Infant colic and breastfeeding – is there a connection?

Abstract

Infant colic is a common cause of parental anxiety and, as a result, help-seeking behaviour. However, the relationship between breastfeeding and colic is currently not fully understood. The article presents data from various studies of the relationship between breastfeeding and colic. On the one hand, the severity of infant colic may lead to the early cessation of exclusive breastfeeding due to the mother’s fear that the baby’s crying is the result of the ineffectiveness of breastfeeding and the unreasonable transition to supplemental feeding. On the other hand, many authors have identified the protective effect of breastfeeding in relation to infant colic a less pronounced degree of infant colic is reported in the group of children, who are breastfed as compared to the children, who are formula-fed. Therefore, the task of the paediatrician is to provide competent counselling for the anxious parents of an infant with colic using evidence-based medicine (EBM) databases, which will help preserve the mother’s breastfeeding. In most cases, due to competent counselling of the parents, the severity of infant colic may be reduced by improving the quality of breastfeeding (ensuring proper breast grabbing to reduce aerophagy, increasing the proportion of consumption of the so-called «back» milk), reducing anxiety of the parents and increasing the perception of breastfeeding self-efficacy levels by mothers. This may increase the duration of breastfeeding of the infants with infant colic.