A New Cure for Colic?

If you’ve ever had a colicky baby (and approximately 10% of babies suffer from colic), you know how difficult it can be. The feeling of frustration and helplessness, as your baby cries inconsolably for hours on end, is pure torture. You pace, you rock, you even drive in the car to steal a few moments of peace. Although colic usually ends after 3 or 4 months, and babies appear no worse for the wear, finding a cure would be, well, dreamy.

That dream may be coming true. An Italian researcher, Dr. Francesco Savino, and his colleagues at Turin's University Hospital recently conducted studies showing infants who scream inconsolably have an imbalance in their intestinal microflora, perhaps explaining the source of their colic. The researchers gave 46 breast-feeding and colicky infants (21-90 days old) either probiotic drops or a drug containing the substance simethicone, the standard colic treatment in Europe.

Probiotics support the growth of beneficial bacteria found naturally in the digestive tract. These “good” bacteria counteract the effects of “bad” bacteria in our digestive tracts (effects such as pain and indigestion). These helpful bacteria are found in cultured foods like yogurt (yep-that’s what they mean by “live active cultures”), acidophilus milk, kefir, tempeh, miso and other fermented foods. Foods that nourish these "good" bacteria include oatmeal, flax, barley, whole grains, greens, fruits and legumes. Probiotics have helped some adults suffering with digestive imbalances, but can they help infants?

Parents in the research studey were asked to note each day, for 28 days, how long their infant screamed. When the study started, infants screamed for on average 3 hours and 20 minutes per day. After seven days, the infants that received probiotic drops only screamed 2 hours and 20 minutes, 32 minutes less than in the other group.

After 28 days, the infants on probiotic drops were only screaming an average of 20 minutes per day, compared with the average 2 hours and 36 minutes for those on simethicone. Almost all the babies who received the probiotic treatment--95 percent, in fact--were less irritable and cried less than half as often as before.

Officially, of course, more research is required. But for those of us with colicky babies, hope alone is good news. And if probiotic drops soothe our little ones, that’s enough for us!