Symptoms of colic in pregnant women

Colic is a common gastrointestinal symptom, which is caused by gastrointestinal spasm. It usually starts as paroxysmal abdominal pain. It should be said that this is a symptom that can occur in any age group. Women may also experience colic after pregnancy, and due to its special symptoms, it often causes great discomfort to pregnant women. So what are the symptoms of colic in pregnant women? How should pregnant women prevent and treat this problem?

What to do if you have intestinal cramps during early pregnancy

Intestinal spasm is paroxysmal abdominal pain caused by strong contractions of the intestinal smooth muscles and is the most common condition of acute abdominal pain in children. In young infants, the degree and intensity of their crying can be used to determine whether they have intestinal colic.

In young infants, intestinal spasms mainly manifest as continuous, difficult to soothe crying and noise, which may be accompanied by vomiting, flushed cheeks, rolling, curled lower limbs and other symptoms. When crying, the face is flushed, the abdomen is swollen and tense, and the legs are curled up. The attack can be terminated by the child's passing of gas or defecation. In young infants, attacks can recur and be self-limited.

Intestinal cramps can also occur during pregnancy. What should I do if I have intestinal cramps in early pregnancy?

Intestinal spasm affects the neighbor's uterus and also causes spasm, which can affect the fetus. Pay attention to regular prenatal checkups.

Just avoid raw, cold, spicy and stimulating foods. Severe pain can be treated with further surgery. Eat more fiber-rich vegetables to avoid constipation!

What to do if your baby has intestinal spasms

1. The first level of treatment is to comfort the child, rock the child, reduce environmental noise, cover the baby's abdomen with a hot water bottle; give support and care to the parents; and take Chinese medicine or dimethyl silicone oil. Some Chinese medicines have antispasmodic effects. After taking Chinese medicine (powder composed of chamomile, verbena, licorice, fennel, vanilla and mint) for 7 days, intestinal spasms improved, but the number of night awakenings did not decrease. Dimethicone is a non-absorbable drug that changes the surface tension of bubbles, causing them to merge or diffuse, thereby promoting gas discharge and has no side effects on the human body. Tried using it to reduce intestinal gas. But the research results on it are inconsistent. In a crossover study using dimethicone versus placebo, symptoms improved in 1/4-2/3 of the children, but there was no significant difference compared with placebo. Other drugs that reduce intestinal gas, such as activated carbon and α-galactosidase, can absorb gas or help digest high-fiber foods and reduce fermentation gas production, but their effectiveness in treating intestinal spasm is currently uncertain.

2. The second level of treatment is drug treatment. Available antispasmodics (such as cimetropium bromide) can block the muscarinic receptors of smooth muscle, and can also act directly on smooth muscle to relieve smooth muscle spasm. If the effect is ineffective, dicyclomine hydrochloride can be used. As an anticholine drug, it has an atropine-like antispasmodic effect and a certain central nervous system sedative effect. It is effective in treating infantile intestinal spasms. However, recent studies have found that infants under 6 months old may suffer from sleep apnea when using this drug, which limits the application of this drug. There is still no completely effective drug to treat intestinal spasms.

Third, tertiary treatment involves changes in diet and/or medication. Breastfeeding mothers do not consume milk, dairy products, fish and eggs; giving bottle-fed babies soy milk or hydrolyzed casein formula can significantly improve infant intestinal cramps. For patients with intestinal spasms caused by CMPI, symptoms improved in 71%-88% of children after removing cow's milk protein and replacing it with soy milk or hydrolyzed protein. Because drug treatments (such as dicyclomine hydrochloride) have certain side effects and are sometimes not effective, dietary changes may be more appropriate than medication.