As a parent, it can be challenging to hear from a pediatrician that your child has colic. While your pediatrician will suggest things you can do to soothe your colicky baby potentially, there may also be things you can try at home that your pediatrician might not think of. There are many colic baby products, but the most effective might be those that work to soothe the tummy with probiotics. Here’s how probiotics can help symptoms of colic in infants.
What Is Colic?
A colic diagnosis is hard to handle because there is no real consensus about what causes it or how it should be treated. Colic itself is vague and refers to an unknown condition that consistently causes infants to cry for hours for at least three weeks.
A colicky baby often has severe abdominal spasms that cause significant pain. Colic pain may be to blame if your infant is otherwise healthy but plagued by long bouts of intense crying. For some reason, these episodes often happen in the evening, making it difficult for a baby to fall asleep. That, in turn, makes it difficult for parents to get adequate sleep, and the cycle of sleepless nights, frustration, and helplessness continues.
Will Probiotics Help a Colicky Baby
Probiotics may help a colicky baby by easing digestive discomfort and gas pains. An adult human gut contains trillions of microorganisms that help break down food and eliminate waste from the body. When anything disrupts the balance of good or bad microorganisms in the gut microbiome, stomach upset, constipation and other issues can develop.
Babies aren’t born with quite as many microorganisms in their guts as adults have. They’re born with an immature immune system and essentially no microbiome. This can make it difficult for babies to properly digest breast milk or formula’s nutrients and other components. Giving your little one probiotics can help support a strong microbiome and healthy digestion. When your baby can digest more efficiently, the likelihood of stomach upset and other colicky symptoms is more likely to subside.
What Probiotics Help Treat Colic
Not all probiotics are ideal for babies. That’s why it’s important to get probiotics for colic, specifically. Seven core microbial organism genera are commonly used in probiotics. Of those seven, two are widely considered to be safe for use in infants. They are Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. Newborn probiotic drops such as Wellements Organic Probiotic Drops should not contain any other genera of microbial organisms.
How Long Do Probiotics Take to Help Soothe Colicky Babies
The old saying goes, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.” This saying applies to many things, including medicine or other remedies for colicky babies. It’s generally not possible to cure any ailment immediately. The gut microbiome is incredibly finicky, and consistent care is required to restore balance.
Taking supplements or remedies for at least two weeks is generally recommended to experience noticeable results. When you administer probiotics to your colicky baby as directed on the packaging, you may begin to notice a difference much quicker than that. If so, that is excellent news and an indication that you’re addressing the root of the problem.
Don’t make the mistake of discontinuing the drops as soon as your baby stops exhibiting colicky symptoms. Instead, continue administering them for a few weeks or months to ensure your baby’s digestive issues are resolved. You can also administer the drops throughout your little one’s infancy anytime colicky symptoms seem to be returning.
Sources:
https://familydoctor.org/condition/colic/
https://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/baby-microbiome
https://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/know-about-probiotics-for-infants