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Colic, Infantile

Daniel T. Lee, MA, MD, Phillip Charles Brown, MD and Arthur Ohannessian, MD Reviewed 06/2022
 


BASICS

DESCRIPTION

  • Colic is defined as excessive crying in an otherwise healthy baby.

  • A commonly used criteria is the Wessel criteria or the Rule of Three, when crying lasts for:

    • >3 hr/day

    • >3 days/w...

DIAGNOSIS

HISTORY

  • Evaluation for Wessel criteria: Crying lasts for >3 hr/day, >3 days/week, and persists >3 weeks.

  • Episodes usually have a clear beginning and end.

  • The crying is generally sponta...

TREATMENT

GENERAL MEASURES

  • Soothe by holding and rocking the baby (1)[B].

  • Use a pacifier (1)[B].

  • Use of gentle rhythmic motion (e.g., strollers, infant swings, car rides) (1)[B]

  • White noise (e.g., vacu...

ONGOING CARE

FOLLOW-UP RECOMMENDATIONS

Frequent outpatient visits as needed for parental reassurance, education, and monitoring and to ensure the health of the infant and parents 

Patient Monitoring

Foll...

REFERENCES

1
Johnson  JD, Cocker  K, Chang  E. Infantile colic: recognition and treatment. Am Fam Physician.  2015;92(7):577–582. [View Abstract on OvidMedline] ...

ADDITIONAL READING

  • Gelfand  AA, Thomas  KC, Goadsby  PJ. Before the headache: infant colic as an early life expression of migraine. Neurology.  2012;79(13):1392–1396. [...

CODES

ICD10

R10.83 Colic 

SNOMED

35363006 Infantile colic (finding) 

CLINICAL PEARLS

  • Colic is defined as excessive crying in an otherwise healthy baby (3 hr/day, 3 day/week, persists >3 weeks).

  • Excessive crying may be a risk factor for shaken baby syndrome or other f...

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