Home remedy to treat "colic"

First of all, I have to say that I am very lucky that both my boys have never experienced "colic", but I've read quite a fair bit of information on "colic", as both my nieces have suffered from it and that really worried my sister for a while.

There are a few ways to differentiate a "colic" and a "crying" baby but what my sister shared with me is that, watch out how the baby cries, if baby cries for long hours, usually starts at a fixed time during the day and happens often around early evening, and baby likes to kick the legs up and down, and always moves the knee towards the stomach, most probably, you are having a "colicky" baby.

I've came across many home remedies to treat "colic", such as warm up cooking oil, rub on baby's belly; boil mint in water for 10 minutes and add that into baby's milk, or even give coke mixed with water which I seriously think is crazy although many claimed it worked.

Anyway what I want to share here is, a simple baby massage using ru yi oil ( 如意油), taught by my malay post-natal jamu massage lady. She told me that doctors usually advise that colic is caused by abdominal pain, but they believe that it could have something to do with cramps (no scientific evidence so please do not quote me on this). Anyway the massage is fairly easy to do so feel free to give it a try by following these 3 simple steps:

1. Start from the back, put a few drops of ru yi oil on your palm and massage baby's back in an up-and-down motion, for about 15-25 times.

2. Move on to the calves, put a bit of oil on your thumb (when baby is still young, in this case if you look at my video, I used my palm again as I have a "michelin" baby), stroke the calves in up-and-down motion for about 15-25 times on each side, with a little bit of pressure.

3. Turn baby back down and massage the front just like how you massage the back, but focus a bit on the stomach area which is at the left side and massage it from the side to the center.

A few tips to share here:
1. Put a little bit more of ru yi oil during massage for better result. My first bottle of oil for my elder boy lasted for more than 2 years but after learning this massage technique, I finished the second bottle for my younger boy within a month or two.
2. While massaging the calves, if baby starts to cry, that's perfectly normal as that's a sign that baby is having a lot of stomach gas hence when we do the massage, it could cause a bit of pain.
3. For the first few weeks, after every daily massage, my boy will pass out a lot of gas and I believe the massage helps to get rid of the wind in baby's stomach.

Again like I mentioned, since Rynus did not suffer from colic, I can't be 100% sure this is a perfect remedy for colic but when my sister tried this on her younger daughter, it worked like magic, so give a try parents and hopefully you can have a better sleep at night. =)

P/S: Even if this does not help, no worries, usually babies will outgrow from "colic" by 3rd or 4th month, if you are lucky enough, they will be fine right after full month so just hang in there!!