Baby Colic: Why It Happens and How to Soothe a Colicky Baby
Is it normal for a baby to cry this much? Most parents ask themselves that around week three or four — usually pacing the hallway with a baby who won’t settle.
If that’s where you’re at right now, take a breath. This is common, it’s temporary, and there’s a lot you can actually do about it.
Let’s dive straight into it.
What Counts as Colic?
Doctors define colic using something called Wessel’s Criteria — also known as the rule of three.
- Crying more than three hours a day
- On more than three days a week
- For more than three weeks straight
And crucially, in a baby who’s otherwise healthy — feeding fine, growing fine, not unwell.
Timing follows a pattern too. It usually kicks in around two to three weeks old (gets worse before it gets better) and peaks somewhere around the six-week mark. After that, it tends to ease off, mostly gone by three to four months.
So if you’re in the thick of week six right now, hang in there! Statistically, you’re near the peak, not stuck at the start of it.
Colic is more common than most first-time parents expect. It affects somewhere between one in five and two in five babies.
Nobody’s entirely sure why the crying clusters the way it does, but ask any parent living through it, and they’ll tell you: late afternoon into evening is prime colic time, right as everyone else in the house is trying to wind down.
The crying itself usually has a particular character to it too — sudden, intense, higher-pitched than normal crying, with the baby’s fists clenched and legs drawn up toward the belly. It can start and stop abruptly. Also, the baby seems completely fine in between episodes, which is often what throws parents the most.
What Causes Colic
Truthfully? No one’s pinned it down
Despite colic being one of the more studied problems in infant health, there’s no single cause doctors can point to. What we’ve got instead is a shortlist of theories — each with some evidence behind it, none of them the whole story.
One idea is that a newborn’s gut just isn’t mature yet. It is still learning how to move things along and cope with new bacteria. Gas gets blamed a lot, too, though the thinking has shifted somewhat. Researchers increasingly suspect gas is a result of long crying spells rather than the cause of them — since babies swallow air while they scream. Overstimulation is another factor worth taking seriously. A few weeks into life, a baby’s nervous system is still raw, and by evening, it’s soaked up a full day of light, noise, and handling. And then there’s temperament; some babies just cry more than others.
That’s not a medical mystery. That’s just who they are.
None of this is your fault as a parent or because of anything you did. Not the diet in pregnancy, not how you’re holding them, not the formula you switched to in week two. Colic has been blamed on all sorts of things over the decades that don’t hold up under closer study, which is a good reminder that a lot of the “advice” floating around out there is guesswork dressed up as fact. Because there’s no confirmed cause, there’s no guaranteed fix either, which is part of why parents often end up trying a combination of things — feeding tweaks, soothing routines, or sometimes seeing an osteopath for babies.
It’s less about finding the cause and more about finding what works for your kid specifically.
How to Soothe a Colicky Baby: Techniques That Help
None of what follows is a cure. Done well, though, it takes the edge off — for the baby and for you.
Movement, Touch, and Sound
Babies come from nine months of constant motion and noise, the whoosh of blood flow, the sway of walking, a near-constant background hum. Sudden stillness and silence can feel foreign by comparison, which is probably why movement-based soothing works as often as it does.
Some things that help:
- Rocking
- Bouncing helps
- A walk in the pram
- A drive around the block
- Swaying in the kitchen
Swaddling is worth trying too: arms in, hips loose enough to move (since it can make a baby feel held even when your own arms are full of something else). White noise tends to be underrated: a fan, a vacuum, a white noise app on your phone. It masks the small sounds that would otherwise startle a baby out of settling right when they’re about to drift off.
Touch matters just as much as motion. A gentle, clockwise belly rub can help move trapped gas along. A warm bath tends to relax everyone in the room, not just the baby. Skin-to-skin contact is worth trying too, especially in that rough first hour of an evening crying stretch, since it can help regulate a baby’s breathing and heart rate as much as it does yours. Some parents swear by the colic hold — baby face-down along your forearm, head supported near your elbow, light pressure against the tummy.
Babywearing deserves a mention too. A sling or carrier gives your baby the closeness and movement they crave. It also frees up your hands for anything else (which by week six of colic, you will desperately need!).
Try a few of these. See what sticks. What settles your friend’s baby might do nothing for yours.
Feeding Adjustments
Feeding technique matters — even when it isn’t the whole answer.
Pacing feeds, pausing partway through instead of letting a baby feed nonstop, cuts down on swallowed air. Burping helps for the same reason, both mid-feed and after — over the shoulder, sitting upright on your lap, whatever position actually gets a result, since babies aren’t fussy about technique as long as it works. Bottle-feeding? A slow-flow or anti-colic teat can make a real difference here too.
