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.

Or… you 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 be “colicky”.

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 migraines—and that might finally help doctors

figure out what parents can do about it.

The term “colic” has 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 what “tummy distress” means 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 else—something 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 migraines—those 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 medication—and 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 migraines—like 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 head—while 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.

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