In some 20 to 30 percent of otherwise healthy infants, crying, referred to as infant colic, becomes relentless and is understandably viewed by parents as a problem. If behaviors predictive of colic could be detected in the newborn period prior to discharge, infants and their families could receive continued assessment and anticipatory guidance for the development of colic behavior. Brazelton suggests that colic behaviors can be measured with the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (BNBAS). The specific purpose of this investigation was to determine if differences existed between the performance as newborns of colic and non-colic infants on the BNBAS and if possible relationships were present among prenatal, perinatal, BNBAS scores, and perceived infant colic.

The sample was composed of 122 first-born infants from healthy, married, Anglo couples who had indicated plans to breast-feed. Data were collected prenatally, during the perinatal period, weekly until the infants reached six weeks of age, and then monthly for months two through four of infant age. The colic sub-sample was derived on the basis of the development of colic behavioral indicators, as reported by the parents or the physician. Differences between groups were analyzed with the Hotelling's T$sp2$ statistic and profile analysis. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the predictors.

A total of 38 infants (32%) were perceived to have colic by the parents or physician. Colicky infants differed significantly on the BNBAS orientation cluster (p =.03). Logistic regression analyses indicated significant predictive interrelationships among maternal age, income, Apgar, amount of hours newborn roomed-in, the number of breast-feeding problems, selected BNBAS clusters, and the development of colic (p =.0001).

The Orientation Cluster of the BNBAS demonstrated predictive capability in detecting those newborns at risk for the development of colic. Further, factors which occurred during the prenatal and perinatal period also served as indicators in the development of colic. Further study is warranted on issues which involve the predictive factors and the development of infant colic.