Then there’s the stuff parents ask about most: formula switches, gripe water, simethicone drops, probiotics. Time to be blunt — the evidence for most of it is shaky. Lactobacillus reuteri, a specific probiotic strain, has shown a genuine reduction in crying time for breastfed babies in some trials. Though not every study agrees, the results have been inconsistent. Simethicone hasn’t reliably outperformed a placebo in research, which is a polite way of saying it might not actually do much. Gripe water has been around for well over a century and still doesn’t have solid science behind it.
None of that makes these things dangerous; most carry low risk. But don’t expect a miracle in a bottle, and run anything new past your GP or pharmacist first, especially a formula change.
Best Sleep Positions for a Colicky Baby
This one’s non-negotiable, colic or no colic: babies sleep on their backs.
Every time, on a firm, flat surface, with nothing loose in the cot. It’s the single biggest thing you can do to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, and colic doesn’t change that. Even if your baby seems to settle faster on their tummy or side, those positions aren’t safe for actual sleep, no matter how tempting that feels at midnight.
Awake time is a different story. Holding your baby upright against your shoulder, chest to chest, is fine, good even. It takes pressure off the belly and is often more comforting during a crying episode than lying flat. Patting, shushing, swaying while you’re holding them awake, all fine.
Just put them back on their back the moment they’re actually going down to sleep.
When to See a GP
Most colic is miserable rather than dangerous. But a handful of signs mean you should stop waiting it out:
- Fever
- Poor weight gain
- Vomiting that’s forceful or frequent (especially if it’s green or has blood in it)
- Blood in their nappy
- Unusual lethargy
- Trouble breathing
A cry that sounds different from their usual cry — higher-pitched, weaker, more constant with no real breaks — is worth mentioning too, even if you can’t quite put your finger on what’s changed. If the crying is still going strong well past four months, or it’s getting worse rather than better over time, mention it to your GP. It might not be colic at all.
And this bit matters just as much: you’re allowed to get help for yourself, not just tips for the baby. Weeks of broken sleep and nonstop crying wear people down, and that’s not weakness; that’s just what sleep deprivation does to a person. Call your GP, your maternal health nurse, your own parents, whoever.
Asking for support isn’t giving up on anything!
Where Osteopathy May Help
Since colic doesn’t have one clear cause, osteopathy isn’t being pitched here as the fix.
It’s simply one option some parents look into, usually alongside their regular GP care rather than instead of it. Osteopathic treatment for babies is gentle by nature, light hands-on work assessing how a baby’s moving and holding tension. It is aimed at general comfort rather than “curing” colic directly.
The findings are conflicting, and we must be honest about that instead of ignoring it. Some trials have found that babies cried less after osteopathic treatment on top of standard care. Other reviews have looked at that same body of research and called it too thin or too low-quality to draw firm conclusions either way. Where most of it does agree: performed by a properly trained practitioner, it appears safe, with no forceful adjustments involved. That’s really the main thing worth weighing if you’re considering it.
If you’re after an osteopath in Brisbane with paediatric experience specifically, Prime Health Hub’s Dr Archana Sukhtankar is AHPRA-registered and has completed postgraduate training in paediatric care.
Consider this if you prefer a dedicated pediatric specialist over an adult practice that only occasionally treats babies.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to relieve colic quickly?
Nothing works instantly, but movement, white noise, swaddling, and upright holding tend to act fastest. Stack a few together: swaddled, swaying, white noise running in the background — and you’ll usually get further than trying one thing at a time.
What worsens colic?
Overstimulation in most cases. Too much noise, light, and handling, especially by late afternoon when a baby’s already running on empty. Overtiredness makes it worse too. The longer you wait past the first tired signs, the harder the eventual crash tends to be.
Does colic mean something is wrong with my baby?
No. Colic happens to healthy, well-fed babies constantly. It’s not a sign you’re doing something wrong, and it’s not a sign your baby has a problem. It’s a hard phase a lot of babies go through, full stop.
When does colic usually end?
Most babies are noticeably better by three months and mostly done with it by four. If it’s still intense well past that point, flag it with your GP, just to rule out anything else going on.
Ready for a more settled night? Explore how our gentle baby osteopathy can help ease your little one’s colic discomfort.
Disclaimer: This information is for general educational purposes only and does not replace individual healthcare advice. Before making changes to your exercise, diet, lifestyle, or treatment plan, please consult your healthcare professional or make an appointment with our osteopath for an individual assessment.