Disclaimer: Customer stories and testimonials on this page may speak to a customer’s individual experience with the Otteroo and their child’s impairment. These stories and testimonials may not reflect all Otteroo experiences. The Otteroo is intended to provide buoyancy to promote free movement in the water to support natural development and is not intended to diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent a disease or condition.
What Is Colic?
Colic is a common and stressful challenge for many new parents. It refers to frequent, intense, and prolonged crying or fussiness in an otherwise healthy baby, often for no apparent reason. While all babies cry, colic is defined by crying spells that last more than three hours a day, at least three days a week, for three weeks or longer. This phase can be exhausting, but it is temporary and not harmful to your baby’s long-term health.
How Long Does Colic Last?
Wondering how long you’ll have to cope with colic? The good news is that colic is temporary…even though it can feel neverending in the moment.
Colic typically begins when a baby is about 2 to 5 weeks old. For most infants, symptoms peak around 6 weeks and gradually improve over time. By the time your baby is 3 to 4 months old, colic usually resolves on its own.
But, every baby is unique, so the timeline can vary slightly. Some babies may outgrow colic a bit sooner, while a few may continue to have episodes for a little longer. If your baby’s crying spells persist beyond 4 months, or if you notice new symptoms, it’s a good idea to check in with your pediatrician to rule out other causes.
Key points to remember:
- Colic often starts: 2–5 weeks of age
- Peaks: Around 6 weeks old
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Improves and ends: By 3–4 months old for most babies
While colic can be exhausting and stressful, it’s reassuring to know this phase does not last forever and is not harmful to your baby’s long-term health.
How to Soothe a Colic Baby: Remedies and Practical Tips
If you’re searching for relief for your colicky baby, you’re not alone. While there’s no cure for colic, several simple approaches may help calm your baby and provide some relief:
- Holding and rocking: Gentle movement, whether in your arms or a rocking chair, can be calming for some babies.
- Swaddling: Wrapping your baby snugly in a lightweight blanket may provide comfort and a sense of security.
- White noise or soft music: Background noise, like a fan, white noise machine, or quiet music, can sometimes help settle a colicky baby.
- Offering a pacifier: Sucking is soothing for many infants.
- Giving a warm bath: The warmth and gentle sensation of water may help your baby relax.
- Burping frequently: Regular burping during and after feeds can help release trapped air and ease discomfort.
- Taking a stroller walk or car ride: Motion often helps lull babies to sleep or calm their fussiness.
- Skin-to-skin contact: Holding your baby against your chest can be very reassuring and soothing.
Some parents try gripe water, herbal supplements, or probiotic drops. However, research on their effectiveness is limited, and not all are recommended by pediatricians. Always check with your healthcare provider before trying new products or supplements for your baby.
Colic vs. Gas: How to Tell the Difference
Many new parents want to know the difference between colic and gas, since both can cause a baby to cry and seem uncomfortable. Here are some important differentiators:
- Colic is marked by frequent, intense crying spells that last more than 3 hours a day, at least 3 days a week, for 3 weeks or longer. Colic episodes often happen at the same time each day (usually evenings) and are difficult to soothe, regardless of feeding or position.
- Gas can make babies fussy, but the discomfort is usually shorter-lived. Gas-related crying often improves after the baby burps, passes gas, or has a bowel movement. The timing is less predictable, and babies are typically easier to comfort.
How to tell the difference:
- If your baby calms down after passing gas or burping, gas may be the cause.
- If crying is intense, lasts for hours, and doesn’t improve with feeding, burping, or soothing, it may be colic.
When Soothing Isn’t Enough: When to Seek Medical Advice
While many babies with colic get some relief with soothing techniques, it’s important to know when to seek professional medical advice. If your baby remains inconsolable or has any of the following symptoms, contact your healthcare provider promptly:
- Fever over 100.4°F (38°C)
- Unusual drowsiness or unresponsiveness
- Refusal to feed or poor feeding
- Forceful vomiting or blood in stool
- Failure to gain weight
- Inconsolable crying for long periods
If you’re ever unsure, trust your instincts and reach out to your pediatrician. Your baby’s health and safety always come first.
What to Expect at the Doctor’s Visit
When you seek medical advice for a colicky baby, your healthcare provider will ask about your baby’s symptoms, feeding, and behavior. They may perform a physical exam to rule out other causes of crying and ensure your baby is healthy.
Expert Insights: Interview with Dr. Candice Boyer
Dr. Candice Boyer specializes in neuromusculoskeletal medicine at the Lancaster County Osteopathic and Integrative Health Center in Pennsylvania. She incorporates supportive therapies, such as gentle osteopathic treatment and the use of the Otteroo, to help relax infants and make them more comfortable.
Part of your speciality is cranial osteopathy. What does that have to do with newborns?
We believe that the bones in the head actually move. Birth is a pretty big trauma, both for mom and baby, but specifically for baby. All those bones get squished together through the pelvis and the birth canal and then don't always expand the way they're supposed to with that first big breath and that first big cry. As osteopathic physicians, it's our job to find restrictions specifically in the head and the spinal cord, and take care of those restrictions so that the baby can grow.
What kind of restrictions would you find?
Challenges we see are babies that aren't nursing, babies that aren't latching on, babies that aren't sleeping, babies that if they went to the pediatrician would be determined to have "colic." Then babies with a big long medical term called plagiocephaly, which just means that the bones are misshapen, giving the baby an appearance of a flat spot on their head. Those are probably our main diagnoses that we see in newborns. Sometimes just in those preventative checks they're super tight. When they're tight enough that we know it's going to warrant a few treatments, we actually go ahead and start using the Otteroo.
How do you incorporate Otteroo into your practice?
If we decide to use the Otteroo, we'll do it once a week or once every other week and we really just start them in the tub for 15 minutes. Sometimes they hate it and only last a few minutes, and we try to push them to get to at least seven minutes. Our staff loves Otteroo because it's super easy to put on. Mom can see that baby's safe and that we're not choking them, because they're a little bit nervous sometimes at the beginning. Once they're done floating, the staff will actually massage them with some essential oils, then we put them in for an osteopathic treatment.
We get like 10 times more work done when we use the Otteroo than when we don't.
Explain what an osteopathic treatment looks like to someone who has never seen one.
Osteopaths start in all different locations, but I usually start at the pelvis. It looks like my hands are under their bottom and we allow them to kind of wiggle around and take care of some of the restrictions there. Then I work all the way up, treating their kidneys, livers, respiratory diaphragms, and then all the way up to the head. It's very gentle—it's not like we're cracking anything. It just looks like our hands are placed in different areas along the body. I'd say what you would notice is that 90% of babies cry when we get to their head. Not necessarily because it hurts, but actually physiologically as they cry they increase pressure and so it allows us to get through their restrictions a whole lot quicker.
Do you think every single baby could benefit from Otteroo?
I think as an osteopathic physician that, of course, I'm biased because this is what I do for a living, but I think every baby should be treated osteopathically. I would say babies that are extra tight, the Otteroo helps us get accomplished what we need to. Could most babies benefit from the Otteroo under good supervision? Absolutely.
FAQ: How to Soothe a Colic Baby & When to Call the Doctor
Q: Is it normal for babies to cry a lot?
A: Some crying is normal, but if it’s excessive or your baby seems unwell, seek advice.
Q: What if nothing soothes my colic baby?
A: If you’ve tried several soothing methods and your baby is still inconsolable, or if you notice any warning signs, contact your healthcare provider.
Q: Should I wait or call now?
A: If you’re unsure, it’s always safer to call your healthcare provider.