A real-world evaluation of an herbal treatment for infantile colic reported by 1218 parents in Israel.

Purpose: Infantile colic (IC) or fussing and crying behavior of unknown cause, affects up to 20% of the infant population and is one of the major reasons for parents to seek medical advice. Therapeutic options are limited and the key component for IC management is parental support. Fennel-based herbal treatments were shown to significantly reduce crying time. The current study was designed to evaluate the parent perception of effectiveness of a fennel-based commercially-available herbal treatment for IC (BabyCalm, Hisunit Ltd., Israel) using a retrospective online survey.

Design And Methods: This was a real-world observational, case-control retrospective study. Parents of babies with IC symptoms, who either used the herbal product for their baby or did not use any product were invited to participate in an online survey during August-December 2019. The primary outcome was the perceived level of treatment success and symptom improvement.

Results: 1218 parents of IC babies (48% females, 90% up to 3 months of age, 58% exclusively breast-fed) responded to the survey of whom 771 used the treatment. Significantly fewer IC-related symptoms were reported by parents who used the product compared to those that did not. Parents perceived the treatment as successful in 65% of the cases, reporting meaningful improvements within 30 min for 69%-79% of the symptoms.

Conclusions: The majority of parents perceived the herbal treatment as effective in rapid symptom reduction suggesting that this may provide a satisfactory solution for IC in the community.