ABSTRACT
The term infantile colic was defined in 1954 by paediatrician Dr Morris Wessel as a minimum of 3 hours’ crying per day, for a minimum of 3 days in a week, for 3 weeks between the third week and third month of life: the so-called ‘Rule of 3’. However, about 5% of excessively crying infants do have a serious, underlying medical problem, and there is evidence that older children presenting with migraine are more likely to have been babies who have suffered colic. Gastro-oesophageal reflux (GOR) is the normal physiological regurgitation of an infant’s milk up from the stomach into the oesophagus, and sometimes up and out of the mouth, ranging from a ‘swallowing down’, through small amounts of posset, right the way up to projectile regurgitation of what seems like a full feed. GOR is distinct from GORD, which is gastro-oesophageal reflux disease.
