Temporary Strict Maternal Avoidance of Cow’s Milk and Infantile Colic

Infant colic is a common problem characterized by excessive crying and fussing. We examined whether colic symptoms of exclusively breast-milk-fed infants would be improved by temporary strict maternal avoidance of cow’s milk. This study is analytic and experimental. Sixtysix subjects were recruited during winter of 2006 from a clinic in Isfahan, Iran. Breast-milk-fed infants with “colic”, age 3-6 months and to be in otherwise good health were referred by pediatricians. The intervention was 1 week period of strict maternal avoidance of cow’s milk while they continued exclusive breast-milk-feeding. All infants showed improvement in distressed behavior (crying and fussing) during intervention. The total recorded crying and fussing time was reduced by an average of 31%. A significant difference was found in cry and fuss time between first and last 2 days of intervention (P = 0.000). Cow’s milk proteins may play an etiologic role in colic. We propose that a brief intervention with strict maternal avoidance of cow’s milk may be an effective treatment for colic in some breast-milk-fed infants.