INFANTILE COLIC: KNOWLEDGE AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AMONG MOTHERS ATTENDING THE PAEDIATRIC OUTPATIENT CLINIC OF A TERTIARY HOSPITAL IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA.

Background: Infantile colic is a commonly described symptom among mothers with different treatments given to relieve it.

Aim of the study: The study aimed to assess the knowledge and practice of infantile colic among mothers attending the Paediatrc outpatient clinic.

Methodology: It was a cross-sectional study among 327 mother-child pairs using interviewer-administered questionnaires. Data was analysed using the SPSS version 25 with statistical significance set at p <0.05.

Results: The mothers were mostly within the child-bearing age, had a tertiary level of education (69.1%), parity of two, and were presently nursing infants aged 1-12 months (69.4%). Most of them (75.6%) knew about infantile colic from parents/relatives, healthcare workers, and previous experiences. Social media accounted for less than 10% as a source of information. Forty-four percent of them had good knowledge of the clinical presentation of colic and this was significantly associated with a higher level of education and socioeconomic class. The majority of them thought colic was a physiologic process (82%) or due to gas in the intestine 142(58%). About 206 of the infants brought to the clinic had infantile colic which started at 0-4 months and resolved by 3-5 months. The most common treatment practices were the use of nospamin, prescribed mostly by healthcare workers and purchased from chemist shops.

Conclusion: There was a good knowledge of infantile colic among mothers in this study, although more than half of them gave medications to children with suspected infantile colic; the commonest being nospamin and gripe water. Health education of mothers is important to increase the practice of infantile colic and prevent the unnecessary use of medications and their potential side effects.