colic

Picture a newborn, brand new to the world, crying for long, painful stretches with no clear reason. That pattern is often called colic. It shows up as prolonged, intense crying and fussiness in an otherwise healthy baby, usually in the first months of life. Doctors are not sure of one exact cause, but it is often linked to immature digestion or gut-related discomfort. It can feel overwhelming for parents, and it often gets better on its own by about three to four months.

The word also had another medical use: in adults, "colic" was used for severe abdominal pain from a spasm or blockage, often related to stones. Some people still use it this way, though it is less common today.

Today, colic most commonly refers to episodes of intense crying and irritability in otherwise healthy infants. It often appears in the late afternoon or evening and can include the baby pulling knees toward the chest, clenching fists, or arching the back while crying. A classic way to describe the pattern is the "rule of threes": crying more than three hours a day, more than three days a week, for more than three weeks.

For parents, this can be especially stressful, and many carry unnecessary guilt. The best guidance is that colic is not caused by poor parenting and, in most cases, does not signal long-term harm. The exact reason is still unclear; theories include gas, reflux, immaturity of the digestive tract, overstimulation, or food sensitivity (especially with breastfeeding).

The older medical meaning of colic is broader. Historically, it described any severe, spasmodic abdominal pain, not only in babies but in adults and animals too. In people, it was often used for pain from kidney stones, gallstones, or intestinal blockage (renal or biliary colic). In veterinary medicine, especially with horses, colic is a serious abdominal condition that still needs urgent attention today.

So, while the modern common use is infantile colic, the word still carries older meanings tied to strong abdominal pain in humans and animals.