A new mum’s support system could have a big effect on her baby’s colic

It's a troublesome issue for many families.

Colic can keep your little one (and you) up 'til all hours, but a the key to solving it could lie with the mother's support system. A study found that women with more social support and a good relationship with their partner, if they had one, were less likely to have a colicky baby. Babies were also less likely to suffer from colic if their mothers had people to offer support and confide in, the study found, suggesting that a missing father did not necessarily mean colic was more likely. The research was conducted as part of the the First Baby Study being carried out at Penn State University. “Mothers’ significant others have a role to play in reducing the burden of colic,” Chandran Alexander, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Penn State and an author of the study, told Philly.com. “Society should avoid pinning the blame for colic on mothers’ incompetence, self-esteem, and depression.” “If you don’t have a partner, you can still have lots of social support, lots of love, and lots of happy relationships, and all of that’s going to be better for the baby,” added Kristen Kjerulff, a Penn State professor of public health sciences and another author of the study.