Understanding Infantile Colic: An Integration of Extrinsic and Intrinsic Factors

Abstract

Ameliorating the experience of colic for both infants and parents is of great priority to pediatricians and parents. To search for a single condition to explain the development of colic is futile in its simplicity. Factors intrinsic to the infant and factors extrinsic to the infant are interdependent in the creation of the conditions that are likely to bring about the symptoms of colic infants who are prone to them. The mother-infant dyad is discussed at great depth because it is within that context that the colic occurs. Parents can be taught by the infant's pediatricians how to familiarize themselves with the infant's particular cues and what responses are most appropriate at what times. Colic should not "just be waited out" because it is an indication that there remains room for improvement in communication between mother and infant.