Wind and Colic in Babies: Telling Them Apart
Trapped wind and colic look similar and are not the same. What causes each, how to reduce swallowed air, and how to get through the colic months.
It is six in the evening, she has been screaming for ninety minutes, and everyone has an opinion about wind.
Wind and colic get used interchangeably and they are not the same thing. Which one you are dealing with changes what helps.
The difference
Trapped wind is air in her digestive tract. It has an identifiable cause, it responds to winding and position, and it passes.
Colic is a pattern of prolonged crying in an otherwise healthy, well-fed baby, usually late afternoon and evening, repeating over weeks. Its cause is not established, and it settles on its own at around 3 to 4 months.
A baby with wind usually settles once it comes up. A baby with colic often does not settle whatever you do, which is the more exhausting of the two by a distance.
Swallowed air is the part you can control
Not all wind comes from swallowed air. Swallowed air is the part within your influence.
At the breast: a deep latch with a good mouthful of areola rather than the nipple alone. Feed her before she is frantic, because a frantic baby gulps. A more upright position if your let-down is forceful. Wind her when you swap sides.
Clicking sounds during a feed usually mean air is getting in, and usually mean the latch needs adjusting.
With a bottle: a slow-flow teat, so she is not gulping to keep up. Keep the teat full of milk rather than half air. Hold her fairly upright with the bottle close to horizontal. Pause every few sucks. And a vented bottle, which lets air in by a separate route rather than through the milk.
Mama's Choice Anti-Colic Baby Bottle uses dual vents for exactly this.
Venting reduces swallowed air. No bottle prevents colic, and one that claims to is selling you something.
Getting wind up
Upright, against your shoulder or sitting supported on your lap, hand under her chin, gentle rub or pat on the back.
Tummy time, awake and supervised, which puts light pressure on her abdomen.
Bicycle legs, cycling them gently while she is on her back.
A clockwise massage on her stomach, following the direction of the intestine.
A warm bath, which relaxes everything including the abdominal wall.
None of these is dramatic. Together they resolve most episodes.
Getting through colic
Honestly: colic is something to be got through rather than solved, and the goal is protecting you as much as her.
- Movement helps. Walking, a sling, a rocking chair
- White noise, a fan or an extractor
- Dimmed lights in the evening
- A dummy, if she takes one
- Swaddling, if she is not yet rolling and her hips are free
And the part that matters most: never shake a baby. If you have reached the end of your patience, put her somewhere safe like her cot, walk out of the room for a few minutes, and breathe. A crying baby in a safe place is far better than a baby held by someone who has nothing left.
Asking your partner, your mother or a friend to take over is not a failure. Research links colic to guilt, anger and despair in parents, to a higher risk of postnatal depression, and to breastfeeding stopping earlier than intended. Those are reasons to get help, not reasons to try harder on your own.
About the remedies
Simethicone drops have not consistently been shown to work for colic. Generally safe, and not something to rely on.
Probiotics cannot be generalised. The evidence relates mainly to one strain, Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938, and mostly in exclusively breastfed babies. Other probiotics have not shown the same results.
Cow's milk protein allergy is not an automatic explanation. Without other allergy signs, a rash, repeated vomiting, blood in stools, or poor weight gain, the link to colic remains unclear. Do not stop a milk or start an elimination diet without medical guidance.
When it is not colic
Crying needs a doctor when it comes with:
- A fever in a baby under three months. Always urgent
- Repeated or projectile vomiting
- Refusing feeds, or feeding much less
- A baby who is floppy, hard to rouse, or crying without pause
- Blood in her stool, or weight not increasing
- Any change that makes you feel something is wrong
That last one counts. Parents notice changes before they can describe them, and it is a perfectly reasonable thing to take to an appointment.
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This article is for information only and is not a substitute for diagnosis or medical advice. Please discuss your own situation with your midwife or doctor.
