So much has been written about infantile colic recently and there are so many so-called cures available that it must be totally bewildering for parents of newborn babies that are crying persistently or appear distressed.

Such was the confusion when I was seeing patients in an NHS practice, I got together with a referring GP and the team of practice health visitors and discussed the syndrome at length in an attempt to arrive at an accepted definition and, perhaps more importantly, an approach to  how we might offer an acceptable way of meeting demand from struggling parents. The definition is nothing new, and by posting it, we are not claiming that we are right (you might want to have a look at the legal page at this point), but we thought it might just help dispel some of the myths that we are hearing about infantile colic.

This is what we agreed on…

‘Colic’ in infants (under 6 months old) could be described as a collection of simple symptoms, (abdominal discomfort, increased hiccups, difficulty winding, flatulence) which is possibly caused by something as simple as a hypertonic thoracic diaphragm. In the absence of pathology and with medically qualified clinical leadership, simple musculoskeletal, short-term management of the hypertonic diaphragm using inhibition and a suitable feeding/winding/exercise regime might resolve the condition, although for this there is no evidence whatsoever. There is no evidence to suggest that colic is caused by a disruption of any form of neurovascular tissue, subluxation, lesion, or allergy.

This is hardly groundbreaking stuff but it’s been a really useful starting point with parents that are struggling.  I’m posting it here in the hope that it will promote discussion as we are really interested in people’s opinions. It would be very nice to hear from parents that have been through the ‘I have a collicky baby and I’m at the end of my tether’ situation as well as health professionals that either agree, disagree or something politely in between.

We are particularly interested in what evidence there is out there that people are using to base anything other than musculoskeletal treatment on. In coming up with a definition internally, we were meeting a need to explain our own feelings.  By posting it on here, I am not trying to offend those that have other theories – I just think that an enlightening debate is needed and this might help everyone decide what is likely to help or not.

JH