Colic. That word is enough to strike fear in the hearts of new parents or parents-to-be. Although two of my kids were constant criers in those early months, I never named it colic, mainly because that seemed to be a catchall term for "we have no other explanation for the hell you are going through."
However, had I known that a simple probiotic can cure 95% of colic cases, I might have thought otherwise.
Colic is loosely defined as extreme crying (three hours a day, three days a week) that lasts from three weeks to three months that persists no matter what you do to attempt to please or comfort your baby. In other words, in colic, no amount of feeding, changing, holding, or burping is going to provide relief. Maybe colicky babies are just pissed off?
But new research suggests that the administration of the probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri can ease colic symptoms within a week. Which could be a godsend to tired, fed-up parents. Breastfeeding mothers may find colic relief in avoiding cow's milk, and also possibly caffeine, chocolate, eggs and nuts.
Though it's clear that no one really knows the cause of colic. There is evidence to suggest correlation between various behaviors and colic, but so far there has been nothing identified as causative. Parents just have to suck it up. There is, for example, no strong evidence linking colic to gas, wind or food allergy, nor to problems with the bowel. Some studies have linked colic to second-hand smoke, but I'll bet money that there are plenty of colicky babies in smoke-free homes. Anther study links it with post-partum depression, but honestly, doesn't almost everything negative about newborns somehow get blamed on the mother's depression? So again, there's nothing causative there either. Surely PPD itself could be caused by a constantly-crying baby, what about that, researcher-people? Huh?
So, again: if you think your baby has colic, I'd try the probiotic. They're good for us anyway, all that healthy bacteria in the gut ad all. Nestle is adding them to its formula, and Beech-Nut is adding probiotics to baby food. So there.
