Infant Colic as a Psychological, rather than Biological, Condition

Between 6.5 and 24.7 million infants each year engage in uncontrollable, inconsolable, and irritable crying, referred to as colic. Colic emerges around 3 weeks of age and if left untreated dissipates by 5 months of age. Colic is a risk factor for marital discord, poor infant development, and higher incidences of child abuse, including abusive head trauma, or shaken baby syndrome, which is believed to injure or kill an estimated 35 out of 100,000 infants each year. For decades the medical literature has been unsuccessful in determining the causes, and thus treatment, of colic. A case study is presented in which a colicky infant was successfully and efficiently treated with a protocol based on operant principles. This study led to a multi-year project to develop a colic simulation lab, and preliminary evidence from that lab are presented that lend support to colic as a psychological, rather than biological, condition.