What is colic? What are the symptoms? What is the treatment?

Colic, as applied to a baby under four months of age, describes a crying spell when your baby’s face becomes very red and both legs are drawn up to their stomach as if they’re in great pain.

This crying spell usually comes in the early evening, can reach screaming pitch and last from one to three hours.

It doesn’t usually respond to soothing techniques that work at other times and for parents it can be difficult to endure.

The cause of this spasmodic crying isn’t known. It is at its worst up to three months of age but disappears by four months. Recent research has failed to confirm that colic is caused by pain, even though it looks as if your baby is in pain.

As your baby is contented during the rest of the day, it means that this crying bout isn’t related to a serious physical problem. Colicky babies are usually healthy and thriving.

What are the symptoms?

Your baby cannot settle in the early evening and cries no matter what you do to calm them, becoming red-faced and drawing their legs up.

Should I consult my GP?

As soon as possible if you find you cannot cope with the nightly crying sessions.

Your health visitor will also advise you on how to tackle

the problem.

What’s the treatment?

Colic rarely requires treatment. Your doctor will reassure you that your baby is healthy and they’ll grow out of the colic eventually.

Tips

• Get as much rest as you possibly can during the day while your baby sleeps.


• Invite good friends in to share that time of the evening with you. A relaxed atmosphere may calm both you and your baby.


• Talk to other parents who have had colicky babies. Once you realise that colic attacks do pass you may find them easier to bear.

 

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McDonald's adding 3 new Quarter Pounders to menu

NEW YORK –  McDonald's is adding three new Quarter Pounders to its menu as the fast-food chain looks to offer cheaper premium burgers while capitalizing on one of its most popular brands.

The company, based in Oak Brook, Ill., says the new burgers will replace its meatier Angus Third Pounders, which were among the most expensive items on its menu at around $4 to $5. The Quarter Pounders will come in two of the same varieties as the Angus burgers – Bacon and Cheese and Deluxe. The third option will be Habanero Ranch.

McDonald's Corp., which has about 14,000 U.S. locations, says the new burgers will roll out nationally in mid-June. The new Quarter Pounder line will use a bun that has eight grams of whole grains, while the original Quarter Pounder will stay with its regular bun.

The swap for burgers with less meat comes as restaurant chains across the industry face rising beef prices. The higher costs are particularly problematic for fast-food chains, which are known for their cheap eats and limited in how much they can hike prices without scaring away customers.

McDonald's has also been going to greater lengths to emphasize the affordability of its food in a push to turn around slumping sales. That has forced Burger King and Wendy's to adjust their marketing and focus more heavily on deals as well.

Analysts worry that the escalating value wars will lead to shrinking profit margins. But McDonald's executives say the strategy is necessary to steal away customers at a time when the restaurant industry is barely growing.

Greg Watson, senior vice president of the menu innovation team at McDonald's USA, said the company started looking at revamping its burger portfolio about a year ago and realized that it hadn't done much to tinker with the Quarter Pounder, which was introduced in 1971 and remains one of the chain's best sellers.

The new Quarter Pounders were tested at restaurants in Sacramento, Calif., and Toledo, Ohio, over the past nine months.

"Once we created these burgers, we didn't see the need for the Angus line," Watson said.

Watson said that "price was not really a driver" in swapping out the Angus burgers for the Quarter Pounders. But he conceded that "the Quarter Pounder will be an even greater value than the Angus burgers."

Beyond fighting for price-conscious customers, traditional fast-food chains are also struggling with the more fundamental problem of changing eating habits. The worry is that people in their 20s and 30s in particular are increasingly heading to chains such as Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., which offer food that's seen as being higher quality.

The desire to eat better is also reflected in the growth of Subway, which now has about 26,000 U.S. locations and positions itself as a healthier alternative to traditional fast food. To win back younger customers, McDonald's recently rolled out its chicken McWraps. A version of its Egg McMuffin made with egg whites and a whole grain muffin was also introduced.

