Spit-up On My Shoulder

Could it be true? A cure for colic? Over the last few years there have been several studies claiming that probiotics, dietary supplements containing potentially beneficial bacteria or yeast, can lessen crying in colicky babies.

Here is part of an article that appeared in the April 2007 issue of Sacramento Parent regarding new research on this topic:

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.

Parents in the research study were asked to note each day, for 28 days, how long their infant screamed. When the study started, infants screamed 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.

You can find the complete article here. I wanted to review the research study, but I don’t know Italian.

More research is required, but it’s nice that there is some hope - not just for the baby, but for the exhausted parents! You may want to talk to your doctor about probiotic drops.

Until probiotics are officially approved for colic, Harvey Karp’s 5 S’s Method for soothing babies is a great technique.