Baby Stair

How to Settle a Colicky Crying Baby
Author: C.L. Hendricks
To know how to settle a colicky crying baby, one must first understand that there is a real reason for the baby crying. According to the American Heritage Dictionary Online colic is: Severe abdominal pain caused by spasm, obstruction, or distention of any of the hollow viscera, such as the intestines; or a condition of unknown cause seen in infants less than three months old, marked by periods of inconsolable crying lasting for hours at a time for at least three weeks.
It’s the second type of colic that can be a trial for parents of newborns. There is nothing more frustrating than to have your baby crying continually. Not only does your baby’s distress tear at your heart, but it can be mentally and physically draining.
We asked a group of parents who had experienced a colicky crying baby. Here, sometimes in their own words, they share the various methods of settling a crying baby.
Remain Calm
aOne of the most important things and often the most difficult is for the parent or caregiver to try to stay calm, as the baby can feed off of the tension or negative vibes from the parent. If it gets to be too much, see if you can take a break (even a few minutes can help you refocus).a
White Noise
Many parents have found that soft background sound seemed to have the most effect; not only does it soothe the baby, but it also helps calm the parents. Often soft soothing music combined with the movement of a rocker or baby swing worked perfectly to settle a colicky crying baby.
Some parents discovered that running the vacuum cleaner was the perfect noise to quiet their crying baby. Another woman discovered that if she would place her baby in a baby seat and then set it on top of the clothes dryer. Then keeping the heat off, she would turn on the dryer. The combination of sound and vibration worked every time.
Keep Moving
aBabies can detect up/down, left/right and forward/back and are comforted when some combination of two of these movements. Rocking the baby in your arms while cradling him/her and going up and down on your toes will activate all three. This seems to soothe them, but be prepared to be doing this for a long time!a
Another mother found that it helps to sit on one of those exercise balls and gently bounce up and down, especially when the baby is naked and has skin-to-skin contact with you. Other parents swear by the rocking chair, a drive in a car, the baby swing or being pushed in the stroller.
Holding or Swaddling
Swaddling is done by wrapping a small blanket firmly, but not too tightly, around the body, this seems to comfort the baby. Another type of swaddling is accomplished by holding the baby close against your chest.
Massage/Warmth on the Tummy
Gently massaging the baby’s belly with a little almond oil in a clockwise motion has proven to sooth the baby. It also serves to relax the overstressed parents as well.
As one parent reported, aI have found from dealing with a colicky crying baby, that warmth on the tummy works wonders. I have done the warm rice pillows and a swing at the same time. He slept so wonderfully. It lasted until the swing stopped anyway.a
Peppermint
One parent suggested: aGive them peppermint water. Put one peppermint candy in a baby bottle filled with water. Then let the baby drink it. This works very well.a
Of course, before trying any of the suggestions above, one would want to make sure that the baby’s basic needs of a dry diaper and a full tummy have been taken care of. If those don’t settle a colicky crying baby, then try one, or all, of the suggestions above. Just remember you must be calm first. If it’s been going on too long, get someone to watch the baby and get away for an hour or two. Not only will the break help you, but it will help the baby to have a relaxed parent.
Frequently Asked Questions
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QUESTION:
How wide apart can stair banisters be and be safe for a baby?
What width would be safe (i.e. baby couldn’t stick their head through and get stuck) to have stair banisters apart for a crawling baby? They are currently 10cm apart in width along the corridor at the top of the stairs. Does anyone know if this is safe?-
ANSWER:
10cm is the Building Regulation maximum spacing between the ‘faces’ of the banisters.If you are really worried about baby, screw some solid boards on the inside of your banisters, along the stairs and landing, till he grows bigger.
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QUESTION:
Do any baby gates exist for stair cases where the banisters are not aligned?
I am unsure if this makes sense, but basically the bottom two wooden banisters of our staircase are not aligned – so we cannot use a normal baby gate, as they are usually created only for banisters that are parallel to one another. Has anyone encountered this problem? Any brands out there offering a solution?-
ANSWER:
You can get a custom baby gate that has several parts to extend further or at different angles. These are available on website or some children’s furniture stores. I’m sending a link of baby gates and on there are two:
Summer Infant Secure Wide Custom Fit
&
Northstates Superyardhttp://www.simplybabyfurniture.com/nursery-accessories-safety-gates.html
Happy shopping =)
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QUESTION:
24 weeks pregnant and i fell down stair. Is Baby alright?
