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Infantile colic. Follow-up at four years of age: still more "emotional"

C Canivet1, I Jakobsson, B Hagander

  • 1Department of Community Medicine, Lund University, Sweden. Catarina.Canivet@smi.mas.lu.se

Acta Paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992)
|February 17, 2000
PubMed

Insights

Former colic infants showed more negative emotions and stomachaches at age 4. This suggests a potential temperamental link to infantile colic, impacting child behavior and family dynamics.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatrics
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Child Health

Background:

  • Infantile colic is a common condition in infants.
  • Long-term effects of infantile colic on child development are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate long-term outcomes in children with a history of infantile colic.
  • To investigate behavioral, emotional, and health differences between formerly colicky children and controls at age 4.

Main Methods:

  • Follow-up study comparing children with a history of infantile colic to a control group at 4 years of age.
  • Assessment of behavior, temperament, eating/sleeping habits, psychosomatic complaints, hospitalizations, growth, and family environment.

Main Results:

  • No significant differences were found between groups in most parameters.
  • Formerly colicky children exhibited more negative emotions and reported more stomachaches.
  • Negative moods during meals were also more prevalent in the ex-colicky group.

Conclusions:

  • Infantile colic may have a temperamental contribution to its pathogenesis.
  • Early childhood temperament might influence long-term emotional and physical well-being.
  • Further research is needed to clarify the complex relationship between colic, temperament, and mother-infant interaction.

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