What is Infant Colic?
All infants cry in the early weeks of life. The newborn’s crying serves an important developmental function, enabling the infant to release tension. Later, crying becomes a means of communicating sensations such as hunger, pain, fear, or cold, as well as a way to express the desire for physical contact. Parents gradually learn to interpret their infant’s cries, and they discover comforting techniques that work best.
The amount of crying usually reaches a peak at 6 weeks of age, when the average infant cries a total of 2-3/4 hours a day. Then, the amount of crying begins to lessen as the baby discovers new ways of releasing tension and reaching out to others. Within this framework, however, infants vary greatly in the amount they cry. The degree of crying ranges from insignificant fussiness in so-called “easy” babies too severe, persistent screaming.
The term “colic” is imprecise and frequently overused. Most pediatricians consider babies to be colicky if they cry continuously for 3 or more hours every day. All infants have fussy periods and fussy days, but in the colicky baby these prolonged crying bouts are repeated every day, often at the same time.
Colicky babies have a characteristic body language. One mother described her infant this way: “His body was contorted with screams – loud, piercing screams which shattered me. He flailed his arms and legs, arched his back, and angrily struggled to free himself when held. He would nurse greedily for a minute or two, then push my breast away, pull his knees up to his stomach as if in pain, and cry even more furiously. He would finally collapse, exhausted from hours of crying, only to startle himself awake 10 minutes later. Then the whole routine would begin again.”
Most newborns stop crying when they are offered the breast or bottle and remain calm after the feeding. In contrast, a colicky baby’s most piercing screaming tends to occur shortly after feeding. Although most crying infants can be comforted by being held and rocked, nothing seems to calm a colicky baby for more than a few minutes.
Colic affects an estimated 10% to 15% of newborns. It begins during the 2nd and 3rd week of life (in premature babies, 2 to 3 weeks after the mother’s due date) and is usually over by 3 months of age; hence the term 3-month colic.” Frequently, the crying episodes are confined to the evening hours, 6 p.m. to midnight. Unfortunately, this is the time when parents may be the most tired and least able to cope with stress. In a smaller number of infants, the crying is almost nonstop, from morning to night.
Colic has been reported for centuries. It occurs in all cultures, races, and social classes, although it may be less common in certain non-Western societies where infants are in constant physical contact with their mothers. Colic is not related to the baby’s sex, complications the mother may have experienced during pregnancy, or the type of birth. Breast-fed babies seem to be just as likely to be colicky as bottle-fed infants. Although many colicky babies are small for their gestational age, premature infants do not show a significantly higher rate of colic. And, contrary to what many believe, colic is not more common among firstborn children. In short, there is no single common denominator among colicky infants.
Colicky infants are otherwise healthy. They gain weight at a normal rate and often are exceptionally alert and active. They show no long-term effects of this early experience. As one pediatrician has concluded, “Colic is not serious unless you are the parents of the suffering baby.”
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