Criteria
Rome IV criteria for the diagnosis of infant colic[29]
For clinical purposes, a diagnosis of infant colic must include all of the following:
An infant who is younger than 5 months of age when the symptoms start and stop.
Recurrent and prolonged periods of infant crying, fussing, or irritability reported by caregivers that occur without obvious cause and cannot be prevented or resolved by caregivers.
No evidence of infant faltering growth, fever, or illness.
“Fussing” refers to intermittent distressed vocalization and has been defined as “[behavior] that is not quite crying but not awake and content either.” Infants often fluctuate between crying and fussing, so that the two symptoms are difficult to distinguish in practice.
For clinical research, a diagnosis of infant colic must meet the preceding diagnostic criteria and also include both of the following:
Caregiver reports infant has cried or fussed for 3 or more hours/day during 3 or more days in 7 days in a telephone or face-to-face screening interview with a researcher or clinician.
Total 24-hour crying plus fussing in the selected group of infants is confirmed to be 3 hours or more when measured by at least one, prospectively kept, 24-hour behavior diary.
Wessel criteria[1]
Paroxysms of crying episodes:
Lasting >3 hours per day
On >3 days per week, and
For >3 weeks.
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