Review the literature on excessive crying in young infants, also known as infantile colic, and its effects on family dynamics, its pathophysiology, and new treatment interventions.
The literature review was carried out in the Medline, PsycINFO, LILACS, SciELO, and Cochrane Library databases, using the terms "excessive crying," and "infantile colic," as well technical books and technical reports on child development, selecting the most relevant articles on the subject, with emphasis on recent literature published in the last five years.
Excessive crying is a common symptom in the first 3 months of life and leads to approximately 20% of pediatric consultations. Different prevalence rates of excessive crying have been reported, ranging from 14% to approximately 30% in infants up to 3 months of age. There is evidence linking excessive crying early in life with adaptive problems in the preschool period, as well as with early weaning, maternal anxiety and depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and other behavioral problems. Several pathophysiological mechanisms can explain these symptoms, such as circadian rhythm alterations, central nervous system immaturity, and alterations in the intestinal microbiota. Several treatment alternatives have been described, including behavioral measures, manipulation techniques, use of medication, and acupuncture, with controversial results and effectiveness.
Excessive crying in the early months is a prevalent symptom; the pediatrician's attention is necessary to understand and adequately manage the problem and offer support to exhausted parents. The prescription of drugs of questionable action and with potential side effects is not a recommended treatment, except in extreme situations. The effectiveness of dietary treatments and use of probiotics still require confirmation. There is incomplete evidence regarding alternative treatments such as manipulation techniques, acupuncture, and use of the herbal supplements and behavioral interventions.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 29. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 19 August 2026.
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#1,709,562
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Outputs from Jornal de Pediatria
#35
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Outputs of similar age
#22,857
of 357,344 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Jornal de Pediatria
#1
of 23 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,170,764 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 94th percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,103 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.0. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 357,344 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 93% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 23 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its contemporaries.
