>Are there any reliable data on how often colic occurs in exclusively 
>breastfed babies?  I'm especially interested in data based on babies 
>having crying spells for at least three hours daily, at least three 
>times a week as the 'definition' of colic. 
>I don't get many questions about colic since I work mainly with 
>babies under a week old, but I have the impression that the 
>diagnostic criteria used where I live are a bit fuzzy, and that a 
>lot of unhappiness in babies that gets called colic here is due to 
>an identifiable cause such as 'not getting fed when they are hungry' 
>or 'not getting held when they long for comfort'. 
>
>Rachel Myr
>Kristiansand, Norway

Cant help with links to any data but I certainly agree that  'colic' 
is on the list of 'explanations' for crying or unsettledness which is 
fixed when the baby is fed/held responsively and without restriction.

The other 'diagnoses' I often hear are now 'reflux' and 'silent reflux'.

I am not saying none of these exist in individual cases.

However, when I get asked about a healthy, thriving baby who 'cries a 
lot' or who 'refuses to be put down' and the mother says she/the 
doctor/the health visitor reckon it's 'colic'  I ask something along 
the lines of 'is your baby reasonably comfortable and content if he 
is held close to you, on or near your breast, and if he's feeding 
when he wants?' and the answer is 'yes' (and if often is), then I say 
'this could well be normal baby behaviour, then, rather than anything 
wrong' and we talk about ways to make it easier for her to meet her 
baby's (normal) needs (we sometimes have to discuss what is normal, 
of course....many people do not accept that a baby's need for comfort 
and closeness is normal, as we know).

One difficulty is that once this diagnosis of 'colic' has been given, 
the diagnoser may add stuff like 'so it's important not to feed more 
often than x hourly/longer than y minutes, as this makes colic worse' 
or something equally fatuous.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK

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