Focus on infantile colic

Abstract

Infantile colic is a widespread clinical condition in the first 3 months of life, which is easily recognized, but incompletely understood and difficult to solve. The available evidence suggests that infantile colic might have several independent causes. The medical hypotheses include food hypersensitivity or allergy, immaturity of gut function and dysmotility, and the behavioural hypotheses include inadequate maternal-infant interaction, anxiety in the mother and difficult infant temperament. Other recent hypotheses, such as hormone alterations and maternal smoking, still need confirmation, whereas the new concept of alterations in the gut microflora, have been reported. A number of interventions, including pharmacological agents, are discussed, but it is probable that infants with colic require a graded strategy.

Conclusion: Considering the favourable clinical course and the wide range of manifestations, a safe approach should be adopted, which is proportional to the intensity of the infantile colic. However, further research and guidelines are still needed.