Colic Research

niamhcryan

My name is Niamh Ryan and I am a fourth year medical student in UCC. I am doing some research into colic in infants. It is believed that differences exist in the gut bacteria of babies with colic compared to those babies without colic and that this is why they cry so much and have such a miserable time for the first couple of months

Colic is difficult for both parents and the babies who have it. The crying in pain is heartbreaking.
It can be difficult for parents and babies to form a strong bond in the first few months if the child is constantly crying with colic pains. I aim to find out is the bacteria the main reason babies are suffering so much? To do this we take poo samples of the babies and compare the numbers of bacteria against babies of the same age who don't have colic.
I want to look at babies that are around 2-6 months and who have colic (that is they cry for more than 3 hours a day over 3 days in a week).

If mums/dads are willing to take part then I will meet with them and collect a sample which we take to the lab. There, I will do a number of tests to see is there a real difference in bacteria. Parents will then be given the option of giving further samples to follow the bacteria as they change in the gut.

This research is really important, colic is not understood and getting people to take part is really difficult. We all know a baby that has had colic and we know how tough it is. I want to find what is causing the problem with the aim of finding a way to treat these babies.
If you are interested please contact me.
Niamh

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