Is colic a gastrointestinal disorder?

Abstract

Infantile colic is a distinct, although poorly defined, clinical entity. Whereas a general consensus regarding its cause is lacking, it is most likely multifactorial in genesis. Possible causative factors can be divided into two main groups: gastrointestinal and non-gastrointestinal. Food protein hypersensitivity or allergy is the leading contender in the former group, and disturbances in parental or maternal-child interactions in the latter. In all likelihood, the various factors act in tandem, leading to disturbances in infant gastrointestinal motility that manifests clinically as colic.