Abstract

Persistent crying is common in babies in the early months of life¹ and parents usually worry. Almost one-third of normal infants are said to cry for more than three hours a day in their first three months. In most no underlying cause is evident and their discomfort is attributed to colic (‘infantile colic’, ‘evening colic’ or ‘3 month colic’) in which the baby has paroxysmal episodes of inconsolable crying associated with drawing up the legs, sometimes with abdominal distension and passing wind.