"In Mali, no babies have colic" -- Accurate?

Factual Questions
1

So, this sleep-deprived parent of a 7-week-old nightly screamer has repeatedly read in various baby publications that babies in Other Countries (Mali is commonly quoted) do not get colic. Here’s one website with just that assertion. Dr. Sears, Harvey Karp (author of Happiest Baby on the Block,) and others claim this is because the babies are always carried, share beds with their parents, and are breastfed constantly throughout the day.

I’ve read this claim so often, I begin wondering if it’s true–or if it’s one of those things that is cited more and more, and thus, assumed true.

If it is true, wouldn’t that make colic magically cureable with “Wear your baby everywhere, don’t put him down, share your bed with him, breastfeed several times an hour”?

(FTR, our son was diagnosed with colic at 4 weeks. It’s gotten progressively worse. Week 5-6, days were a nightmare; week 6-7, nights were psyche-shredding. This can end ANY TIME now, kiddo. ANY time.)

2

Sure, he can say that. He can say that because (wiki) "Since the cause is not conclusively established (see below) and the amount of crying differs between babies, there is no general consensus on the definition of “colic”.

What you list “Wear your baby everywhere, don’t put him down, share your bed with him, breastfeed several times an hour” included several of the treatments used- gentle bouncing or rocking, holding the baby upright, and breastfeeding.

Based upon this, colic is of course a smaller problem in areas and households that do those things. However, since they aren’t considered a 100% treatment, it’s extremely doubtful that Mali is somehow colic-free. But since there’s no solid definition of what baby-colic is, he can say it, using th “no true scotsman” method- i.e. since there are crying babies in Mali, he can just say it’s not colic.

Also suggested is "Some studies have found treatment with probiotics such as Lactobacillus reuteri, intended to reduce gas, is helpful."
I am not a real Doctor.

3

Not sure we want to take advice on health-related issues from Mali.

4

After living in Mali for two years, I can attest that a weak-kneed problem like colic doesn’t stand a chance against the heavy hitters like malaria, dysentery, guinea worm, cholera, hepatitis and good ol’ e-coli (amongst many others). Colic is probably ignored as a symptom of something far worse.

5

An interesting thing about numbers in Africa are the causal factors. Life expectancy for men in Africa is far greater than for women. The appalling death rate for women (and their babies) is largely due to lack of pre- and post-natal care, along with the tens of thousands of women and young girls who have died as a result of injuries inflicted during mass rapes, particularly in places like The Congo and Sierra Leone.

6

My sister in law just spent 3 months as a midwife in Mali (university internship). Babies get colic. They also get all kinds of other things too, but once in a while, it really is just colic.

7

The OP should immediately seek to infect his baby with all of the above in order to make the nights quieter*

*[sub]not real advice[/sub]

8

Once again, the SDope rocks! There’s aways somebody with hands-on knowledge, no matter how far away.

Of course it’s all relative. Mali is only on the other side of the planet for most of us.
If you want an answer from 150,000,000,000,000 kilometers away, you can go to this thread , where somebody asked about the Voyager spacecraft, and got an answer from a guy who designed its instruments.
And all within an hour or two after the first post in each thread.

9

Yes, when the baby has cholera, you’re not worried about the colic so much.

10

I carried my daughter practically all the time her first month, breastfed on demand, and she slept with me most of the time because, you know, the breastfeeding on demand thing…and she got colic. Must have been from the times I put her in the bassinette while I showered.

11

SHHHHH! He’s sleeping! He’s actually sleeping in the evening! No…one…breathe…

Anyway, seriously, this Mali et al belief is everywhere. A few more quotes–from KellyMom.com’s article on evening fussiness:

From Harvey Karp’s Happiest Baby on the Block, p. 75:

kittenblue, maybe you should have just packed up and vacationed in Bali until the colicky phase passed. Maybe we should do that, heck. Think insurance will cover it?

So, gotta wonder–how accurate are Karp’s and Dettwyler’s claims? Do the babies not get colic? Having bigger things to worry about is certainly a valid consideration. I just have to wonder if this is really a Western world issue.

12

Dr. Kathryn Dettwyler is a cultural anthropologist, not a medical doctor. Her statements are at best subjective observations or reported subjective observations, not medical facts. Maybe the mothers just don’t think the amount of crying the babies are doing is “abnormal,” (since apparently they quite commonly have a host of serious medical problems) so, when asked, “does your baby cry more than it should?,” they say “no.”

