Thinking Moms’ Guide to Red Flags: Colic

red flag - colic
Crying.

It is a sound that puts most people on instant alert.

Especially when it is an infant in distress.

Mother’s and father’s intuition is crucial to get to the cause of the alert, to fix it and calm the child. It is the earliest form of communication.

But what if your child is inconsolable? What if your baby screeches in pain at ear-splitting levels?

In most cases, this causes such alarm and distress to the family, they rush to their pediatrician for advice, desperate for answers and relief.

After explaining their child’s plight, the doctor most likely does a basic check of the baby, and proceeds to reassure them the baby is fine and most definitely not in pain.

The doctor’s reasons for screams:

  • birth trauma
  • gas

The doctor’s reasons for crying:

  • colic
  • spoiled from being held too much
  • tummy is not full during feeding

The doctor’s advice:

WAIT IT OUT, which may take up to three months.

These flippant answers send distraught parents home with no real answers or ideas for helping their infant, and they end up feeling worse than they did before. They feel hopeless and spend months deprived of sleep and in constant panic mode because, deep down, they know something is very wrong.

They will spend their sleepless nights researching, and it won’t take long to find some valuable information to put their baby, and their minds, at ease.

Colic, by definition, is caused by gastrointestinal discomfort in the intestines or colon.  This is well-known in medical, scientific, veterinary, pathology, historical, and British circles, but American doctors still send parents home telling them everything is fine, when studies have shown that simply eliminating cow’s milk and/or using probiotics can significantly decrease discomfort and irritability.

beaker baby

Although the high-pitched scream differs from the constant crying of colic in duration, it is similar in the sense that there is something wrong: The baby is in pain. Even though your concern may be dismissed by your doctor, there is some very strong evidence supporting your concern.

The University of Michigan Health System says parents should be on the lookout for these warning signs of infant pain:

  • Facial expressions, including grimacing, furrowing the brow, squeezing eyes shut, opening the mouth or having deep lines form around the nose;
  • A high-pitched, insistent cry that lasts longer than usual, although some very sick babies may be too weak to cry at all;
  • Stiffness throughout the body, or flailing and squirming. Some very sick or premature babies may appear limp;
  • Behaving irritably and not responding to comforting or feeding; or
  • Not eating or sleeping.

A 1988 article in the New York Times, discusses a study that gives parents confirmation as well as insight:

“When parents hear this cry, their heart rate shoots up,” Dr. Zeskind said. “It’s intensely disturbing, even annoying. It’s a signal that something’s odd about that baby.”

The ultra high-pitched cry, which typically shifts in and out of falsetto screech, can be heard in the first day or two of life in many infants and often disappears as the effects of the trauma of birth pass. If the cry persists into the first month of life, Dr. Zeskind found, it might signal problems in the infant’s nervous system that should be checked by a pediatrician.

Dr. Zeskind, using a sophisticated acoustical analysis, determined the range of a normal baby’s cries compared to babies in sharp pain. His research “pinpointed a distinctive ultra-high-pitched cry . . . something like a high-pitched whistle on a teapot — that can indicate the presence of neurological problems.”

A four-part YouTube presentation provides us with more detail:

“It has been established that the infant cry is a reflection of complex neurophysiological functions and that analysis of the cry can be utilized to identify the medical abnormalities, including encephalitis, Down syndrome, kernicterus (brain damage caused by jaundice), cleft palate, various forms of brain dysfunction, and extreme cases of SIDS, according to the study in the official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.”

How does this happen? How do so many young babies screech and arch their backs in such a terrifying way?

The most common cause appears to be encephalitis, which according to the Merck Manual, is an acute inflammatory disease of the brain due to direct viral invasion or to a hypersensitivity reaction to a virus or other foreign protein.  It can also be a secondary immunologic complication of a viral infection or vaccination.  Even though many different viruses can cause encephalitis, it is considered a rare reaction.  Granted, most of the viruses that can cause it are not circulating in the child population much these days, except flu viruses.  However, we believe that encephalitis is actually much more common than is generally believed; it is just not being recognized for what it is.  Parents are commonly told that their children’s response is “normal.” Or they are told that what is happening to their children has nothing to do with the vaccines they received earlier that day or in the few days prior.  Pediatricians do not appear to be educated in the possibility that most vaccines can cause brain inflammation.

Russell Blaylock, MD, had this to say about vaccine-related encephalitis and doctors:

. . . many of the mothers noticed that their children had a high-pitched cry soon after their vaccination or vaccinations. This is called the encephalitic cry, meaning that it is caused by an inflamed, swollen brain. It also explains the difficulty many mothers have in waking their children, the vomiting, passing out and irritability following vaccinations. These are all signs of an inflamed brain.

