Excessive Crying

NEOTHERM is a multicenter, prospective, observational pilot study examining whether infrared thermal imaging (ITI) can contribute to the assessment of prolonged pain in infants with excessive crying. Thermal measurements of the face and body will be compared with scores obtained using the EDIN behavioral pain and discomfort scale. The study will also examine associations between ITI measures, EDIN scores, and hair cortisol concentrations as a biomarker of prolonged stress, and will describe early motor organization and psychomotor development using General Movements Assessment and Bayley-4. Eighty infants will be enrolled in two comparison groups based on daily crying duration and assessed longitudinally at two standardized visits. The main hypothesis is that ITI will identify cutaneous thermal changes associated with prolonged pain and that these measures will be associated with EDIN scores.