Skip to main content
PMC home page
Archives of Disease in Childhood. Fetal and Neonatal Edition logoLink to Archives of Disease in Childhood. Fetal and Neonatal Edition
. 2000 Jul;83(1):F44–F47. doi: 10.1136/fn.83.1.F44

Fetal growth and infantile colic

C Sondergaard, E Skajaa, T B Henriksen
PMCID: PMC1721113  PMID: 10873171

Abstract

AIM—To describe how fetal growth and gestational age affect infantile colic, while considering other potential risk factors.
STUDY DESIGN—A population based follow up study of 2035 healthy singleton infants without any disability born to Danish mothers. Information was collected by self administered questionnaires at 16 and 30weeks of gestation, at delivery, and 8 months post partum. Infantile colic is defined according to Wessel's criteria, but symptoms are restricted to crying for more than three hours a day, for more than three days a week, and for more than three weeks.
RESULTS—The cumulated incidence of infantile colic was 10.9%. Low birth weight babies (< 2500 g) had more than twice the risk (odds ratio = 2.7, 95% confidence interval 1.2 to 6.1) of infantile colic when controlled for gestational age, maternal height, and smoking.
CONCLUSION—Low birth weight may be associated with infantile colic, and further research will be aimed to focus on fetal growth and infantile colic.



Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (123.2 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. BRAZELTON T. B. Crying in infancy. Pediatrics. 1962 Apr;29:579–588. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Barker D. J. In utero programming of chronic disease. Clin Sci (Lond) 1998 Aug;95(2):115–128. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Barr R. G., Chen S., Hopkins B., Westra T. Crying patterns in preterm infants. Dev Med Child Neurol. 1996 Apr;38(4):345–355. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.1996.tb12100.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Barr R. G. Crying in the first year of life: good news in the midst of distress. Child Care Health Dev. 1998 Sep;24(5):425–439. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2214.2002.00092.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Barr R. G., Rotman A., Yaremko J., Leduc D., Francoeur T. E. The crying of infants with colic: a controlled empirical description. Pediatrics. 1992 Jul;90(1 Pt 1):14–21. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Carey W. B. Maternal anxiety and infantile colic. Is there a relationship? Clin Pediatr (Phila) 1968 Oct;7(10):590–595. doi: 10.1177/000992286800701007. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Christensen J. H., Sørensen H. T. Reproducerbarheden af urinstixreaktioner hos medicinske patienter. Ugeskr Laeger. 1989 Nov 6;151(45):2972–2973. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Crowcroft N. S., Strachan D. P. The social origins of infantile colic: questionnaire study covering 76,747 infants. BMJ. 1997 May 3;314(7090):1325–1328. doi: 10.1136/bmj.314.7090.1325. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hedegaard M., Henriksen T. B., Sabroe S., Secher N. J. The relationship between psychological distress during pregnancy and birth weight for gestational age. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 1996 Jan;75(1):32–39. doi: 10.3109/00016349609033280. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hill D. J., Hudson I. L., Sheffield L. J., Shelton M. J., Menahem S., Hosking C. S. A low allergen diet is a significant intervention in infantile colic: results of a community-based study. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 1995 Dec;96(6 Pt 1):886–892. doi: 10.1016/s0091-6749(95)70224-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Høgdall C. K., Vestermark V., Birch M., Plenov G., Toftager-Larsen K. The significance of pregnancy, delivery and postpartum factors for the development of infantile colic. J Perinat Med. 1991;19(4):251–257. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. ILLINGWORTH R. S. Three-months' colic. Arch Dis Child. 1954 Jun;29(145):165–174. doi: 10.1136/adc.29.145.165. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Lehtonen L., Korhonen T., Korvenranta H. Temperament and sleeping patterns in colicky infants during the first year of life. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 1994 Dec;15(6):416–420. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Lehtonen L., Korvenranta H. Infantile colic. Seasonal incidence and crying profiles. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1995 May;149(5):533–536. doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1995.02170180063009. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Lehtonen L., Svedström E., Korvenranta H. Gallbladder hypocontractility in infantile colic. Acta Paediatr. 1994 Nov;83(11):1174–1177. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1994.tb18276.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Lothe L., Ivarsson S. A., Ekman R., Lindberg T. Motilin and infantile colic. A prospective study. Acta Paediatr Scand. 1990 Apr;79(4):410–416. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1990.tb11485.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Lothe L., Lindberg T. Cow's milk whey protein elicits symptoms of infantile colic in colicky formula-fed infants: a double-blind crossover study. Pediatrics. 1989 Feb;83(2):262–266. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Lothe L., Lindberg T., Jakobsson I. Macromolecular absorption in infants with infantile colic. Acta Paediatr Scand. 1990 Apr;79(4):417–421. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1990.tb11486.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Lucassen P. L., Assendelft W. J., Gubbels J. W., van Eijk J. T., van Geldrop W. J., Neven A. K. Effectiveness of treatments for infantile colic: systematic review. BMJ. 1998 May 23;316(7144):1563–1569. doi: 10.1136/bmj.316.7144.1563. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Mickey R. M., Greenland S. The impact of confounder selection criteria on effect estimation. Am J Epidemiol. 1989 Jan;129(1):125–137. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a115101. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Rautava P., Helenius H., Lehtonen L. Psychosocial predisposing factors for infantile colic. BMJ. 1993 Sep 4;307(6904):600–604. doi: 10.1136/bmj.307.6904.600. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Rautava P., Lehtonen L., Helenius H., Sillanpä M. Infantile colic: child and family three years later. Pediatrics. 1995 Jul;96(1 Pt 1):43–47. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Showers J., Apolo J., Thomas J., Beavers S. Fatal child abuse: a two-decade review. Pediatr Emerg Care. 1985 Jun;1(2):66–70. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Singer J. I., Rosenberg N. M. A fatal case of colic. Pediatr Emerg Care. 1992 Jun;8(3):171–172. doi: 10.1097/00006565-199206000-00016. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Sloman J., Bellinger D. C., Krentzel C. P. Infantile colic and transient developmental lag in the first year of life. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 1990 Fall;21(1):25–36. doi: 10.1007/BF00709925. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Stagnara J., Blanc J. P., Danjou G., Simon-Ghediri M. J., Dürr F. Eléments cliniques du diagnostic de coliques du nourrisson. Enquête chez 2773 nourrissons âgés de 15 à 119 jours. Groupement des pédiatres de la région de Lyon (GPRL), le Groupement lyonnais de recherche en pédiatrie ambulatoire (GLYRPA), l'association des pédiatres de la région stéphanoise (APRS) et la Formation pédiatrique grenobloise (FPG). Arch Pediatr. 1997 Oct;4(10):959–966. doi: 10.1016/s0929-693x(97)86091-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. WESSEL M. A., COBB J. C., JACKSON E. B., HARRIS G. S., Jr, DETWILER A. C. Paroxysmal fussing in infancy, sometimes called colic. Pediatrics. 1954 Nov;14(5):421–435. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Wisborg K., Henriksen T. B., Hedegaard M., Secher N. J. Smoking habits among Danish pregnant women from 1989 to 1996 in relation to sociodemographic and lifestyle factors. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 1998 Sep;77(8):836–840. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Archives of Disease in Childhood. Fetal and Neonatal Edition are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES