Colic Newborn

The premise of this theory is that the crying associated with infant colic syndrome results not from pain but from nonspecific irritability, a kind of underfined distress. It argues that the nervous system is immature at birth and, as a result, is highly sensitive to external stimuli. The colicky infant, then, is at the hypersensitive end of the spectrum and he or she cries as a reaction to continual nervous system stimulation. As the nervous system matures, the theory goes, the sensitivity and thus the crying recede.

This theory is the basis for the famous hands-off approach to excessively crying infants. Proponents believe that there is no specific treatment for colic except to wait it out. Further, they argue that the things parents usually do in the attempt to assuage their children's distress - holding, rocking, walking, talking, and so on - only increase the problem by adding to the stimuli assaulting the baby's immature nervous system. They recommend that the parents simply put down the inconsolably crying baby and walk away. In very extreme cases, some believers recommend sedation.