Colic Is Not Your Fault

You've heard about this but you never thought it would happen to you. You are the proud brand new parents of a miserable, inconsolable newborn who does not stop screaming and who can't sleep and can barely feed! So much for the joys of parenthood

Sleepless nights are spent in complete sacrifice to try and remedy your child's numerous complaints and problems but those few moments of peace that you long for just never seem to come. Days run into weeks and you wonder how you could possible be such a rotten parent what you did to cause this.

Then you get the diagnosis from your pediatrician and uh oh – it's colic. Most parents have the right to dread this diagnosis simply because the word 'colic' is one of those throwaway diagnosis like fibromylagia or personality disorder. It has no meaning and a multifarious number of meanings at the same time. It is also a diagnosis that means 'it's nothing' while at the same time being a big deal that could keep you up at night and worried at night for as long as two years.

The first thing you need to realize is that colic is not your fault. It is one of those random acts of Mother Nature rigged to make you feel guilty but it its occurrence has nothing to do with you.

Colic is a condition that can sometimes only be managed rather than cured. Sometimes your doctor is reluctant to tell you this at first. After weeks of dealing with a cranky kid you might still be hoping that somehow that the next visit to your pediatrician can help you fix the colic. After three or four visits you are definitely going to get the impression that you are getting the bum's rush out of the doctor's office. You might even hear the line 'We've done all we can do.'

The best thing you can do for you and your baby is drop any kind of self –blame or negative self talk and realize that your child is in crisis and that you need to weather it through with him or her. Colic is the result of bad parenting, a lack of love or bad karma. It 'just happens' just like that other four letter word that starts with an S.

You need to keep in mind that for decades down that any time a kid screamed it was called colic. In fact all colic really means is a baby that is fussy because it is irritable.

Keep in mind that colic was never really defined. It was just a catchall phrase that was coined in an era when doctors did attribute cranky baby behavior to irresponsible parenting, spoiling the baby and all types of causes.

In a way it is an exciting time to have a baby who has colic because it is actually an area of infant care that is being revolutionized. The old theories are no longer being subscribed to and your problem is being considered more seriously not only by allopathic doctors but also by and alternative practictioners.

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Baby Sign Language

Baby Sign Language was supposed to be invented by a company called Baby Sign. However the jury is out on that one as it seems many companies nowadays are laying claim to the science. However to be far, the company has published a best selling book on the topic teaching your baby sign language called The Baby Sign Dictionary. It also runs and franchises programs and classes out of Baby Sign Institutes.

This company put forth its theories about babies to help mothers raise healthier and happier babies. Signing to your baby gives him or her a way to communicate before their tongues, lips and vocal cords have developed the coordination to allow them to speak.

Baby signing is simple for most moms, dads and other family members to learn because it is based on traditional American Sign Language (also known as ASL) it is used to communicate with individuals who are deaf. The company interviewed a focus group of parents and asked them to come up with the 100 most popular things that their babies try to communicate to them and then designed sign language to fit those requests.

Since hand-eye coordination is possible in advance of the acquisition of verbal skills, infants can learn to express their needs using simple signs for common words such as “eat”, “sleep”, “more”, “hug”, “play”, “cookie”, and 'milk”, etc., before they are able to produce understandable speech.

The great thing about Baby Signs is that you can start teaching it to your infants quite soon after they are born. Most children are ready to master it between seven and nine months. That is the age at which most infants have the eye and hand coordination to be able to sign a request to their parents.

Children who can sign have so far been show to have a higher intelligence quotient and a greater ability to learn a second language later in life.

Yet another benefit of Baby Signs is that it can help expand the vocabulary of a toddler. Once they have learned this simplified form of ASL most children continue to use it up until the ages of four and even five years old.

Studies done by Baby Sign also show that teaching your child sign language at an early age also stimulates brain development and gives your child of a head start when it comes to developing language and social skills.

Critics of Baby Sign say that it creates a reliance on non-verbal communication and therefore gives the baby no motivation as to how to learn how to speak. There have been no studies done to prove that this is true.

The benefits far outweigh the drawbacks when it comes to babies signing with the biggest benefit for a parent being able to enjoy a higher level of trust from your baby.

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