Natural ideas, options and diet recommendations.

What causes colic?
Food intolerances- Some babies colic is caused by food intolerances, that is, the inability of your baby's body immature digestive system to digest your breast milk after you have eaten certain foods.

Which food can cause colic include:

- Dairy products. Milk, butter, cheese, chocolate etc, and any foods or drinks which contain these. Sometimes goats milk in tolerated.
- Wheat. Any foods containing wheat flour or flakes etc. Other grains, eg rye are often ok.
- Eggs, and any food or drinks that contain eggs.
- Citrus friut. Oranges, grapefruit, lemons, mandarines, tangeloes etc.
- Yeasts. Foods that are yeasted such as bread or pizza, and sometimes non active yeasts, eg brewers yeast, mushrooms etc.
- Cane sugar. And all foods and drinks sweetened with sugar.
- Caffeine and tannin. In tea, coffee, cocoa and chocolate. Herbal teas, especially peppermint are usually ok.
- Alcohol
- Tobacco
- Artificial colourings and presertives
-Brassicas. Cabbage, brussel sprouts, couliflower, broccoli, etc
- Peanuts. Raw, roasted or in peanut butter.
- Onions and garlic
- Capsicum and cucumber
- Spices 

If the foods you've eliminated have been causing a problem you will notice an improvement in your baby within three or four days (sometimes much sooner). Some babies digestive systems are upset by more than one type of food, so you might notice an improvement but not a complete cure by eliminating only one or two groups of foods.

Some women find this elimination diet very difficult. Its often hard enough to find time to eat when you're dealing with an unsettled baby, let alone try to find appetising substitutes for the foods you usually eat. However, it is worth the effort and were fortunate to have access to a wide variety of foods from which to choose.

Persistent 'wind'- Some babies swallow air while they're feeding. This is forced down into their intestines by the breast milk and causes belly ache and intestinal spasms till it is expelled.

Check that you baby is correctly 'latched on' to your breast during feeds. If you cannot see any difficulty but your baby is still swallowing air (you can normally hear them gasping it in, or hear the air 'exploding' in their stomachs while they feed), make an appointment with a La Leche Leader or a lactation consultant to have positioning checked.

A strong 'let down' reflex can also cause a baby to gasp in air as she tries to coordinate suckling and swallowing when the beast milk is coming out fast. If you hear your baby swallowing air, take her off the breast (first break the suction with your finger) and 'burp' her before allowing her to continue feeding. You may need to do this several times during the early part of each feed. Do not restrict the overall length of the feed.

Transient lactose intolerance colic- 
Maureen Minchin suggests that some babies receive more breast milk than their stomachs can cope with. If you have a abundant supply of breast milk which streams out of your breasts easily so your baby gets a relatively large amount with each pump of her tongue and jaw, she could be getting so much milk (with high lactose content) at each feed that there us insufficient lactase in her stomach to break it down before it is pushed into her intestines. A few hours later the undigested lactose in her intestines will have started to ferment, causing gas, cramps and general spasmodic pain.