Crying and colic

The irritable crying that occurs in a cyclic fashion at the end of each day in 80% of infants between 3 and 12 weeks can be stressful for caring parents. In their efforts to alleviate the crying, they may add extra and anxious stimulation to the baby's already overloaded CNS. We studied this process in an effort to understand this period as a normal part of the 24-hour sleep-wake cycle of an immature nervous system. This period acts as a discharge phenomenon that helps to reorganize the overloaded CNS for the next 24 hours. Conveying my understanding to parents in the second or third week can act to prevent their anxious overreaction. Offering them support and a routine for extra carrying and soothing at this time can act as a prevention for “colic.” Colic or disordered crying in the small infant seems to be a psychosomatic disorder of parental anxiety added to the inevitable crying of a hypersensitive infant at the end of a period of coping with environmental stimuli.