The newborn

'Three Months' Colic'

“…These writers include Haas (1918), Copeland (1940), Spitz (1951), Moore (1942), Higgins (1942), Neff (1940), Lippman (1928, Bonar (1935) and Miller (1948). The manifestations of hypertonicity given by these writers include such diverse signs and symptoms as an exaggerated Moro reflex, sharp response to sudden light, vigorous crying when having a bath, tenseness, excessive crying, wakefulness, pylorospasm, vomiting, spastic constipation, diarrhoea, abdominal distension, visible peristalsis, cardiospasm, tetany, overaction of the involuntary muscles, general spasticity or rigidity, the 'ability to support the body on the legs at 6 weeks', and to 'hold the head up almost from birth', the 'ability to grasp objects in the first few days of life', unusual alertness, pruritis ani, poor weight gain and many other conditions.…”

“…The parents have frequently been blamed for causing colic (Moore, 1942;Higgins, 1942;Keiter, 1938;Bonar, 1935;Neff, 1940). It is suggested that they cause colic by picking the baby up too much, by 'bouncing him too much after feeds in an effort to get the wind up', and communicating their nervousness and anxiety to him.…”

“…Brennemann (1948) thought that colic was in some way connected with fatigue in the mother at the end of the day. Bonar (1935) thought that he could predict from the personality of the parents whether their babies were going to have colic. Spitz (1951) regarded colic as a combination of 'congenital hypertonicity' in the baby with 'primary anxious over-permissiveness' in the mother.…”

“…Several workers mention the relief given by the passage of flatus, placing the baby in the prone position, or applying pressure to the abdomen. Several others ascribe colic to spasms of the intestine, mostly in association with excess of wind (Keiter, 1938;Miller, 1948;White, 1929;Bonar, 1935). White terms the condition 'vagogenic gastroenterospasm'.…”