The reason that pediatricians are telling these mothers that their children’s reactions to these vaccines are normal is based on at least two factors. One, most pediatricians, in my experience, know absolutely nothing about a child’s brain. When I was practicing, if anything happened to a pediatrician’s patient that in any way indicated something was wrong with the child’s brain, the doctor was on the phone with me in an instant. Most admitted they knew nothing about the brain. The second reason is that they are trying to avoid a lawsuit. If they can convince the mother that everything is well, they may avoid a trip to the courtroom. Most physicians are gun-shy about lawsuits. It can also hurt their reputation.  — Russell Blaylock, MD, Foreword to Vaccine Safety Manual for Concerned Families and Health Practitioners, 2nd Edition, by Neil Z. Miller

If you have read this far, someone you love probably has or had these symptoms. If you suspect your child has encephalitis, seek care immediately.  As Dr. Blaylock said, many pediatricians do not know much about how encephalitis affects the brain, especially in the long-term.  Many parents who have heard those cries wish they had been more proactive in seeking out alternative MDs, such as MAPS doctors, naturopathic, or homeopathic practitioners who could help detoxify their children’s bodies and heal their brains.  In addition, if your child develops encephalitis as a result of one or more vaccinations, you should do your best to get the reaction documented.  Parents who do so have a much easier time getting compensation from the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program if it comes to that.

This is the reason we put ourselves out there and tell our stories. After going through the horror of realizing our children’s health has been severely damaged, all we want to do is try to keep it from happening to others. This sort of thing should not be happening to so many children. We need to stand together to protect our right to choose which medical treatments our children will receive, and only after full disclosure of the risks and side effects.

~ Green Bean Girl

Green Bean Girl is the mother of a 17-year-old son who was damaged by the hepatitis B vaccination he received at two-days old. The high-pitched ear piercing scream that occurred multiple times a day and followed every yawn  lasted for months.

To read stories from mother’s of children with encephalitic cries:
http://www.vaccinetruth.org/new_page_1.htm
http://community.babycenter.com/find/sa?sa=+&q=encephalitic+cry

A study on the prevalence in GI disorders in infants and toddlers:
Prevalence of functional gastrointestinal disorders in infants and toddlers.
More studies on probiotics and eliminating cow’s milk:

Which treatments for infantile colics? [translated from the French]
Prevention of functional gastrointestinal disorders in neonates: clinical and socioeconomic impact.
Prophylactic use of a probiotic in the prevention of colic, regurgitation, and functional constipation: a randomized clinical trial.
To read more from Green Bean Girl, click here.

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13 Responses to Thinking Moms’ Guide to Red Flags: Colic

  1. Pingback: Thinking Moms' Guide to Red Flags: Head Banging - The Thinking Moms' Revolution

  2. Susan Pearce says:

    My oldest child, a colicky baby, had the encephalitic cry after his first set of vaccines and after his second set. I should have stopped drinking milk because since I was breastfeeding, this was probably what caused the colic. He slept for several hours one night (I think it was about 8 hours) at about age 2 months, but after he got the first set of vaccines, he went back to waking up frequently at night.

    This was in the late 1970s when they gave the DPT vaccine and the oral polio vaccine at the same time. They gave the first vaccines at age 2 months, the second ones at 3 months, and the third ones at 4 months. I wish I had never let my children receive any vaccines.

    This first child had a learning disability and I have no doubt that the vaccines were the cause. I believe it was the nurse who told me that a little brain swelling was nothing to worry about. I was probably told to give him Tylenol.

    For my second child, they gave the first vaccines at 2 months, the second ones at 4 months, and the third ones at 6 months. I remember thinking that it was better for my babies if I would put off the vaccines a few days rather than let them be given right at the recommended time. That shows you how trusting I was; actually thinking I was doing a good thing by putting off the vaccines for a few days. If only I had just listened to my mothering instinct and had refused all vaccines, my children’s lives would have been much better. When this child was about five years old, we found that he was nearly blind in one eye. After I found out about the dangers of vaccines in the late 1990s, I wondered if they had caused the blindness.

    • ProfessorTMR says:

      Susan, I remember thinking something similar. My daughter was born at home and didn’t see a pediatrician till she was 9 days old. At which point, she got the hepatitis B shot. I congratulated myself that she didn’t get it at birth. *smh* I sure wish I could take that back and every other vaccine she got that year before I wised up.

