to return to home page
Are there any medications advised in treating infant colic? Medication is not warranted for the treatment of colic, basically because clinical trials have shown these to be no better placebo. In fact certain anti-colic preparations such as dicyclomine hydrochloride (Bentylol) are frankly dangerous and have been associated with serious side effects such as ALTE's (acute life threatening events). Other remedies that are not considered effective in the management of classic colic (loosely defined as "extreme fussing") include the use of herbal teas, switching from breast feeding to formula, changing brands of formula, using soy preparations or introducing cereal early. What weapons does the physician have left? In fact there is much that you can do. The most important is to be aware of the red flags that might suggest that this is not classic colic. These signals include: failure to gain weight or weight loss, blood in the stool, projectile vomiting, fever, hard infrequent bowel movements, watery loose foul stools, pain with movement of the limbs (may be due to fractured clavicle at birth, septic hip) etc. Having ruled out significant pathology, then parental reassurance becomes vital, meeting with both parents to explain the situation is crucial, establishing that the family have good support systems in place is mandatory and frequent follow-up by office visit or by phone is a life-saver for these parents. The short term outlook (3 month) and long term outlook (years) is excellent for these infants and this is the strongest message that confident and reassuring physicians can leave the parents with. Reference: The 3 a.m. handbook. Ed. W. Feldman. Key Porter Books Ltd. Pg 39-49,1997.
Click to return to home page