Is simethicone effective in treating infant colic?
The use of medications containing simethicone is based on the assumption that infant colic is due to SWALLOWED AIR; however numerous studies have shown that swallowed air is NOT a cause of infant colic. In several studies on the various anti-colic treatments available simethicone worked NO better than a placebo* in reducing the level of distress experienced by a colicky baby. *Placebos are sugar pills or sugar water, which are used as a comparison when testing the effectiveness of medications in clinical studies. A placebo effect is when a person reports an improvement in symptoms because they believe the medication was helpful, but in reality they received a sugar pill or mixture that offeredno medicinal value.