In addition to the new buns, the new Quarter Pounders will also use a thicker apple wood-smoked bacon. McDonald's says the bacon will replace the hickory-smoked bacon currently used in its other sandwiches as well.

McDonald's is hoping such new items and ingredients can give slumping sales a boost. Late last year, the company said a monthly sales figure fell for the first time in nearly decade. Sales at restaurants open at least 13 months were also down for the first three months of this year.

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Recolor your walls for a better mood

Feeling uninspired in your creative life? Wish you could sleep better at night? Repainting your walls and redecorating with a new color scheme could be the solution -- or at least the first step in getting out of your rut.

While color is not a magical solution to solving all of our problems, it does affect our mood and outlook, sometimes without us even realizing it. The advertising world, for example, takes advantage of our physical and psychological reaction to certain colors; most action movie posters have a blue and orange hue, and fast-food restaurants combine red and yellow to increase diners’ appetites.

Here are a few ways you can use color to create the mood you desire:

Red

Red is often associated with passion, excitement and love, which means that it can be the perfect shade for your bedroom, kitchen or creative space. Darker hues indicate elegance, while red in its purest form communicates a vibrant energy. Red is an extremely powerful color, so be careful of overdoing it and turning your room into a living furnace. Balance it out with neutral colors, pair with blue and white for nautical tones or add dashes of green decor for a natural complement.

Orange

Orange can have much of the same effect as red and yellow, but can give your home a much quirkier feel, as it’s not used as often as the other two. Orange is also more inviting and a gentler way of greeting your guests than the bolder red. Go for dark hues if you’re aiming for a cozy, autumn feeling in your living room, or bright shades if you want to re-create the excitement of summer. Optimal rooms for an orange theme include the living room, dining room, kitchen or a child’s room.

Yellow

Yellow is easily the most uplifting color in the spectrum and is associated with cheer, joy and happiness. Paint your kitchen, bedroom or office yellow to inspire creativity and instantly de-gloom even the most windowless of rooms. If you don’t live in mostly sunny areas, use yellow as your secret weapon and invest in some mirrors to perpetuate openness and space.

Green

In addition to being the natural color of most vegetables and thus associated with health, green also has a calming effect and can inspire balance. Green is also closely related to fecundity and growth, and can greatly maximize the creative aura of your home office or creative space. If you’re not quite committed to painting the walls green just yet, try populating the room with plants instead.

Blue

Keep blue, gray and black out of the kitchen and dining room, as these are the most unappetizing colors. Blue can be a perfect hue for bathrooms and bedrooms, encouraging feelings of serenity and peace. If you have trouble sleeping or feel frenetic at night, paint your walls blue to trick your mind into slowing down.

While many do associate it with sadness, remember that the specific shade of blue can have different meanings, including a host of religious connotations for many different cultures. Overall, a lighter blue can be refreshing and hip, while darker shades in a main living area are stable and strong.

Purple

This is an extremely energetic color in its purest form, which is why many feng shui experts advise against painting walls purple or going overboard with purple decorations. Rather than a strong purple, opt for more muted shades like lavender or pink.

Pink is obviously often related to love, but can also be a gentler and more delicate option for purple enthusiasts. Pair with yellow-green for a dramatic pop, or black for a classy effect with just the right amount of flair.

Need more color inspiration? Find ideas on Zillow Digs.

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Flying car crashes in Canada

A “flying car” crashed today in British Columbia, Canada.

The Globe and Mail reports that the vehicle, which operates like a paraplane and looks like a hotrod with a propeller on the back, suffered a malfunction during takeoff and crash landed at a school near the Vernon airport. Authorities say it was the first incident of its kind in Canada.

The pilot and passenger suffered injuries, but are both expected to recover according to the local police. No one was on the ground at the time of the accident.

The vehicle is built in Florida and called the Maverick. It uses a four-cylinder Subaru engine to power either the propeller or the wheels, and can be used on or off road at speeds up to 100 mph on the ground. A deployable parachute allows it to take off and land from a football field length runway.

