Parents often feel helpless, irritated and exhausted when their baby cries or screams frequently without any discernible reason. A new report published in Pediatrics suggested that fennel or herbal tea that included fennel or herbal tea that included fennel and chamomile might help babies to ease their colic.
The author reviewed 15 studies and compared the use of complementary and alternative medicines (including herbal extracts, sugar water, probiotics, massage and reflexology) against placebo or sham to treat colic in 944 babies.
They found most complementary and alternative medicines are not useful in treating colic. Only fennel or herbal tea that included fennel, chamonmile and other herbs seemed to have some positive effects.
In one study, 65% of babies who got fennel seed oil dissolved in water before meals were cured of their colic vs. 24% of those who just got water.
Similar results were also found in another study of herbal tea that included fennel, chamomile and other herbs.
Most of these studies, however, have limited number of patients and some studies were not blinded.
I personally have tried Bo Ying Compound and it has worked well in my 3 daughters when they were young. Bo Ying Compound is an ancient Chinese herbal formula that was developed to treat pediatric discomforts like restlessness at night, poor appetite, cold, cough, phlegm, vomiting milk, excessive air in the stomach and diarrhea.
Bo Ying Compound has been used by many Chinese families and has been proven to be safe by the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine.
Whether you use Western or Chinese herbal medicine, the good news is colic is a benign and self-limiting. As the brain and gut of the babies become more developed, colic will eventually goes away.
Source: Pediatrics 2011.
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