Study Finds Link between Mom’s Migraines and Colicky Babies

If you have a colicky baby, chances are your child’s incessant crying has caused you a headache or two. But who could have guessed it might have started the other way around? A new study suggests that there is a connection between mothers with migraines and colic in infancy, reports HealthDay.

Plus: 5 Ways to Get Through Colic

The study showed that mothers with a history of migraines were over two-and-a-half times more likely to have a baby with colic—a condition marked by excessive crying in an otherwise healthy child—than mothers who did not. The researchers developed a questionnaire (administered at the two-month pediatric check-up) to help pinpoint whether a baby had colic and to identify mothers who had been diagnosed with a migraine. The data revealed a surprising trend: of the 154 mothers and babies surveyed, 29 percent of colicky children had mothers with a history of migraine headaches, versus 11 percent of babies whose mothers were migraine-free. The correlation included fathers, too. Twenty-two percent of babies with colic had a father who suffered migraines, versus 10 percent of babies whose fathers did not.

Plus: 4 Genius Colic Home Remedies

Pediatric neurologist and author of the study, Dr. Amy Gelfand has advised that parents try non-medication strategies that help some adult migraine sufferers as a way to treat colic, as colic might be an early manifestation of migraines. "Turning down loud music, going to a quiet room and decreasing stimulation might help," Dr. Gelfand said. She also suggested that moms and dads keep a "crying diary" to track when colic flare-ups tend to occur and anything that seems to calm the baby.

Did you—or do you—have a baby with colic? How are you coping?