RCP). Dr. Bill is also a medical and parenting consultant for BabyTalk and Parenting magazines and the pediatrician on the website Parenting.com with appearances on more than 100 television programs such as 20/20, Donahue, Good Morning America, Oprah, CBS This Morning, CNN, NBC's Today Show and Dateline.
We talked to Dr. Bill about colic and comforting our babies. Dr. Bill stresses the most important thing to know is that colic is a description it is not a diagnosis. He is getting away from using the word "colic." Colic is usually a five letter word meaning the doctor doesn't know. So, he changes the term to "the hurting baby!" As soon as you change the term, it motivates the doctor to find out why the baby hurts and the parents to search for reasons why the baby hurts so they can cope better.
There are several reasons why a baby may be hurting. There may be an underlying medical cause. Reflux is common in babies and Dr. Bill offers his remedies to deal with Reflux. The Rule of Twos. Twice as often and half as much feedings. When a baby gets fed more often but smaller amounts, the immature intestines are able to adjust. This is the most important and simplest tool. This also coincides with Shari Criso´s advice about small feedings because of the small size of a new baby´s stomach.
Allergy to Milk - either to the formula, cow´s milk-based formula or a food in a mother´s breastfeeding diet. Dr. Bill suggests the elimination diet. Eliminating all dairy and wheat or trying a hypoallergenic baby formula.
Improve Intestinal Immunity with Probiotics which is the same ingredient that can be found in breast milk. There is good bacteria and harmful bacteria in the intestines. Probiotics will assist in balancing bacteria so the good outnumbers the harmful. If it is reversed, it causes colic ("hurting baby").
Culturelle is a capsule taken once a day in the bottle. It is the same as eating yogurt and helps the intestinal floor /bacteria to be balanced.
Once baby is fed, it is also important to keep baby upright and quiet - no playing immediately after a feeding!
Keep in mind that colic is a common problem, affecting 10-25% of all newborns. It is defined as recurrent inconsolable crying in a healthy and well-fed infant. It usually begins at about two to three weeks of age, is at its worst at six weeks of age and then gradually improves and finally resolves on its own by three to four months. Most importantly, if you need help - just ask -- for your baby´s sake!
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