Infantile colic must be differentiated from other causes of recurrent irritability in infants. Several causes of colic have been described, including family stress, aerophagia (air swallowing), and the ingestion of iron supplements and cow's milk. Recent studies suggest that the elimination of cow's milk, and in some cases soy milk, from infants' diets when they are bottle fed or the elimination of cow's milk from mothers' diets if infants are breast fed decreases colic. Medications are of doubtful value in the treatment of this entity.