Emotional factors in the etiology of colic in infants.

contributing cause in 22, allergy in 6; both allergy and family tension together in 9; in 11 there was no apparent cause. Allergy as a cause of the colic on fussing was assigned in the above 6 infants because in these the colic was markedly reduced by the removal of specific foods, either by limiting the mother’s diet in the case of breast fed infants, on by changing the protein fed the artificially fed infants. The colic or fussiness promptly returned when the suspected food was again ingested. Because of the multiple meanings, varied usages, and lack of clean definition of the term “colic,” the term “paroxysmal fussing” is suggested, defined as the condition of an infant who, otherwise healthy and well fed, has paroxysms of irritability, fussing or crying lasting for a total of more than 3 hours a day and occurring on more than 3 days in any one week. Paroxysmal fussing or colic in infants is possibly one of the earliest somatic responses to the presence of tension in the family setting. The particular degree to which any infant reacts is probably determined by constitutional factors.