Colic and gas can cause a baby to cry for hours, but colic involves inconsolable crying at the same time each night, while gas can be treated with remedies like gas drops and burping. Colicky babies may also arch their backs and clench their fists, while babies with gas tend to be soothed by these remedies.
If your baby cries for hours for no obvious reason, it could be due to colic or gas. It is often difficult to distinguish between colic and gas as both involve crying for several hours for no apparent reason. Baby flatulence, however, can usually be treated with gas drops, burps, and other remedies, while colic cannot. Colic also typically occurs at the same time each night and usually causes the baby to arch their back, clench their fists, and lift their knees during the crying episode. Being aware of these symptoms should enable you to be able to differentiate between colic and gas in a baby.
Colic is defined as inconsolable fussiness and crying in a healthy baby for no apparent reason. It usually occurs in babies between the ages of three weeks and three months, and the crying typically lasts three hours at least three days a week for three or more consecutive weeks. Attempts to calm the baby are futile, especially since the baby usually pushes the parents away and continues to cry, regardless of the remedies used. On the other hand, babies with gas can usually be calmed down with drops of gas, by applying gentle pressure to the stomach, or by burping. If you try these remedies to no avail, you will probably see firsthand the difference between colic and gas and can assume that your baby has colic.
In most cases, fussiness colic occurs at the same time each day, with the worst episodes usually occurring in the evening. Gas, on the other hand, can occur at any time, particularly after meals. Note that some babies may have both colic and gas, in which case they may cry both after a feed and at the same time each day. Applying gas treatments to your baby can at least solve one problem.
Both colic and gas can cause babies to pull their knees up to their chests or assume a curled-up position, but babies with colicky also tend to arch their backs while crying. Clenching your fists and flailing your arms and legs are other actions you can expect from a colicky baby, which most babies with gas don’t tend to do. Colicky babies seem to not want to be held and may have difficulty when parents try to soothe them with touch or other remedies that normally soothe babies.
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