The most effective approaches for colic combine physical soothing techniques that mimic the womb environment with, for breastfed babies, a specific probiotic strain that clinical trials show can cut crying time significantly. Colic peaks around 6 weeks of age and resolves on its own in about 90% of infants by 3 to 4 months. That timeline feels like an eternity when your baby is screaming, so here’s what actually works in the meantime.
What Counts as Colic
Colic is traditionally defined as crying or fussing for more than three hours a day, more than three days a week. It’s not a disease. It’s a pattern of intense, inconsolable crying in an otherwise healthy baby, and no single cause has been identified. The crying often starts in the late afternoon or evening, and nothing you did or failed to do caused it.
Symptoms typically peak around 6 weeks of life and then gradually ease. By 12 weeks, most babies improve dramatically, and 90% are completely past it by 3 to 4 months. Knowing this won’t silence your baby tonight, but it helps to understand that the trajectory points toward resolution.
Womb-Like Soothing Techniques
The single most practical tool for calming a colicky baby is recreating the sensory environment of the womb. Inside the uterus, your baby experienced constant snug pressure, a floating side or stomach position, loud whooshing sounds from blood flow through the placenta, continuous gentle motion, and frequent swallowing. Replicating these sensations can trigger what researchers call a calming response, and it tends to work best in the earliest weeks of life when babies are still neurologically tuned to those cues.
In practice, this means:
- Swaddling snugly in a thin blanket to mimic the tight fit of the uterus
- Side or stomach positioning while you hold the baby (always place them on their back once asleep)
- Shushing sounds or white noise, played louder than you’d expect, to replicate the deep rumble of placental blood flow
- Gentle rhythmic swinging or jiggling, supporting the head and neck
- Sucking on a pacifier, which mimics swallowing amniotic fluid
These techniques work best layered together. Swaddling alone may not be enough, but swaddling combined with loud white noise and rhythmic rocking often is. You may need to experiment with which combination your baby responds to, and what works on one evening may not work the next.
Probiotics for Breastfed Babies
A specific probiotic strain called Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 is the most studied supplement for colic, and the results are genuinely encouraging for breastfed infants. In a randomized, double-blind trial of 50 exclusively breastfed colicky babies, those given the probiotic daily for 21 days had a median crying time of 35 minutes per day by the end of the study, compared to 90 minutes in the placebo group. By day 7, significantly more babies in the probiotic group had achieved at least a 50% reduction in crying.
This probiotic is available over the counter in infant drop formulations. Look for the specific strain name (DSM 17938) on the label. Most of the positive trial data comes from breastfed babies, so the evidence is weaker for formula-fed infants. Results aren’t instant. Most families in the trials saw meaningful improvement after about a week of daily use.
What Doesn’t Work
Simethicone drops (sold under various brand names as “gas drops”) are one of the most commonly purchased colic remedies, but the evidence says they don’t help. A Cochrane review of the available trials found no difference in crying hours or treatment response between simethicone and placebo. Despite being widely recommended by well-meaning relatives, these drops perform no better than doing nothing.
Gripe water is another popular pick with a weak case. Formulations vary, but most contain fennel, ginger, and sodium bicarbonate. The baking soda is included on the theory that it neutralizes stomach acid, but acid isn’t the source of most infant gassiness, so the logic doesn’t hold up. Gripe water is also not regulated the same way as medications, meaning ingredient quality and concentration can vary between brands. Older formulations historically contained alcohol and sugar.
Chiropractic or manual therapy for colic has mixed results that lean negative once you account for study quality. A Cochrane review of six trials found that five showed reduced crying, but most of those studies didn’t hide the treatment from parents. When only the blinded studies were considered (where parents didn’t know if their baby received real treatment or a sham), the reduction in crying was smaller and not statistically significant. The apparent benefit likely reflects parental expectation rather than a real physical effect.
When Colic Might Be Something Else
True colic involves excessive crying in an otherwise healthy baby with no other symptoms. If your baby has additional signs, the problem may be a cow’s milk protein allergy, which can look almost identical to colic but responds to dietary changes. About 20 to 25% of affected infants develop skin symptoms like eczema. Roughly 30% have frequent regurgitation or vomiting. Around 6% have blood-streaked stools. A perianal rash with raw, irritated skin from acidic stools is another clue.
The combination of excessive crying plus troublesome vomiting, diarrhea, or constipation is what separates a possible allergy from straightforward colic. If your breastfed baby has these additional symptoms, eliminating dairy from your own diet for two to four weeks is a common first step. For formula-fed babies, a switch to an extensively hydrolyzed formula is the usual approach. If the crying improves with the dietary change, you likely have your answer.
Taking Care of Yourself
Exhaustion, anger, guilt, and frustration are normal responses to caring for a colicky baby. These feelings don’t mean you’re failing. Colic is one of the leading triggers for caregiver distress in the early months, and it’s important to hand the baby to another adult and step away when the crying becomes overwhelming. Even five minutes in another room with the door closed can reset your ability to cope. The crying will not harm your baby, but shaking a baby in a moment of frustration can cause catastrophic injury.
If no one else is home, placing the baby safely in their crib on their back and walking to another room for a few minutes is a completely acceptable response. Your baby needs you functional more than they need you present for every second of crying.