I ran away from home!

Yesterday afternoon Mariana went into the pharmacy, murmured one good day, dropped into the waiting chair, and for a few seconds covered her face with her hands. Her hair was tied in a ponytail, she wore black leggings and a denim shirt whose buttons were almost all in the wrong houses.

After a few minutes she exclaimed: I fleed from home!

She got up and already with a look that showed all the lacking hours of sleep, she complained: I feel tired, without strength, and desperate for not knowing what to do, my baby cries so much! I

left her with her father and came looking for help. How can I stop the cramps?

Mariana is a first-time mother, her baby, Joana, is a month old. I followed very closely her pregnancy from the beginning and now her maternity.

With a calm voice I began the conversation with Mariana, explaining how it is normal for Joana to cry because it is her way of communicating with the world. She cries because she is hungry, she has a wet or dirty diaper, she is cold or hot, she is sick or simply uncomfortable. My eldest son, from the second week of life until about four months of age, was crying very angrily, waving his arms and legs as a sign of discomfort in the belly during certain periods of the day.

Why do babies have cramps?

Colic is the accumulation of gas due to the air that your baby swallows during breastfeeding and crying.

But there are things that you, parents, can do that help to alleviate:

• Change Joana’s breastfeeding position by placing her more upright, as it facilitates the expulsion of swallowed air.
• You should always belch her after breastfeeding even though the baby is not required to belch.
• Massage the belly clockwise and flit her legs over the abdominal area.
• Ask the father to put her in the “tree tiger” position, that is,

Lay Joana belly down over his forearm with the palm facing up holding the diaper area. The head should be resting on his elbow.

All this favors the expulsion of air, thus diminishing Joana’s discomfort.

As Mariana is breastfeeding, you should see if there is a connection between what you eat and Joana’s crying, because there may be some food that the baby will not tolerate due to the immaturity of her digestive system. Foods such as cow’s milk, citrus fruits, certain condiments, caffeinated beverages and gas beverages may cause a reaction in Joana.

Mariana should not feel guilty about having “run away from home”, leaving the daughter with her father or grandmother to breathe, as this is good and recommendable. Joana needs her mother to feel good in this new phase of her life. Required: leave the milk for the baby and turn off the “complicometer”!

Crying generates stress in the family dynamics, which in turn is felt by your baby and causes her to cry more. There is no better advice at this stage than a lot of cuddling, a lot of patience and pampering. Cramps troubles the babies and worries the parents. But the good news is that the cramps will pass.