Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2013 Nov 15:13:186.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2431-13-186.

Probiotics for infantile colic: a systematic review

Jasim Anabrees  1 , Flavia Indrio, Bosco Paes, Khalid AlFaleh
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Probiotics for infantile colic: a systematic review

Jasim Anabrees et al. BMC Pediatr. .

Abstract

Background: Infantile colic is a common paediatric condition which causes significant parental distress. Increased intestinal coliform colonization in addition to alteration in Lactobacillus abundance and distribution may play an important role in its pathogenesis. The objectives of this systematic review are to evaluate the efficacy of probiotic supplementation in the reduction of crying time and successful treatment of infantile colic.

Methods: Literature searches were conducted of MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Only randomized controlled trials enrolling term, healthy infants with colic were included. A meta-analysis of included trials was performed utilizing the Cochrane Collaboration methodology.

Results: Three trials that enrolled 220 breastfed infants met inclusion criteria, of which 209 infants were available for analysis. Two of the studies were assessed as good quality. Lactobacillus reuteri (strains-American Type Culture Collection Strain 55730 and DSM 17 938) was the only species utilized in the therapeutic intervention. Two of the trials were industry funded. Probiotic supplementation compared to simethicone or placebo significantly and progressively shortened crying times to 7 days reaching a plateau at three weeks post initiation of therapy [mean difference -56.03 minutes; 95% CI (-59.92, -52.15)]. Similarly, probiotics compared to placebo significantly increased the treatment success of infantile colic with a relative risk (RR) of 0.06; 95% CI (0.01, 0.25) and a number needed to treat of 2.

Conclusions: Although L. reuteri may be effective as a treatment strategy for crying in exclusively breastfed infants with colic, the evidence supporting probiotic use for the treatment of infant colic or crying in formula-fed infants remains unresolved. Results from larger rigorously designed studies will help draw more definitive conclusions.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flow diagram 2009 of included studies.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot of L. reuteri ATCC 55730 and L. reuteri DSM 17938 versus control effect in decreasing mean crying times (min) over 28 days.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Forest plot of L. reuteri ATCC 55730 and L. reuteri DSM 17938 versus control effect in improving infantile colic treatment success rate over 28 days.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Illingworth RS. Infantile colic revisited. Arch Dis Child. 1985;60:981–985. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lucassen PL, Assendelft WJ, van Eijk JT. et al.Systematic review of the occurrence of infantile colic in the community. Arch Dis Child. 2001;84:398–403. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wessel MA, Cobb JC, Jackson EB, Harris GS Jr, Detwiler AC. Paroxysmal fussing in infancy, sometimes called colic. Pediatrics. 1954;14:421–435. - PubMed
    1. Castro-Rodríguez JA, Stern DA, Halonen M. et al.Relation between infantile colic and asthma/atopy: a prospective study in an unselected population. Pediatrics. 2001;108:878–882. - PubMed
    1. Gelfand AA, Thomas KC, Goadsby PJ. Before the headache: infant colic as an early life expression of migraine. Neurology. 2012;79:1392–1396. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources