Researchers at the Hospital for Sick Children may have found a viable treatment for infantile colic, a mysterious condition that causes excessive crying and fussing in otherwise healthy infants. Children with colic cry inconsolably, often for more than three hours a day, three days of the week.
Dr. Gideon Koren, professor of pediatrics at U of T and the director of the Motherisk program at SickKids, along with other researchers from various Canadian universities and hospitals, conducted a study that surveyed children with infantile colic for responsiveness to treatment by the probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri. The study, published in the advanced online edition of The Journal of Pediatrics indicated that treatment with this probiotic significantly reduced the symptoms of colic in breastfed Canadian infants.
Probiotics are microorganisms that confer health benefits to the host, usually by managing the balance of microorganisms in the gut.
While crying is normal behaviour for infants, serving to alert parents of their needs, infants with colic cry for extended periods of time causing great distress to the child and the parents. It is estimated that five to 20 per cent of infants have this condition. Colic typically occurs in children as young as two months old and usually disappears at three to four months of age.
Despite the prevalence of infantile colic, its underlying cause remains unclear. A large number of theories have been proposed, including overproduction of gas in the intestine, hypersensitivity towards milk proteins, and parental overstimulation, to name a few. Poor understanding of its underlying cause makes colic difficult to treat.
“Doctors and patients alike have struggled with a lack of treatment options to ease colic symptoms in early infancy,” the study stated.
The study was conducted with 52 exclusively breastfed Canadian infants as participants. Of these, 28 were assigned to a control group and given a placebo, while 24 were assigned to the test group and given probiotics. Children were randomly assigned to these groups in a double-blind arrangement, where neither the children’s parents nor the researchers were told which participants belonged to which group until the data were collected and analyzed. Double-blind placebo-controlled experiments such as this one eliminate bias on the part of both the participants and the researchers and are considered the standard for medical research.
The study found probiotics to be highly effective in eliminating colic symptoms in breastfed Canadian infants, consistent with similar studies conducted in Italy and Poland. It is speculated that geographical dissimilarities in the microbial culture of the digestive tract will cause differing responses to probiotics.
“Infants from one area may be more susceptible to the effects of the probiotics than other regions,” stated the study. A study in Australia, for example, found that probiotic treatment resulted in no improvement to colic symptoms.
The researchers conclude, “Our study provides evidence from North America that supplementation of probiotics in early infancy is effective in managing colic symptoms.”