13

Anecdote rather than data. But in my experience African children do get far more close attention from their parents in their very early years than their western counter parts (i.e. close to 100%). Though once they are old enough to walk that drop off alot.

14

According to the newest medical theory “Colic” is possibly a failure of neuro-maturation, so that the baby is unable to self-soothe once crying begins, even if the cause is resolved (i.e. nappy changed, fed, winded etc). The theory is that by 4 months the brain has developed and the baby is able to self soothe once the immediate cause of the crying (hunger, tiredness, wet nappy etc) has been resolved.

I’m always curious why it is the attachment parenting style that is credited with the “no colic” result.

Why not the fact that most households in such societies don’t have electric light and so go to bed in the early evening?
Why not the fact that mothers in these societies often eat a diet limited to a simple staple grain or pulse with little variation in ingredients?
Why not the fact that the babies of different ethnic groups are known to have different crying patterns?

One study showed Caucasian American babies do actually cry more and are harder to settle than Native American, Japanese and Chinese infants, for example.
Cite: Freedman, D.G. (1979) Ethnic differences in babies. Human Nature, 2, 36-43
Summarised findings can be found in this paper.

15

The business about how infants in Mali supposedly never get colic sounds highly dubious to me. I’m reminded of many similar claims made by alternative medicine enthusiasts about Third World/primitive societies where various maladies are unknown or vastly less common, usually because of diet or consumption of some magical supplement. Genetic differences, bad or incomplete reporting and far worse disease due to other factors get ignored.

There’s also an unpleasant ring here of “blame the parent”.

I would like to see some statistics more compelling than “mothers in Mali tell me” to document what colic does or does not occur in that country, and to explain any differences from Western nations.

Incidentally, while Dr. Sears has quite a popular following, he has a less favorable reputation among pediatricians, in part because of his antivaccination views and promotion of an alternative vaccination schedule"

16

That’s some good advice :smiley:

17

I’m sorry. My son had it and I don’t remember sleeping much for the first 3 months. It goes away after that.

I was past the paragoric era so that wasn’t an option. My grandmother gave me a recipe to make my own formula. This did help keep him a bit more satisfied.

It was carnation canned milk, water and kayro syrup with a drop of liquid baby vitamins. A batch made about 7 large baby bottles. I don’t remember the exact recipe? I used this for both of my children and they were both very healthy. I tried every brand of formula on the market and this formula really helped with the colic.

Colic is tough. Hang in there!

18

We have found that the 5 S’s in HBotB by Karp quite effective- shush, sway, swaddle, suck, and side.

19

My second baby was colicky. I nursed him constantly, held him all the time, slept with him, and he still cried and cried. I felt guilty because obviously I wasn’t nursing him ENOUGH or holding him ENOUGH or something.

But that’s just the way he was. I did the same with my other (4) children and none of them were colicky. It was the baby, not me. Repeat, it’s the baby, not you.

Eventually (after a long, long, long time) it went away. Now he’s probably the sweetest and most generous of my children. He’s 10 and laughs to hear the stories of how much he cried as a baby.

90% of the stuff in parenting books is bullshit.

20

At this point I imagine the OP has tried everything, and as long as medical causes (reflux, lactose intolerance or a cow milk protein allergy) have been excluded and it is definitely just colic there really isn’t much new or exciting to be done- this is not an area with cutting-edge research.

Things to try:
Simeticone drops (Infacol is a popular brand here) some people swear by it, and there does seem to be some research that suggests it is better than placebo.

Distracting the baby- slings, walks, car-rides, pushing the pram over uneven ground, a warm bath, white noise.

Going through a checklist of reasons for the baby to cry (hunger, tiredness, wet, dirty, cold, hot).

Making sure to feed by demand and not by the clock at the times baby is most likely to fuss- lots of babies “cluster feed” in the early evenings- they are at the breast constantly for hours on end. Some babies who are fed on a strict schedule may be crying from hunger if they aren’t allowed to do this.

Have a routine, but be “baby-centred” and prepared to be flexible (e.g. put baby to sleep early if it is tired).

When all else fails- put the baby own somewhere safe for a short period of time ( say in the crib for 10 minutes), shut the door, take deep breaths, collect yourself and go back at the end of that time if the baby is still crying (it may have gone to sleep).

If you’ve done all of that and none of it works, all you can do it to try and get through it, get support from family and friends so that you have the odd night off and console yourself that it won’t last forever.

If things are emotionally very bad and the crying is affecting your relationship with each other or the baby, seek help.