MATERNAL DIET AND INFANTILE COLIC IN BREAST-FED INFANTS

The results do not support the contention that elimination of cow's milk from maternal diet may influence the likelihood of infantile colic, and the source of colic cannot be attributed to a single dietary component, but it may involve a combination of foodstuffs.

Abstract

Avoidance of cow's milk by 20 mothers who were breast-feeding their infants did not reduce the rate of infantile colic in their babies in a double-blind placebo-controlled cross-over study. This finding was not influenced by a positive or negative history of maternal allergy, nor by whether or not cow's milk antigen was detectable in maternal milk on days when cow's milk was taken by the mother. However, increasing numbers of types of foods in the mother's diet were associated with increasing numbers of attacks of colic in the infants.