Not all babies are placid and easily entertained and looked after during their first year. Some babies have such fine-tuned systems that they resemble extremely complicated mechanisms that can have many breakdowns. So you, the parent, have a lot on your plate, trying to adjust to a newborn baby with a high susceptibility to colds, earaches, or the flu, or one who has allergies, for example. You find yourself going to the pediatrician every week and constantly filling the prescriptions she gives you. Then you try to figure out how to make your daughter swallow the medicine, which, of course, she detests.

Or your baby may experience almost constant episodes of crying that are not due to an obvious illness. This type of baby is called “fussy” because she can cause a constant fuss, and these periods of crying do not abate even when you try the usual means of comforting her, such as feeding her, changing her diaper, or just cuddling her. What is worse, the periods of excessive screaming are more prolonged in the evenings when you are exhausted, having done a full day's work running the household or the office. Therefore, your fussy little girl presents an extra challenge, and one you may not have counted on, but you can manage it by using the following measures:

• Keep a record of when the irritable periods occur in your baby's day. What preceded them?

• Observe what she does while she's crying. Does she draw up her feet or otherwise indicate that her tummy hurts?

• Do not feed the baby every time she cries. Many fussy babies have immature digestive tracts and a bloated stomach makes the condition worse.

Most pediatricians use the word colic to describe the spasmodic pain that may very well be the cause of your little girl's fussiness.

But no matter what the doctor's diagnosis is, your baby is not a happy camper. Soon you will find to your dismay that you are not a happy camper either. The good news is that your little girl will outgrow the condition at least by the time she is six months old, although some babies — just like some adults — have a more sensitive digestive system that may be theirs for life. So while your daughter suffers from this common but harmless colicky state that occurs in roughly one in ten infants, you want to do what you can to help her feel better.

Some things you can try include: