Infant Colic: When Your Baby Won’t Stop Crying

Sure, I mean, you definitely hear parents throw the word colic around, like my kid is colicky, I think they have colic, but I think it's best to start with just what is colic? What is the medical definition of colic? So infantile colic or colic during the infant age range is characterized by inconsolable crying, often children are screaming.

This episode of colic or inconsolable crying needs to occur for at least three hours a day and more than three days a week, three or more days a week, lasting for over three weeks.

So it's kind of like a definition of three.

Inconsolable crying occurring for at least three hours a day, at least three days a week, for at least three weeks.

If that is your child, then they have met the clinical or medical definition of colic.

About one-fifth of All babies are colicky.

So that's a large percentage, like 20% of babies are colicky.

The crying bouts begin about in the second week of life.

And usually the peak age of colic in these episodes is about six weeks of life.

Over time, medically, we see it resolving by the latest at four months of age.

So this can be a substantial portion of that early infant life.

The crying spells can occur around the clock, although they often become worse in that early evening hour.

The exact cause of colic is not known to the medical field.

I personally, although I have four children, none of my children had colic.

So I don't know if you can share some stories about what it's like to be a mother of colic.