Crying
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Basics
Description
- Crying is usually a normal physiologic response to stress, discomfort, unfulfilled needs such as hunger, pain, over- or understimulation, or temperature change.
- Crying is felt to be potentially pathologic if it is interpreted by caregivers as differing in quality and duration without apparent explanation and/or persists without consolability beyond a reasonable time (generally 1 to 2 hours).
Epidemiology
Excessive crying in the 1st months of life, per parental reports, occurs in about 1 in 5 infants.
Etiology
- The most likely cause of inconsolable crying in the first few months of life is infantile colic.
- However, colic is a diagnosis of exclusion.
- Practitioners must be familiar with the clinical pattern of infantile colic so that deviations are readily recognized.
- Organic problems are identified in 5% or less of afebrile excessively crying infants.
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Basics
Description
- Crying is usually a normal physiologic response to stress, discomfort, unfulfilled needs such as hunger, pain, over- or understimulation, or temperature change.
- Crying is felt to be potentially pathologic if it is interpreted by caregivers as differing in quality and duration without apparent explanation and/or persists without consolability beyond a reasonable time (generally 1 to 2 hours).
Epidemiology
Excessive crying in the 1st months of life, per parental reports, occurs in about 1 in 5 infants.
Etiology
- The most likely cause of inconsolable crying in the first few months of life is infantile colic.
- However, colic is a diagnosis of exclusion.
- Practitioners must be familiar with the clinical pattern of infantile colic so that deviations are readily recognized.
- Organic problems are identified in 5% or less of afebrile excessively crying infants.
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