      • Susan Pearce says:

        Yes, you had the same feeling that I had, thinking a few extra days was a good thing. Then when we finally saw the truth about vaccines, we realized that no vaccine is ever safe enough to give to our precious children, or to ourselves, for that matter. It’s because of my regret in letting my children be vaccinated that I feel I should warn other parents when I can. Ever since the late 1990s, right after I started learning about vaccines, I have done my best to help other people open their eyes, as I finally did after 20 years of letting my children get whatever I was told was necessary.

    • Susan Pearce says:

      I was thinking about my comment above, this morning, and I realized that I had forgotten when I wrote it that my children got only the DPT when they got their third round of vaccines. They were not given the oral polio for that round but they did get oral polio during their first two rounds. I believe that could have been why my first child screamed and had the swollen fontanelle (swollen brain) for the first two times he had vaccines, but didn’t have the same reaction the third time, probably due to not getting the oral polio vaccine at the same time as the DPT. I think it’s likely that the DPT opened the blood-brain barrier and allowed the live polio viruses and who knows what else, into his brain.

  3. Colic came on both my children at 8 to 10 weeks. The second child was much worse- we were up for three days before someone suggested chitopractic. One simple adjustment to my son’spine (had been bent over in utero for nine months) and he slept for 8-10 hours from then on out.

    • Susan Pearce says:

      I so wish I had known about chiropractic adjustments and the good that they can do for a newborn. It might have really helped all of my children, but especially the colicky one.

  4. Katie says:

    My older son was colicky on and off from about 3 weeks old. Sleep continued to be a nightmare throughout his babyhood and he went on to develop food allergies and eczema. By the time he was 3 he was about 75% of the way to an autism diagnosis, he had verbal dyspraxia, dreadful anxiety (separation anxiety started at 6 months), had pica (eating non-food objects), sensory processing issues, poor motor skills and co-ordination and very low energy levels as well as other problems.

    Once we identified his food intolerances (gluten, dairy, corn, soy, salicylates, amines, phenols, glutamates, sulfites), started addressing his oxalate toxicity and started fixing the vitamin and mineral imbalances which caused the intolerances, the behaviours all started to go away. Within a year, with dietary & nutritional interventions, they were pretty much all gone.

    My younger son also had colic in the early days, but me going dairy free fixed it. However, he also had the same vitamin and mineral deficiencies as my older son, just fewer symptoms.

  5. Amanda Penn says:

    My oldest daughter, who is now eighteen, had collic starting the day after she was born. She has had speech problems, severe dyslexia and dysgraphia and a.d.d. Her colic didn’t end for six months. It was horrible. I felt helpless. She would curl up in a ball and scream. The doctor did act like it was no big deal. To me it was and I’m sure it was to her. She still has stomach upsets more frequently than most people.

  6. Christy says:

    “. . . many of the mothers noticed that their children had a high-pitched cry soon after their vaccination or vaccinations. This is called the encephalitic cry, meaning that it is caused by an inflamed, swollen brain. It also explains the difficulty many mothers have in waking their children, the vomiting, passing out and irritability following vaccinations. These are all signs of an inflamed brain.”

    This is very close to what happened after my 3rd son’s two month shots. I had just started researching vaccines and had not made up my mind, yet, foolishly, went ahead with them instead of waiting. I told the pediatrician I was researching and unsure if we would continue and was told she could not be our doctor if we decided to stop. After his shots, he had a similar reaction described above – fever, vomiting, high-pitched cry, inconsolable. The pediatrician told me it was “normal”, of course. When we went for his four month “well baby” check-up, we declined shots and she dropped us.

  7. I sat in the waiting room with my daughter to take my 2 month old granddaughter in for her 2 month check up,while there I read a pediatric magazine that reported that some degree of brain swelling with the MMR vaccine was not uncommon and not to worry too much,simply administer tylenol or childrens motrin. It was such a flippant remark and advice that in reading it I could hardly believe that something like your childs brain swelling was something that was considered “worrying” but not to fret you can simply give them over the counter medication and all is fine. My daughter was told never to return to this clinic as we refused vaccines. The brain IS very fragile not only in NFL players but small children in particular.

    • ProfessorTMR says:

      Not only that, Sandra, but Tylenol will COMPOUND the problem. Many of the children who have strong reactions to vaccines also have difficulty detoxifying after the vaccines due to lowered glutathione levels. The Tylenol lowers those levels further, making it that much harder for the child to recover.

      • Susan Pearce says:

        I regret having given my children Tylenol when they were vaccinated. I trusted the medical professionals completely and boy, am I sorry about that misplaced trust. I should have trusted my intuition and they wouldn’t have gotten any vaccines, let alone Tylenol. It wasn’t until my oldest was in his teens that I learned that methods of reducing fevers were usually never needed and that fever was a necessary process that was part of God’s plan when He made our bodies.

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