Any parent of a baby with colic knows how difficult the condition can be for both the baby and parents. Colic is a condition of inconsolable crying by baby for three hours or more hours a day, several days a week. Colic can be triggered by an allergy to a milk based formula or, if breast feeding mom may be eating something that triggers an allergy in the infant. Switching to a non-milk based formula, checking things in mom’s diet, and a calming herbal tea made from herbs like chamomile, vervain, licorice, fennel, and lemon balm have all been shown to help at times.

Now new research from Italy adds probiotics to the list of possible remedies for colic. Probiotics are “good bacteria” that grow in the gut and intestines, and help promote good digestion healthy immune function. Research has shown that babies with colic can have an imbalance of gut bacteria.

Researchers treated colicky babies for three weeks with probiotics. Babies so treated reduced their crying to an average of about a half-hour a day. Babies not treated with te probiotics cried for an average of for an hour and a half a day. The study is published in Pediatrics.

Source
Pediatrics