How to do a massage for colic newborn?

The origin of infantile colic is not fully understood in science and medicine. But no doctor will deny the fact that more than 95% of babies from the age from birth to 3-4 months suffer from gas accumulation in the intestine. Colic is the unpleasant reality of newly-minded parents, and therefore there is nothing surprising in the fact that moms and dads of a screaming baby are looking for ways to make their lives easier and, of course, for themselves. One way to help your baby is a special massage. How to do it, we will explain in this article.

Before embarking on massage and other methods of dealing with infantile colic, you should make sure that the baby cries and is capricious because of them, and not for some other reason. Recognizing colic is quite simple: a child with intestinal spasm presses his legs, blushes, and weeds. The crying is sharp and demanding, the pains with colic are really quite strong. Most often, babies suffering from colic begin to cry when eating or immediately after feeding.

Causes of colic, as already mentioned, are not obvious. Pediatricians tend to see the cause in the imperfection of the production of enzymes and their insufficient level in the newborn, in the physiological immaturity of the intestine and the period of formation of its normal functioning.

Premature babies, babies born with low weight and hypotrophy, as well as large babies whose birth weight has exceeded 4 kilograms are more common than others. A particular risk factor is overfeeding. If the child is overfed, then he suffers from colic many times more often. Mistakes in breastfeeding or bottle feeding, when a child with a meal swallows air, also increase the likelihood of infant colic.

The peak of suffering occurs at the age of 0-3 months. Usually after this period, the child calms down, colic disappears. But for parents of a newborn, three months seem to be an incredibly long time, which must somehow be experienced.

Pediatricians offer many ways to eliminate them: synthetic drugs against colic based on simethicone - drops, applying heat (hot-water bottles or a diaper pre-ironed with an iron). A special place among the effective methods takes a special tummy massage.

Massage belongs to the category of treatment and prevention. It is used to alleviate the condition of infants who are already suffering from the accumulation of gas in the intestines, as well as for the prevention of colic in babies who have not yet complained of increased gas formation.

Massage may well be held at home, nothing complicated about it. His techniques are simple and clear, they are happy to show any pediatrician, whom you ask about it. But even without the presence of the doctor, the massage technique is not complicated, and we will describe it in detail below.

Massage helps to strengthen the weak anterior abdominal wall, improves peristalsis, promotes the discharge of intestinal gases, helps with constipation in infants, which are also found at an early age almost everywhere. The discharge of gases as a result of massaging movements relieves the spasm of the intestinal wall, pain decreases and disappears, gases move away, the child is able to sleep and eat calmly.

It is important for parents to understand not only how to properly massage, but when it is absolutely impossible to do it. This is a matter of principle, which can lead to serious complications and unpleasant consequences.

First of all, a baby’s abdomen massage is not performed if the abdomen is strongly swollen; a blue venous mesh is visible through the skin. If the baby's stomach looks asymmetrically, as well as in those cases where even a slight touch on the stomach causes sharp pain and a new bout of crying, massage is contraindicated.

Frequent constipation, vomiting, fever, general lethargy, lack of tone, the presence of a rash, wounds, abrasions, prickly heat, or an allergic rash on the tummy are all contraindications for a massage. With caution and only with the consent of the doctor, you can massage the tummy of a child with an umbilical or inguinal hernia. If the hernia is large and parts of internal organs go into the hernial bag, massage is prohibited at all.

Do not do massage and children with increased convulsive readiness, with epilepsy, severe disorders of the central nervous system. So kids put medical massage, which makes the professionals. At home, mother's actions can lead to a fit.

Before you start a massage, make sure that the room has the right microclimate, optimal for the newborn. The air temperature should be no higher than 21 degrees Celsius with a humidity of 50-70%.

The child needs to prepare a suitable place for the manipulation. An even and firm surface is optimally suited, on which the crumbs in the supine position of the vertebrae will not “sag”, but will be in the correct position. Changing table is ideal as a good place. If not, you can use the usual table.

On the table with the edge should be placed all the items and accessories that you need during the massage. Mom should not turn away from the baby for a minute: the height of the changing table, and the dinner table, is enough for a fall, burdened by severe traumatic consequences.

For the procedure you will need:

• oilcloth;
• several wet wipes in case the baby is described in order to quickly clear his skin of urine;
• disposable diaper;
• clean thermometer.
• baby oil or cream;
• some vaseline oil.

Mom should eliminate a manicure, if she has one, shortly cut her nails, remove rings and bracelets.