The $94,000 vehicle is FAA certified, has a cruising speed of 40 mph and can fly as high as 10,000 feet.

The owner of the company that makes the Maverick told Jalopnik that the cause of the accident is currently unknown.

 

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Let your kids loose in the kitchen to cook up cheesy baked eggs for breakfast

Nothing made me happier when I was a child than being allowed the chance to run amok in the kitchen by my parents.

The sheer exquisite pleasure of being let loose in a grown-up’s world and taking responsibility for feeding the rest of the family (god bless ’em for ALWAYS saying whatever I cooked was lovely) gave me such a buzz.

But not only that, it also gave me an extremely important life skill too.

A life skill that unfortunately fewer and fewer people seem to have these days.

I am not joking when I say most of my friends (all very bright women) wouldn’t be able to cook themselves a decent meal if their life depended on it!

And there is most definitely a common denominator and that seems to be that they were never allowed to go into the kitchen as kids in case they messed it up!

So I am on a mission to get everyone – never mind the mess – to let their sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, or grandchildren into the kitchen tomorrow morning to make breakfast for everyone.

As you can see, I have done a super easy step-by-step guide that they can follow. But keep a sharp eye on them though as we don’t want any accidents!

Go on, let your youngsters have a go. They will love it and you will get a yummy breakfast too so it’s a win-win situation. And as for all my mates – why don’t you have a go too?

 

Cheesy baked eggs with roasted tomatoes

1tbsp butter

4 slices ham

100g favourite hard cheese

4 large eggs

Tomatoes on vine, drizzled in olive oil and roasted in oven

You will also need

Small saucepan

Muffin tin

Pastry brush

Kitchen scissors

Grater

Oven gloves

Palette knife

 

 

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1 Melt the butter in a pan using a gentle heat – you just want to melt it, not boil it away! Then using your pastry brush, lightly brush the muffin tray with the butter.

 

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2 Now place a slice of ham in each muffin hole and trim the edges with the scissors. Carefully grate the cheese – watch your fingers – and sprinkle inside the four ham cups.

 

Cheesy Baked Eggs with roasted Tomatoes

 

3 Crack an egg into a small bowl, then pour it gently into one ham cup. Repeat until each ham cup has an egg. Now bake them for 10 minutes at 180 degrees. Put on oven gloves so you don’t burn yourself and have a peek. If they are not set, put them back for a minute.

 

Cheesy Baked Eggs with roasted Tomatoes

4 Put on your oven gloves again or you will burn yourself, and take the hot tray out of the oven. Put it down on a damp cloth or metal draining board. Gently lift out your baked eggs with the palette knife and serve with the roasted tomatoes. Well done!

 

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$350K burger grown in a laboratory tastes 'reasonably good'

Forget the recent Guinness Book of World Records holder for world's most expensive burger: New York's Serendipity's Japanese Waygu beef burger topped with black truffles, a fried quail egg, and creme fraiche, for $295.

The burger that's setting up to be the world's most expensive burger is a meat patty made up of cultured meat strips created in a lab.

Dutch scientist Mark Post's long await test-tube burger will be unveiled next month at an event in London.  It costs $325,000, and according to the New York Times, tastes "reasonably good."

The burger is slightly bigger than a McDonalds Quarter Pounder, and according to Post, will only be flavored by adding some salt and pepper.

You'll be out of luck if you want a sample, as the taster will be chosen by the project's main investor.

Post is creating the burger with material -- including from a fetal calf serum--that will eventually be replaced by materials not originating from animals, the Times reported. The burger is part of pioneering research funded by the Dutch government to create meat that is kinder to the environment and aims to reduce the need to raise livestock - but will people want to eat it?

“That would be a really hard sell in this country; especially where people are schooled and educated about where their meat is coming from,” Linda Smith, general manager of the Philadelphia-based meat purveyor Esposito's Meats

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