In this Follow-Up episode, Dr. Mona revisits one of the most stressful early parenting experiences, an inconsolable newborn. She breaks down what colic actually means, why the label is often misunderstood, and how to tell the difference between normal newborn fussiness and signs that need medical attention. The goal is not to dismiss crying, but to give parents a framework so they feel informed instead of brushed off.

Dr. Mona walks through what’s happening developmentally in those early weeks, why many babies hit a fussy peak around 6 weeks, and how to run a calm mental checklist at 2 a.m. She also covers red flags that deserve a pediatric visit, from fever to poor feeding to blood in the stool. Most importantly, this episode centers parents. Fussiness is common, phases pass, and support matters. You are not failing if your baby cries and you can’t fix it instantly. You are learning your baby in real time.

Key takeaways

✔️ Colic is a real pattern of crying, but it should never replace a thoughtful medical check
✔️ Most newborn fussiness peaks between 2 to 8 weeks and improves with time
✔️ Wet diapers, weight gain, and periods of calm are reassuring signs
✔️ Fever in a baby under 2 months always deserves a call to your pediatrician
✔️ Persistent crying with poor feeding, major spit up, or blood in stool needs evaluation
✔️ Not all crying is hunger, babies also cry from overstimulation and adjustment
✔️ Newborns are not spoiled by being held and comforted
✔️ Parents need pauses too, caring for yourself helps you care for your baby

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00;00;00;02 – 00;00;22;28

Dr. Mona

Welcome to the follow up. Where we revisit a past episode on the PedsDocTalk podcast in less time than it takes to pace your house at 2 a.m. with a crying newborn, we have all been there. Today’s clip comes from the episode The Fussy Newborn, Colic and more. I’m bringing this one back because I keep seeing a lot of misinformation floating around about colic, especially the claim that it’s a lazy label.

 

00;00;22;28 – 00;00;47;05

Dr. Mona

And honestly, there’s a kernel of truth there. I don’t think you thought I would say that colic is real. It has a definition, but it should never be a shortcut. Too often babies get labeled colic without enough clarity about what else could be going on. Things like feeding struggles, reflux that is more than just spit up milk, protein intolerance over tiredness, or physical discomfort that deserves a closer look.

 

00;00;47;07 – 00;01;04;27

Dr. Mona

This followup is about tightening that conversation. What colic actually means, what it does not, and how we make sure families feel supported rather than brushed off. And remember, I have so much support and information for you all. So if you want more about colic, make sure you get my first year course, which is the new Moms Travel Guide, or check out my YouTube channel.

 

00;01;04;27 – 00;01;29;16

Dr. Mona

I have it all there for you. And remember, if this episode resonates. Make sure to download. Download download download this episode. The full episode. Subscribe to the show so you don’t miss future follow ups and future amazing conversations I’m having this year on the podcast, and make sure you share this episode if it resonates and if it helps, make sure to tag at the PedsDocTalk podcast and at PedsDocTalk some more.

 

00;01;29;16 – 00;01;38;03

Dr. Mona

Parents can find it. Let’s get into today’s follow up.

 

00;01;38;05 – 00;01;58;06

Dr. Mona

So if you think about a baby, they’re nice and cozy in a dark room. For months, they’re evicted into the outside world. It’s loud, it’s hot, it’s cold, there’s lights, there’s noises. They have to wear, diapers. They have to feed at a bottle or breast. There’s just a lot out here to get used to. And sometimes they’re going to be fussy for no reason at all.

 

00;01;58;08 – 00;02;15;19

Dr. Mona

And I want you to think of it like us as adults, sometimes we too are in a mood for no apparent reason. And I really want to tell you that it’s normal. Your job as a new parent is to decide, why is my baby crying? Are they hungry? Do they have a dirty diaper? Do they want to be held?

 

00;02;15;20 – 00;02;39;10

Dr. Mona

Do they want to be consoled? What is it that I can do to stop the fuss? But sometimes, as you will realize, if you have not had a child, or if you have already had one and gone through this, sometimes you just can’t stop the crying. And it can be very okay. Commonly, parents will report that the fussiness begins between about two weeks to about eight weeks old.

 

00;02;39;12 – 00;02;59;26

Dr. Mona

You go through a honeymoon period, typically where you get home from the hospital. The first two weeks, everything seems okay. The families will come into my office. They’re like, I don’t know what everyone’s talking about. This is actually really easy and I am so happy they feel that way. But I’ll also say that, hey, just in case baby does start to get fussy, I want to reassure you.

 

00;02;59;27 – 00;03;23;23

Dr. Mona

Here are the things to look out for. And lo and behold, it does happen. Now, not all babies have fussy episodes. Some babies will be crying. You’ll know exactly why they’re crying, but a large majority of babies will go through this sort of fussy, colicky type phase. It’s 2 a.m. the baby is crying and crying and crying. Baby’s not hungry, doesn’t have a dirty diaper.

 

00;03;23;28 – 00;03;45;09

Dr. Mona

You’ve already rocked baby, and the baby just won’t stop crying. So the parents caretakers are sleep deprived. One parent is also usually crying also because they just can’t settle the baby. That’s usually the more and they pass the baby back and forth, back and forth and nothing seems to work. Hour goes by, another hour goes by and baby’s still crying.

 

00;03;45;12 – 00;04;07;22

Dr. Mona

And this is one of the common, common reasons we get phone calls into nursing lines in the middle of the night from new parents that they can’t console their newborn baby. So now when am I worried about a fussy baby? So this is this is important to know because when you’re in that moment at two in the morning and panic is setting up on you, you need to know, well, when do I need to worry?

 

00;04;07;22 – 00;04;24;12

Dr. Mona

Do I need to call my doctor? So the first thing is, if your baby’s fussy, think about if they’ve been making wet diapers throughout the day, right? So if you if you’re like, okay, do they make what? Diapers. Yeah. Baby made like five wet diapers. Awesome. I would want at least 3 to 4 wet diapers in a 24 hour period.

 

00;04;24;14 – 00;04;41;03

Dr. Mona

So if they’re not making wet diapers, then they could be hungry. And if they’re not feeding enough, we’d want to have them checked out. But if they’ve been gaining weight at your doctor’s visits and they’re making wet diapers, this is number one reassuring thing for a fussy baby. The second thing is you want to assess is the fussiness due to fever.

 

00;04;41;06 – 00;04;57;08

Dr. Mona

And I don’t need you to frantically check temperatures all day, every day when your baby cries. But you’ll know they’ll be very fussy, very warm to you. You check the back of their neck and if they’re feeling warm to you, check a rectal temperature. And again, it has to be rectal because forehead. Ear is just not accurate in a baby under three months.

 

00;04;57;10 – 00;05;19;04

Dr. Mona

So you put a little Vaseline at the tip, you put it in the rectum and you see if it’s over 100.4. So 100.4 if there is a fever, obviously get them undressed like you did, cool them. See. You know, just let them be exposed to air. Try again. If it’s still over 100.4 after five minutes, I would encourage you to call your pediatrician.

 

00;05;19;09 – 00;05;37;00

Dr. Mona

If your baby’s under two months old. It is really important that we assess that, because that is one thing that if a baby’s fussy and has a fever, they need to get seen. Another reason that they need to get seen is if they’re just fussy all day. And one of the things like it could be is a hair tourniquet.

 

00;05;37;03 – 00;05;54;16

Dr. Mona

So here tonight, kits are basically a strand of your hair. Or whoever’s hair gets trapped and circle and circled around their toe or finger. It sounds crazy, but it happens. So if you remember and your doctor I think would be would be like, wow, how would you know this? Check the fingers and you can go in and be like, you know, I checked the fingers.

 

00;05;54;16 – 00;06;11;09

Dr. Mona

There was no hair tourniquet, but the baby’s still fuzzy. But check that because that could be a reason. And that’s something that you need to get removed, obviously, because it’s causing the baby to be upset. Always crying is not okay, right? If a baby, you should be able to have a baby who has episodes of happiness and being able to sleep.

 

00;06;11;15 – 00;06;28;28

Dr. Mona

But if you are seeing in a 24 hour period, there is no absolutely no episode of Calm. Talk to your doctor now. Please remember, though, that when your baby’s crying, it feels like an eternity. So I have parents come in and they’re like, oh my gosh, doctor every this is my baby cries all the time and all the time.

 

00;06;28;28 – 00;06;49;26

Dr. Mona

And I don’t get any peace. And while they’re saying that the baby’s sleeping in the exam room and I get it that when you’re going through a stressful experience, you’re going to think that it’s feels like an eternity. But you got to see that, hey, my baby is having episodes of calm, my baby is going to sleep, and if they’re not super, super, super upset all day, please see your pediatrician.

 

00;06;49;29 – 00;07;09;14

Dr. Mona

Another reason is if there are significant split up, right? So if there’s significant split up there’s poor waking. That’s reflux and reflux and colic we would want to know about because we have to manage that right. There’s medical things that we can do elimination diets, changing formulas, things like this medicine. The other reason we’d want to know is blood in the poop.

 

00;07;09;17 – 00;07;29;11

Dr. Mona

So if your baby has blood in the poops, spitting up, not gaining weight, fussy. That’s not just a fussy baby. There’s something else we need to examine. I really encourage you that if you are dealing with a fussy baby and you just feel at a loss, make a visit with your pediatrician. What they’ll probably do. And this is what I do.

 

00;07;29;11 – 00;07;44;25

Dr. Mona

I can’t speak for every pediatrician. They’ll check baby’s weight. They’ll see how is that trending? If that’s good, awesome. That’s great. That’s the number one thing I want to see in a fussy baby. Are they making wet diapers? They’ll ask about all the questions I did. You know. Is there any fever? I don’t have to check a temperature.

 

00;07;44;28 – 00;08;02;23

Dr. Mona

But if all that is good, it can give you the reassurance that I’m doing everything right. Most patients come into my office for this at six weeks old. It’s the worst that I think I see. And so I know when I see a six week old on my schedule for a sick visit, I actually can guess why they’re coming in, because I see this commonly.

