ArticlePediatric research2025
Early-life risk factors for both infant colic and excessive crying without colic.
Article in Pediatric research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Acoustic Features, Parental Perception and Developmental Correlations of Crying in Preterm Infants: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Infancy : the official journal of the International Society on Infant StudiesPooled it
- Associations of Colic and Excessive Crying in Infancy with Food Allergy Outcomes in Childhood and Adolescence.The Journal of pediatrics · 2026Article
- Impact of an Educational Programme in Primary Care for mothers With Infant Colic Babies: Quasi-Experimental Study.Clinical pediatrics · 2026Article
- Exclusive breastfeeding and infantile colic: a cohort study.International breastfeeding journal · 2026Article
- The effect of infantile colic training given to parents on the neonatal infantile colic level and crying duration.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Risk factors and long-term outcomes of infantile colic: A nationwide population-based study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Associations of cord blood biomarkers with infant colic and excessive crying.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Article
- Associations of Infant Colic and Excessive Crying With Atopic Outcomes in Childhood and Adolescence.The Journal of pediatrics · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundInfantile colic may represent gastrointestinal distress, yet most definitions emphasize excessive crying. Each may have distinct etiologies. DESIGN/
methodsIn a pre-birth cohort, we used maternal reports of infant crying and apparent abdominal discomfort at 6mos to categorize infants as (1) unaffected (no excessive crying or colic), (2) excessive crying only, and (3) colic (abdominal discomfort +/- excessive crying). We examined associations of potential risk factors in separate models with excessive crying and colic (each vs. unaffected) using unadjusted multinomial logistic regression, and associations between count of risk factors and colic using logistic regression.
resultsOf 1403 infants, 140 (10%) had excessive crying, and 346 (25%) colic. Infants that were non-Hispanic white, low birthweight, firstborn, or had a maternal history of atopy, high postpartum depressive symptoms, or persistent prenatal nausea, had a 40-80% higher relative risk of colic. Preterm birth was associated with double the risk. Being firstborn, low birthweight, and preterm birth predicted excessive crying. Infants with ≥four (vs. 0-1) of the seven identified risk factors had 3.9 times (95% CI: 2.6, 6.1) higher odds of colic.
conclusionsColic characterized by apparent abdominal discomfort can be phenotypically distinguished from excessive crying only. Multiple risk factors may further increase colic risk. IMPACT: Infant colic characterized by apparent gastrointestinal distress may be phenotypically distinct from excessive crying only. Literature that defines colic only based on crying behaviors may miss important predictors. Mother-reported colic and excessive crying appear to have overlapping risk factors, with additional risk factors identified for colic. The presence of multiple risk factors increases the risk of colic, supporting a multifactorial etiology.
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