Infantile colic, maternal smoking and infant feeding at 5 weeks of age

Many parents seek help from health professionals because of their infants' persistent crying in the early months. The aetiology of this condition, often labelled ;;infantile colic'', is still unclear.

To assess whether smoking during pregnancy, and/or smoking at infant age 5 weeks, is associated with infantile colic, and to describe how feeding at infant age 5 weeks and smoking are related to colic.

This was a community-based study, with telephone interviews in late pregnancy, and at infant age 5 weeks, covering 1,625 mother-infant dyads, i.e. 86% of the eligible population.

Daily maternal smoking in pregnancy was related to subsequent colic, with an age-adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 1.74 (95% confidence interval 1.08-2.82). In the multivariate model, the OR was largely unaltered. The association between smoking at infant age 5 weeks and colic did not reach statistical significance. The subgroups based on smoking and infant feeding were small, but the results suggest that exclusive breast-feeding was protective against colic, including for infants of smoking mothers.

This study presents yet another argument why smoking in pregnancy should be discouraged - some cases of infantile colic may be avoided. With regard to mothers who are not able to give up smoking, the results add some support for the conclusion that if a mother is worried about colic, she certainly should not refrain from breast-feeding even if she smokes.