Why do babies flail their arms and legs

Colic is when a healthy baby cries more than 3 hours a day for 3 or more days in a week. If this happens 3 weeks in a row, your baby may have colic. The cause of colic is unknown. Although healthy babies can have colic, crying can also be caused by physical problems.

Your child should be seen by a doctor. Colic usually begins by 2 to 3 weeks of age and lasts up to 3 or 4 months of age. The crying may or may not occur at the same time each day, but usually happens more often in the evening. The baby does not stop crying when usual ways of comforting, such as holding and feeding, are tried. The colicky infant usually shows these signs:.

No one knows the real cause of colic, but some things that may be related include:. There is no sure treatment for colic, so it may be difficult to comfort your crying baby. The following suggestions have been tried by other parents who have had colicky infants:. Call your child's doctor if your baby has any of these symptoms:.

Colic is a common concern. It affects 1 in 4 infants and can cause the entire family a great deal of distress. Usually colic will end between the infant's third and sixth months of life. Your baby may be able to shake a rattle or a toy that is placed in her or her hands — and drop it when no longer interested in it. Vision will also start to improve as your little one develops the ability to follow a moving object with his or her eyes and reach out for nearby objects. Infants need to practice their skills.

While babies should never sleep on their stomachs, give your child supervised tummy time during waking hours. While lying on the belly, your little one can practice lifting his or her head and strengthening the neck, arm, and shoulder muscles.

Your baby may get fussy and frustrated in this position, so keep the first sessions of tummy time brief and gradually lengthen them. Feel free to play around with what works best for you and your baby.

While the exact details and the order in which you do them may not matter too much in the end, we will point out that there is a good reason why we recommend folding the bottom of the blanket up before flipping the last corner across ie, step 5 always before step 6 and always tucking corners under your baby: Doing so helps to keep your handiwork from coming undone quite as easily.

We personally have tried bundling both ways with good results. One thing most child health experts do agree on, however, is that a baby's hips should not be bundled too tightly. Instead, they should be allowed to relax in their natural frog-leg positions to allow for proper growth and joint development.

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