What is distinct about infants' "colic" cries?
Thomas Coram Research
Unit, Institute of Education, University of London, 27/28 Woburn
Square, London WC1H, UK
Correspondence to: Dr St James-Roberts. email: tejt312{at}ioe.ac.uk
Accepted 10
August 1998
AIMS
To investigate (1) whether colic cries are
acoustically distinct from pre-feed "hunger" cries; (2) the role of
the acoustic properties of these cries versus their other properties in
accounting for parents' concerns about colic.
DESIGNFrom a community sample, infants were
selected who met Wessel colic criteria for amounts of crying and whose
mothers identified colic bouts. Using acoustic analyses, the most
intense segments of nine colic bouts were compared with matched
segments from pre-feed cries presumed to reflect hunger.
RESULTSThe colic cries did not have a higher
pitch or proportion of dysphonation than the pre-feed cries. They did
contain more frequent shorter utterances, but these resembled normal
cries investigated in other studies. There is no evidence that colic
cries have distinct acoustic features that are reproducible across
samples and studies, which identify a discrete clinical condition, and
which are identified accurately by parents.
CONCLUSIONSThe most reliable finding is that
colic cries convey diffuse acoustic and audible information that a baby
is highly aroused or distressed. Non-acoustic features, including the
prolonged, hard to soothe, and unexplained nature of the cries may be
specific to colic cries and more important for parents. These
properties might reflect temperament-like dispositions.
© 1999 by Archives of Disease in Childhood
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