The Outcome of Excessive or Persistent Crying
What is the outcome of persistent or excessive crying? D. Wolke and his team explored this question in a recent pediatric article. Several authors who have investigated excessive crying and “colic” in early infancy have reassured parents that the problem seems to be benign and that it often resolves spontaneously. In infant mental health clinics this condition is not often fulfilled, as the child continues crying well after the typical remission of “colic”. In this important follow up study several dozens of children were followed up to preschool years. The assessment of behavioral profiles showed that they had roughly double the risk of having attentional problems and hyperactivity compared with the general population of children. This corresponds with the “common wisdoms” of many clinicians who see hyperactive children, in a proportion of them there is a history during infancy of excessive crying. Many infants who cry excessively during the first year and beyond continue to have some sort of “regulatory difficulties’ later on in their life.
Dieter Wolke, Patrizia Rizzo, and Sarah Woods .Persistent Infant Crying and Hyperactivity Problems in Middle Childhood Pediatrics, Jun 2002; 109: 1054 – 1060