I just fell down a flight of stairs. I hit every step extremely hard with my butt and my back is in alot of pain, however, i’m concerned about the baby. I’m trying to eat something to get baby to move. Has anyone ever had this happen to them? Was baby alright?-
ANSWER:
The baby is most likely fine. A lot of first-time mothers get scared when they fall. The baby is surrounded by both you and amniotic fluid, that’s a lot of protection. If you’re really worried though, there’s never anything wrong with seeing your obstetrician.This excerpt came from Beyond Fertility, “The truth is many pregnant women fall and go on to delivery full-term healthy babies. A baby is very cushioned by the amniotic fluid within the uterus. It would take a very hard blow to the lower abdomen to cause the bag of waters to bust. I even personally know a woman who fell down a flight of steps at seven months pregnant and she and the baby were unharmed, except for a few bruises on the mom’s arms and legs. The mother did go immediately to her physician to be checked out.”
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QUESTION:
Baby gate or something for a stair case with a rail on one side? ?
I have a 15 month old who I am constantly keeping away from the stairs!
I would love to be able to but a gate up, but with my staircase, there is a wall on one side, and the spokes of the rail on the other, so the gate I have won’t adhere to the other side. What can I use to keep him off the stairs? Any suggestions. . . ? Thanks in advance 
It will be for the bottom of the stairs.
And wooden rails-
ANSWER:
Just a couple questions before I make a suggestion. Are you looking to gate the bottom or the top of the stairs and is your railing metal or wood?Here’s a pretty good gate that has an installation kit for use with a banister: http://www.kidsmartliving.com/newrolkidgua.html
banister installation kit: http://www.kidsmartliving.com/kidguarsafga1.htmlOr here’s a baby gate installation kit for spindles that allows you to use virtually any gate against a stairway railing: http://www.kidsmartliving.com/negainkitfor.html
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QUESTION:
Baby gate and stair railing?
I need to get a baby gate for our stair case. The problem is, the only ones I can find are made to fit in doorways or they will attach to one railing and the other side is meant to be put against a wall. I need to find a gate that attaches to the rails on a stair case. Anyone else have this problem? Any suggestions would be great.
I thought about just buying a regular gate and attaching it with zip ties, but then realized that if I did that, we wouldn’t be able to get downstairs, lol!!-
ANSWER:
I know it sounds crazy,but try a dog gate.Most are made for areas like that,and open and close to making it better than jumping over.
You can also try flex-gate,or kid Co…are just a few.Good luck.
I actually had to call and order extension parts to fit my stair well since it is much larger than the normal fitting.
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QUESTION:
What are the best stair safety gates for a baby/toddler?-
ANSWER:
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QUESTION:
Stair gates & baby gates?
I am in the middle of moving house this week, going from a ranch style to a two-story home and I am on the hunt for baby gates. I am having trouble finding baby gates wide enough and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions or recommendations on gates that they like and what gates I should try to avoid.I need one stair gate for the top of the stairs that needs to fit 41″ wide, I want one the opens easily with a door or something. I also need an extra wide gate dividing the family room from the kitchen, which is 101.5″ wide and the third gate needs to fit a 53″ space.
This move is proving to be quit costly so I don’t have 0 to throw down on a super gate with a superdooper extension (especially seeing as I need three of them), I am trying to stay within a reasonable budget. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
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ANSWER:
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QUESTION:
Stairs w/ a baby and a stair-savy kiddo…?
Any thoughts on how to handle keeping stairs safe for a baby while also NOT locking an older child out (or in) the upstairs where all their stuff is? She’s old enough to handle stairs just fine, but not old enough to manage the child-proof latches on gates…
Thoughts?
(Putting the kid stuff downstairs isn’t an option as there is not room! The bedrooms & play rooms are all upstairs…)-
ANSWER:
Here is an idea. If your older one cant open the gate herself …DO IT FOR HERMy 16 month old son learned long ago how to undo the gate on the stairs and goes up and down them just fine (standing up) so we have to watch him closely(but the gate is always in place). I also have a SD who seems to think shes a baby and acts like she cant undo the gate(shes 7) so I have to undo it for her. Rule is do not go up and down the stairs if your going up stairs FINE but dont make a game out of it ..UP OR DOWN
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