Do babies cry when they’re in pain?
To make this a very quick read - yes, babies certainly do cry in pain. In days gone by, when nappies were pinned with large metal pins, pretty much any mother who had accidentally poked a little too hard in the wrong direction could testify to that.
But what could possibly cause an infant pain?
Besides teething, where the cause of pain is fairly in-your-face, babies can be in pain from all sorts of reasons. If your baby kicks up a fuss midway through feeding or not long after, is generally an “unsettled baby” that won’t allow you much rest, or never seems to just relax against mum or dad like other babies, or screams bloody murder for hours a day, your little one might have something else going on…
Build up of gas - with incomplete lactose digestion, comes poor gut motility, where milk sits in the intestines and ferments. This is painful wind, and just like in adults, can cause a lot of discomfort. Incomplete lactose digestion may have a root cause from a number of reasons - there may have been a twist through the abdomen during birth, which has left a bit of a kink, or bottleneck, in the digestive tract. There may be a lack of the lactase enzyme, which can be bought in droplet form at the pharmacy. This may be a sign of lactose intolerance, particularly if it runs in the family.
Headache - if forceps, vacuum or ventouse were used to get baby out during labour, that’s an awful lot of force to go through a very tiny head. Babies are well designed for the “squishing” aspect of birth, but the “sucking” aspect that comes with vacuum or forceps is a bit harder to cope with sometimes. The forces used in these cases often mean that when baby sucks on the nipple or bottle teat, it’s much harder work for them as they don’t get as much help from the muscles around their head as they should. This can sometimes mean they give up sucking before they’re full, or kick up a fuss during feeding as they’re not getting the milk in as quickly as they would like.
Postural discomfort - if they got a little stuck in the last trimester, they may have been sitting a little twisted for a while. If they got a little more stuck in the birth canal or had to be delivered through C-section, the obstetrician will have had to pull them out, where some twisting force is necessary to get enough traction on baby. It’s absolutely a necessary thing to do, to make sure baby gets delivered safely, but it can lead to a preference to always look one direction, or an overall “banana” shape when baby is lying on their back. The banana shape means that the muscles on one side of the spine are a bit tighter than the other.
During treatment, I assess for all these things and more, and have a variety of gentle techniques I can use to help untangle baby, and make for a more comfortable journey through the digestive tract and beyond.
Book in your baby with Dr Anna Brown
Treatment for babies warrnambool
Baby Osteopath Warrnambool
Unsettled baby treatment
Why is my baby crying?
Is my baby in pain?
Colic treatment
