Is a Stomach Bacteria the Cause of Baby Colic?

If you’ve ever taken care of a crying baby, you know how miserable it can be when you can’t seem to console this bundle of love and what’s-supposed-to-be joy. Now, imagine those moments amplified times ten, and prolonged for hours on end…every day…for weeks or months. This is what parents of babies with colic experience. 

What’s even more frustrating is that doctors don’t really know the cause of colic. Is it a change in environment from the womb to a new world over-filled with stimulation? Is it a reaction to mother’s milk? Is it acid reflux? We don’t really know. We just know that about 20% of all babies get it and they eventually grow out of it.

But recently, a study published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine gained a bit of media attention. The study found a possible link between stomach bacteria and babies with colic. Let’s research this together and find out what this means for us parents living in near-insanity.

How Was the Study Performed?

For us science-minded folks, the details of how the study was carried out are important in order to learn how valid the results of the study actually are.

The study was performed by a physician practicing in a local rural hospital in Saudi Arabia. He took 55 colicky babies between the ages of 2 weeks and 4 months (the colicky phase) and 30 non-colicky babies (this is called the “control” group) who were “matched” by ethnicity, country of origin, sex, and age. In a study like this, it’s important to find “matched” babies to compare these colicky babies to because otherwise one could argue that those babies are just colicky because of their ethnicity, or sex, or age, or some other variable.

To meet the official criteria for colic, a baby has to cry for at least 3 hours a day, 3 days a week, for 3 or more weeks in a row. Imagine that!

The doctors who performed the study tested the stools of each of the babies for the presence of “Helicobacter Pylori” (or H. Pylori) bacteria. They found that 45 of those 55 colicky babies (almost 82%) and 7 of those healthy, non-colicky babies (about 23%) had H. Pylori in their gut, which is a notable difference.

What is H. Pylori?

H. Pylori is a bacteria that has been associated with gastritis (the inflammation of the stomach lining) and stomach ulcers in adults. However, about 50% of all of us normally have H.Pylori living in our gut, and it may never cause any problems. It’s only treated if it causes problems or symptoms.

See also: What is Gut Microbiota?

So it’s quite possible that like adults, babies could also be carriers of this bacteria. But could this bacteria be the actual cause of colic, like the study suggests?

Is H. Pylori the Cause of Infantile Colic?

Before we all run out to the local drug store to buy some infantile probiotics, or even worse, beg our doctors for antibiotics, let’s examine the study a bit closer:

1. It’s super small – Only 85 babies were enrolled in this study. Doctors call this a study with a lack of “power,” which means that there just aren’t enough patients in the study to make it a good enough sample. So we can’t recommend changes in how doctors practice just yet based on such a small sample.

2. It’s the only one – When making new guidelines for doctors, a study needs to be corroborated and its results repeated by multiple other studies. So far, this is only one showing such results.

3. Association does not equal causation – Just because there’s an association between H. Pylori and infants with colic, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s H. Pylori that actually causes colic. 

So although it’s an interesting study that examines one of the numerous potential causes of colic that has been suggested for this mysterious baby phenomenon, I can’t say that it would change the way I practice at this time. I’m just not quite convinced of its results since there are lots of unanswered questions. And I certainly would not treat H.Pylori with antibiotics in these babies, since antibiotics can have some very serious consequences for infants.

Make sure to listen to my colleague, Mighty Mommy, for some great tips on how to deal with colic. Just remember, whatever you do, never ever shake your baby. Shaken Baby Syndrome is fatal. If you get frustrated from the incessant crying, it’s OK to just leave the baby in a safe crib, step out of the room for a few minutes, and take some deep breaths to recover.

Has your baby experienced colic? What did you do to keep yourself sane? Share it with us on the House Call Doctor’s Facebook and Twitter pages!

Crying Baby image courtesy of Shutterstock