Infracol Medicine > Reviews (4)

Further to a previous opinion, I feel I should balance the argument.

Infracol contains simethicone, a surfactant inhibitor which simply means that it increases surface tension in liquids and prevents the formation of bubbles. Air-swallowing in avidly feeding children / infants is the priciple cause of flatulence (not to be confused with flatus, which comes out elsewhere) and it is this swallowed air which is thought to cause the gastric and small-bowel distnesion in babies which makes them distressed.

Simethicone acts to cause the bubbles in the swallowed liquids to pop, so that the trapped gas can be safely 'burped up' during winding, usually with a small bt disgusting volume of semi-digested milk. Simethicone, like dimethicone (the variant used in adult preparations such as wind-eeze) is NOT absorbed from the gut and therefore passes out with stool avoiding concerns regarding accumulation in the body.

We have found simethicone a vaery useful adjunct to reducing colic, bith in a professional setting, and in our own personal practice with our daughter. Clearly however, prevention of air-swallowing is more important than treating its symptoms, and it is well-recognised that breat-fed babies do not swallow as much as bottle-fed infants - perhaps another factor to consider when deciding which feeding modality to use. Feeding little and often reduces the hunger-greed style of feeding, and also may reduce aerophagia (air-swallowing0 which associated reduction in symptoms.

I would advise exercising caution in attributing intractable symptoms of colic to wind, in those cases where simethicone is ineffective, as there are many conditions which produce colicky pain, mostly trivial in nature. However obstruction, intersusception and some serious infections can prduce identical clinical pictures. It is worth asking your GP for advice and possible paediatrician-referral if you child is dogged by recurrent symptoms, refractory to simple remedies.