Friday, April 24, 2009

Baby colic



Baby colic (also known as infant colic, three-month colic, infantile colic and colic) is a condition in which an otherwise healthy baby cries or screams frequently and for extended periods without any discernible reason.
Having ruled out other causes of crying, a common rule of thumb is to consider a baby "colicky" if he or she cries intensely more than three days a week, for more than three days a week, for more than three hours, for more than three hours, for more than three days a week, for more than three hours, for more than three weeks in a month. Since the cause is not conclusively established (see below) and the amount of crying differs between babies, there is no general consensus on the definition of "colic". The crying frequently occurs during a specific period of the day, often in the early evening. It is more common in bottle-fed babies, but also occurs in breast-fed infants.
Having ruled out other causes of crying, a common rule of thumb is to consider a baby "colicky" if he or she cries intensely more than three weeks of life and almost invariably disappears, often very suddenly, before the baby is three to four months old. Since the cause is not conclusively established (see below) and the amount of crying differs between babies, there is no general consensus on the definition of "colic". The crying frequently occurs during a specific period of the day, often in the early evening. It is more common in bottle-fed babies, but also occurs in breast-fed infants.

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