European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 03, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Baby s screams test patience of parents by Sally Souires Washington Post question what five letter word sends new parents running Lor cover answer Colic. Few who have had to Cope with a Colicky baby Ever quite forget the experience. It is just an overwhelming sense of helplessness said Maria Vorel of Alexandria whose year old daughter Sara suffered from Colic Lor 3vi months and could Only be consoled by being lightly held Lor hours you can Tell thai Hoy Are in pain and you just Loci this overwhelming sense that there is not enough that you can do Lor your baby and Al the same Lime you Are totally exhausted it s a real rigorous ordeal Tho symptom of Colic inconsolable High pitched crying that lasts lot hours on end usually Start suddenly at about month of age and persist until about 3 months when they disappear As mysteriously As they began during attacks Colicky babies turn from easygoing gurgling infants into screaming meanies who try the patience of their parents i Felt like i could t Lake it anole or minute  said Ann Boas of the District of Columbia whose 23-month-old daughter Rebecca suffered from Colic for nine weeks i remember her screaming being completely inconsolable and Leeling so completely inadequate. Nothing we did could Slop her from screaming and she cried All Day  one of the biggest stumbling blocks to treating Colic is that doctors still can t agree on us symptoms or its cause the word Colic comes from the greek word for Colon since the earliest theories suggested that babies were screaming from gastrointestinal distress. Since then it has been suggested that Colic could be caused also by allergies nerve disorders and hyper reactivity. What s puzzling is that breast led babies experience Colic just As frequently As do formula fed infants. There really in t any Standard definition of Colic said William Carey a paediatrician in private practice who also studies Colic at the University of Pennsylvania. The very term Colic is a Misnomer. I think we would do better to Call it excessive  As a result the number of infants thought to suffer from the condition varies widely. Estimates Range from 10 percent to 30 percent of All newborns. Many of those cases probably include other disorders. We need to Stop using Colic As a garbage category Lor kids said Barry Lester a paediatrician who does Colic research at Brown University school of Medicine. Help could come from results of two studies presented recently at the annual meeting of the american paediatric society and the society for paediatric research. One study of 16 babies by Lester and his colleagues at Brown lends support to the theory that Colic May be caused in some infants by problems with the vagus nerve that helps govern such wide ranging functions As the gastrointestinal tract the oesophagus movement of the Tongue Pharynx and Larynx and some hearing. Lester and his colleagues screened children thought to have Colic they Only included infants in the study who had sudden High pitched crying that lasted for three hours a Day and occurred at least three limes a week for Al Toast three weeks the babies were inconsolable during an attack in addition they became rigid and often threw themselves backward when they cried by applying this More rigorous definition of Colic. Lester said he believes that he screens Oul babies who May be suffering from other problems when Lester and his colleagues Analysed babies cries during an attack they found that the babies with Colic omitted a significantly higher pitched cry than a group of control infants without Colic. The Colicky cries also had greater variability in frequency and More sound turbulence than the cries of babies in the control group. Difference also emerged in How mothers of Colicky babies viewed their children when compared with the mothers of control infants. Mothers of the babies with Colic perceived their infants cries As More urgent and grating than mothers of the control infants Lester said. The mothers of infants with Colic described their Chillon s cries during an attack As More piercing and arousing. They reported feeling sadder and More helpless than did Tho other mothers these differences persisted to 3 months of age when mothers of Colicky infants rated their babies As having a More fussy and difficult temperament than did the mothers of control infants Lester said. When Lester and his colleagues measured the activity of the vagus nerve in babies with Colic they Lound in was overstimulated. In a Cults and infants without Colic the vagus nerve is stimulated about three times a minute according to measurement by an egg or  that measures activity of the gut and is controlled by the vagus nerve. But if you make an adult nauseous or nervous then stimulation jumps from three cycles a minute o seven to 10 cycles a minute Lester said. It s the Leeling of butterflies in the  Colicky babies in the study showed the same gastric stimulation and stomach tension which Lester believes is caused by overstimulation of the vagus nerve. We think this is what is going on in at least some Colicky kids Lester says. Hyper simulation of the vagus nerve could also explain the High pitched cry heard during Colic attacks Given that the vagus nerve also stimulates the Pharynx and the Larynx. Lester said. Whal might cause Tho vagus nerve to be overstimulated is still not known. It could be that babies with Colic overreact to their surroundings or they May be overstimulated because they have not yet developed a Fine tuned control of some of their physiological functions Lester said. Additional research at Brown will investigate whether there is some Way to help babies with Colic belter regulate nerve function. In another report researchers found that some infants with Colic May be reacting to proteins from cow s milk studies presented by Anthony Kulczycki a paediatrician at Washington University Colic inconsolable High pitched crying that fasts for hours on end affects � some babies Between the Ages of 1 and 3 months. School of Medicine in is. Louis and fourth year medical Slu dont Planck Clyne suggests that babies with Colic Are sensitive to the Immunoglobulin. Egg. From cow s Nilk for years paediatricians have olten recommended that nursing mothers eliminate Many foods from their own diet including milk and milk products in their baby develops Colic. This is one of Tho first studies to show that potentially irritating proteins from cow s milk Are found in human breast milk and thus could be passed to a nursing baby. In one study. Kulczycki and Clyne found thai 88 of 97 nursing mothers had significant Levels of cow egg in their breast milk in another study of 59 mothers of infants 2 to 17 weeks of ago they showed that 29 mothers of Colicky infants had significantly higher Levels of co Igo in their Nilk than did mothers of babies without Colic. In some cases. The mothers of babies with Colic had Levels of cow egg thai far exceeded the Levels Lound in cow s milk infant formula what these findings suggest is thai Bovine egg May be one of the factors thai is causing Colic in infants Kulczycki said to think this is a Good bet for what is causing Colic but we Are Only pointing out an association we can t prove it yet. There May be multiple causes of Colic " save your sight associated press evils of modern Lite staring at your computer screen or spending Long hours on the Road Are sources of damaging stress to the eyes according to the american optometric association there Are simple Steps you can take to offset this stress the organization says. If you spend Many of your working hours in front of a video display terminal make it a habit to take a 10-minute break every hour and relax your eyes by looking at something in the distance. Room lighting should be soft with lamps to provide extra Light for paperwork. Shades blinds or drapes should be angled to reduce window Glare. Aoa cites studies that show eyestrain is the most frequent complaint among Ollice workers and says that poorly designed work spaces and poor lighting Are most often to blame. Eyestrain can Lead to headaches body aches and irritability. Taking Breaks while on to Road also is advised. Drivers on Long Highway trips should Stop after the first 200 Miles and every 100 Miles thereafter. Driving at 55 Mph or faster requires concentrated focus on a narrow held and this can Lead to fatigue and Highway  to offset this periodically focus on objects ahead and blink frequently. And of course Wear sunglasses on Bright Days. The association advises a yearly checkup to detect vision changes which can occur subtly without your being aware of them. Tuesday october 3,1989 the stabs and stripes Page 17