 

00;08;02;26 – 00;08;20;01

Dr. Mona

Now, if you’re a new parent, I don’t want you to fear the fuss. I don’t want you to fear that this is going to happen. And I’m so worried. It’s not something to worry about. And like I said, the less you worry about it and the more you embrace it as like, okay, this is a phase. If it happens, we’re going to get through with it.

 

00;08;20;04 – 00;08;39;26

Dr. Mona

It is so much better. It’s this constant obsession with, I need to stop this. Oh my God, oh my gosh, the colic, the baby’s crying. It just doesn’t help anyone. So accept it. Say okay, it sucks. I know what I’m going to look out for. Fever, not making wet diapers, get it up and run with it and just be reassured that it does get better.

 

00;08;39;29 – 00;08;58;13

Dr. Mona

Okay, so now I want to talk about how do you calm a fussy baby so it’s a little checklist on what I want you to go through when you’re having an episode of a fussy baby. First thing first pause. Right? Take a moment. Like I said, they make a lot of faces, a lot of grunting sounds, a lot of sounds.

 

00;08;58;15 – 00;09;22;09

Dr. Mona

Give them a moment. You are not going anywhere. Remember that. You are their parent. You are there to take care of them. But you have to just give them a moment. And like I said, that moment is up to you. One minute, two minutes 30s but give them that moment to see if they’ll soothe on their own. If they don’t, you’re going to jump right in to help the next thing you want to do when you finally do attend to your baby.

 

00;09;22;09 – 00;09;42;01

Dr. Mona

If they keep crying, go through your checklist, right? But remember to check yourself first. If you’re getting nervous, if you’re getting upset, if you’re tired, if you’re hungry, it’s going to be harder to take care of a crying infant. So if your baby’s crying, maybe in that 1 to 2 minutes that you’re, you know, allowing them to self-soothe a little bit, go get a glass of water, go get something to eat.

 

00;09;42;01 – 00;10;00;19

Dr. Mona

If it’s if you’re tired, you know, if you’re thirsty or hungry. But take a moment for yourself before you respond to that crying infant when you get to them. Are they hungry? Right? Remember that not all crying is hunger. Please remember this because I have so many moms come in saying, okay, they were crying. I put them on the boob, I put them in a bottle and they just won’t take it.

 

00;10;00;21 – 00;10;17;23

Dr. Mona

It’s not always hunger, right? And you’ll hear this, right? Grandma will come over and say, okay, they’re hungry. Okay. Yeah, yeah. You have to feed them. Feed them? Why aren’t you feeding them? They’re hungry. They’re hungry guys. No, it’s not always hunger. And it’s this obsession with stopping the crying and putting them on the on the breast. And putting them on the bottle.

 

00;10;17;26 – 00;10;33;28

Dr. Mona

That it it doesn’t always work. So first and foremost, their need is that are they hungry? If they take the bottle or take the breast, they’re hungry. If they keep fighting, you give it a moment. You can try again later, but they may not be hungry. The next thing you want to do is do they have a dirty diaper, right?

 

00;10;34;04 – 00;10;50;15

Dr. Mona

Because a dirty diaper can make them uncomfortable. So if they do have a dirty diaper, you change them as a as a heads up. Other thing that you want to see is do they just want some love and some cuddling? And remember, those are your three things that you’re looking for when you if you boil it down, there’s like three basic needs, right?

 

00;10;50;15 – 00;11;08;26

Dr. Mona

Are they hungry or are they just irritated by something, you know, dirty diaper, whatever it may be, you’re looking at making sure they’re okay or do they just want to be held? And obviously that’s important to know because sometimes they do. Sometimes they want to be cuddled. And remember, you are not spoiling your baby by cuddling them in that newborn period because they like that bond.

 

00;11;08;26 – 00;11;28;23

Dr. Mona

It’s important for them to feel that when I cry, someone is coming to me in that you know that first the first three months of life that are okay, mommy’s here, daddy’s here. But when I get through the other tips, sometimes you’ll do all that, right? You’ll feed them, you’ll change their diaper and you’ll rock them or hold them, or do whatever cuddly thing you want.

 

00;11;28;28 – 00;11;46;08

Dr. Mona

And sometimes they’ll still cry. And if you’re finding that, oh my gosh, this is so overwhelming, taking care of this baby that I can’t consoled. So please speak to your pediatrician, right, to make sure it’s not anything medical we need to do.

 

00;11;46;11 – 00;12;07;27

Dr. Mona

And that’s your follow up. Just a small dose of the real, relatable and eye opening conversations we love to have here. If you smiled, nodded, or had an moment, go ahead and download, follow and share this episode with a friend. Let’s grow this village together for more everyday parenting wins and real talk. Hang out with us on Instagram at the PedsDocTalk podcast.

 

00;12;07;29 – 00;12;23;10

Dr. Mona

Want more? Dive into the full episode and more at PedsDocTalk.com. Because parenting is better with support. And remember, consistency is key. Humor is medicine and follow ups are everything. I’m Doctor Mona. See you next time for your next dose.