One in five infants experience colic, defined as recurrent and prolonged episodes of crying and fussing with no obvious cause in healthy infants less than 5 months of age. There is evidence to support the role of the probiotic L. reuteri for treatment of colic in breastfed babies and for prevention of colic. However, these two options (prevention vs treatment-as-needed) have not been previously compared head-to-head. The study aims determine if oral supplementation with the probiotic L. reuteri administered to every newborn within the first week of life for 12 weeks (prevention) is superior to treatment-as-needed, as measured by daily cry/fuss duration at 6 and 12 weeks of age.
The aim of the study is to compare prevention (oral supplementation with the probiotic L. reuteri administered to every newborn within the first week of life for 12 weeks) with treatment-as-needed (supplementation with the probiotic L. reuteri after randomization, to infants who develop excessive cry/fuss up to 12 weeks of age). This is a single site pilot study to assess feasibility for a full trial.