Hands wash in warm water with baby soap, if necessary, treated with an antiseptic (suitable "Miramistin»).

The baby is stripped, a few minutes is given to him to take an air bath in a vertical position, to get used to the air temperature, after which he needs to be laid on a massage place covered with a disposable diaper over oilcloth fabric, and upside down.

Mom's hands at the time of the start of the manipulation must be warm. It is also possible to apply a warm (not hot) diaper pre-ironed to the tummy of the crumbs for a few minutes. Having warmed your own hands and belly of the baby, you can begin.

• Soften your own hands with cream or oil (if there is no massage, you can use any vegetable). Apply a little bit on the tummy and spread evenly.
• Massage the abdomen with light circular movements of the open palm, without affecting the umbilical wound. Avoid pressure with the palm: pressure can cause an attack of pain in the baby. Exercise is performed 10-12 times.
• With your index and middle finger, with a slightly more tangible pressure, start “drawing” a spiral on the tum - from the navel to the ribs with an increase in each subsequent coil.
• The following exercises will resemble the movement of the blades of a water mill. Put both hands on the tummy, palms down. One arm massages the transverse muscles, and the other - oblique.
• With one hand, grab the baby's legs in the lower legs, and with the other, start the movement from the lower left corner of the abdomen up to the diaphragm, parallel to it and down. You, therefore, draw the letter "P". It is important to start on the left side, on the side of the descending part of the intestine. This will help "push" the accumulated bubbles of intestinal gases to the natural physiological exit to the outside - to the anus.
• Lay the baby on its side. Carefully spend an open palm on the back with the transition to the lateral muscles. In this second hand, you need to push the legs bent at the knees to the stomach. After 10-15 such exercises, turn the child to the other side and repeat everything again.

• Return the child to the position on the back, grab the legs in the area of ​​the feet, do a few synchronous and alternate insertions of the legs to the tummy ("Bicycle", "Squats").
• Carefully, gently and gently stroke the tummy again, the movements should be soothing.
• Move the legs to the stomach and help the child empty the intestines, if he has constipation, lubricate the anus with vaseline oil and easily irritate him with a thermometer. If there is no constipation, it is not necessary to stimulate defecation. Usually after the end of the massage, if it is carried out correctly, the child will poke as soon as possible.

There are other methods of massage effects from gazikov that bring the baby a lot of suffering. So, a “belly-to-belly” massage is quite effective. Mom puts her baby on her naked belly with her naked belly, and then begins to breathe evenly, lifting the abs. The tummy of the baby will be in constant heat, and also it will be stimulated by my mother's belly.

There is also acupressure with increased gas formation. The reflex points responsible for intestinal function are located on the foot under the toes, just above the ankle and under the knees. You should first familiarize yourself with the location of these points. Massage them without pressure, with circular movements with your finger clockwise and counterclockwise 10 times each.

Yevgeny Komarovsky, a pediatrician, whose opinion is listened to by millions of mothers and grandmothers around the world, believes that the infant colic should be treated as a kind of inevitability. There is not a single effective pharmacy remedy for them, and everything that is sold is, in essence, harmless, but completely useless drugs.

However, massage Komarovsky recognizes a fairly effective way to alleviate the condition of the child. He, of course, will not relieve completely from colic, but will significantly improve his condition. The doctor urges the mothers to do the massage very carefully, avoiding the strong acupressure of the fingers on the baby’s tender abdominal wall and intestines.

In addition to massage, the mother, according to Evgeny Komarovsky, should review the attitude to feeding, give the baby the breast correctly, make sure that he does not choke during meals and does not swallow air.

Laying out on the tummy, Yevgeny O. considers it useful and necessary, but only during wakefulness, but leaving the infant to sleep in such a position for the prevention of colic is a real parental crime. It is in the prone position that babies most often die from sudden infant death syndrome.

Many mothers claim that they carry out preventive massage from colic and constipation to the child several times a day and this allows the crumbs to empty the bowels regularly, and also to suffer less from the accumulation and pressure of gasses on the intestinal walls.The effectiveness of this effect has been tested by many generations of adults who raised children by massaging their tummies.

Mothers who carry out such a massage at least twice a day, note that their children begin to roll over on their side, back from the abdomen, because the massage strengthens the rectus abdominis muscles.

Not all babies, it should be noted, without a riot belong to such manipulations.

For information on how to massage against the colic in children, see the following video.