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  • Babies cry a lot.

  • Which can be really irritating, but it's normal.

  • It's the only way they can tell you they're hungry.

  • Or bored. Or tired.

  • Oryou get the idea.

  • But some babies do cry more than others.

  • And when an otherwise healthy baby cries more than normal,

  • they're said to have infantile colic or becolicky”.

  • But as medical-y as that sounds,

  • it doesn't mean the doctor knows what's causing all those tears.

  • Though we've been studying colic for decades,

  • we still don't have a clear answer for why it happens.

  • Though more recently, research seems to suggest

  • a link to migrainesand that might finally help doctors

  • figure out what parents can do about it.

  • The termcolichas been around for basically ever,

  • but it wasn't really codified in the medical community until the 1950s.

  • That's when pediatricians came up with the rule of three,

  • which many medical professionals still use today.

  • Basically, it's colic if an infant cries for at least three hours a day,

  • at least three days a week, for more than three weeks.

  • Colicky crying may also seem more intense

  • than regular baby crying, and like an expression of pain.

  • And the usual things that console upset babies,

  • like food or diaper changes, often have no effect.

  • As upsetting as colic can be, it's estimated that

  • between five and nineteen percent of infants

  • (and perhaps more) experience it.

  • And the cause that seems most obvious is tummy distress.

  • After all, colicky infants often pull up their legs to their chests

  • and pass gas during episodes of crying.

  • That's even why it's called colic.

  • It's related to the Greek root kolikos,

  • which means pertaining to the large intestine.

  • But pinning down whattummy distressmeans medically

  • has proven difficult.

  • Colic doesn't seem to be gas-related, for example.

  • Clinical trials using simethicone

  • (a drug commonly used to treat painful gas)

  • have found it's no more effective than a placebo.

  • And other gastrointestinal explanations,

  • like that some infants struggle to digest something

  • in breastmilk or formula, generally haven't panned out either.

  • Sometimes, babies who seem colicky may actually

  • have a milk protein allergy or lactose intolerance.

  • But that's thought to explain less than 5% of colicky infants.

  • And outside of true milk allergies posing as colic,

  • there isn't much evidence that what

  • or how a baby is fed is to blame.

  • Since upset tummies didn't seem to explain

  • all cases of colic, researchers have looked elsewhere.

  • Maybe it's more of a psychological thing.

  • Like, colicky infants are responding to high levels

  • of family stress, or have a developmental lag in their ability

  • to regulate emotion, or they're just high-strung.

  • But none of those ideas seem to explain the whole picture, either.

  • And slowly, researchers started to notice

  • something elsesomething intriguing.

  • In a 1994 paper, for example, doctors in Pittsburgh

  • described treating an infant with severe colic

  • whose daily crying episodes were really intense.

  • In addition to inconsolable crying, the poor thing

  • would scratch at her head and even vomit.

  • It turned out that a lot of her close relatives

  • had experienced migrainesthose super intense headaches

  • that tend to be accompanied by other nasty symptoms

  • like visual sensory disturbances, sensitivity to light

  • and sound, and nausea.

  • So, the doctors tried giving the baby a low dose

  • of a migraine medicationand it worked.

  • Studies since have found that there's a strong association

  • between parental migraines and colic.

  • One from 2012 suggests that infants have

  • more than double the risk of developing colic

  • if their mother has migraines.

  • And a web-based survey published in 2019 of over

  • 1400 biological parents found the more migraines

  • a mother experienced per month, the higher the odds were

  • that her baby had colic.

  • So it's possible that what we've been calling colic

  • is really infant migraines.

  • But that doesn't tell us what the babies

  • are actually experiencing.

  • You see, migraines are kind of enigmatic to begin with.

  • We don't fully understand why they happen,

  • or why people experience them differently.

  • And on top of that, we can't ask an infant if they're crying

  • because their head hurts a lot, or if they're being freaked out

  • by sensory disturbances.

  • It could even be their bellies after all.

  • It's estimated that between one and nine percent of children

  • and some adults who have migraines experience

  • what are called abdominal migraines.

  • Basically, they get all the usual joys of migraines

  • plus pain in their abdomen.

  • Why they feel their migraines in their bellies isn't clear,

  • but there are a lot of connections between

  • your head and your stomach.

  • The two are so intertwined that there's even a term for it:

  • the gut-brain axis.

  • So doctors think abdominal migraines may occur

  • because something goes wrong somewhere in that axis.

  • While all of this makes migraines sound like

  • a solid explanation for colic, there actually isn't a lot

  • of smoking-gun evidence.

  • We can't look at test results and say

  • Yep, these infants are definitely having migraines.”

  • It's also entirely possible there's something else going on

  • that's just related to migraines.

  • There seems to be an important connection

  • between migraines and a lot of gastrointestinal disorders,

  • like irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease.

  • Plus, multiple studies suggest the gut microbiome may

  • play a role in colic, migraines, and other gastrointestinal disorders.

  • Basically, doctors are pretty sure these pieces all fit together...somehow.

  • They're just not exactly sure how.

  • Luckily, even without a fully-assembled puzzle,

  • the migraine piece does suggest some practical ways to manage colic.

  • Basically, you might try things that help older kids

  • and adults with migraineslike steering clear of loud music and noise,

  • dimming bright lights, and avoiding strong smells.

  • Also, it may mean steering away from

  • some common comforting practices.

  • Like, that safe jiggling or bouncing that some parents do

  • while supporting a baby's headwhile it can soothe crying infants,

  • it could be overstimulating to babies with colic.

  • So, gentle rocking might be a better approach.

  • But also, if you do have a colicky baby,

  • keep in mind that it's okay to take a break

  • if the crying feels overwhelming.

  • Like with migraines, there may not be a whole lot

  • you can do to soothe them.

  • That's why pediatricians say you can set a crying baby down

  • in a safe space, like a crib or a playpen,

  • and just step away for a minute if you need to.

  • Protect your mental health.

  • And if nothing else, rest assured that infant colic

  • doesn't last forever, even if it seems like it will.

  • By four months of age, most cases of colic

  • have improved or resolved entirely.

  • Then, it's just, you know, the whole rest of parenthood

  • you have to deal with.

  • Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow

  • we hope you learned something!

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  • [♪ OUTRO]

[♪ INTRO]

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