Reducing Colic with Probiotics

Hearing your baby cry for hours at a time, and being able to do nothing to console her, is torture for a parent.  It’s particularly hard on nursing mothers, who feel their milk let down, but baby is too upset to nurse.  Or when you are parenting an older sibling as well.  

Taking care of my colicky daughter was one of the hardest things I’ve done as a parent.   It tested every fiber of my sleep-deprived spirit and caused me to age 10 years in one. 

I remember lying on the floor of her nursery, after placing her carefully down to sleep, praying she wouldn’t wake up the minute I released her as she did all too often.  I was too tired to leave and then come back, because I usually came back at least 50 times.   So I lay on the floor, frequently, with a stuffed animal as a pillow.  I remember the odd perspective of the room, my face to her area rug, seeing the dust bunnies under the crib up close and personal. 

So I read with interest this article about the effects of probiotics on colicky babies.  I had heard about this from a commenter on Non-Toxic Kids.  There is some preliminary research to support probiotics as lessening the length of crying fits in infants. 

For all parents everywhere, less time crying means less stress, anxiety, and joyously, more sleep and relaxation.  

Have a colicky baby?  I have nothing but empathy for you.  It will get better, I promise.  My former colicky baby is now a charming (most of the time) 3 year old.  In the meantime?  It might be wise to ask your doctor about using probiotics. More research is needed, of course, but this is a great start to help suffering babies and their parents.