Excessive crying and fussing

Content

• Crying, fussing newborns and parental challenges
• Health of babies' digestive system
• Bifidobacteria are usually found in high amounts in a baby's digestive system
• BB-12® may help reduce excessive crying

Unfortunately, excessive crying and fussing is common in babies and often leads to frustration and sleepless nights for parents. Excessive crying and fussing might be a sign of digestive upset, which may be due to an imbalance in the variety of bacteria present in a baby’s digestive system. Bifidobacterium, BB-12^® (hereafter referred to by use of the trademark BB-12^®) may support healthy bacterial balance, helping to alleviate excessive crying and fussing. 

Crying, fussing newborns and parental challenges

Becoming a parent and caring for a newborn is an exciting time, it can also be very tough - up to 20% of all babies under 3 months of age are seen by health care professionals due to excessive crying and fussing.²
Crying is normal for newborns, but excessive, constant crying and fussing for long periods may be a sign of digestive upset.¹ This can occur without a baby showing any other physical signs of failure to thrive, such as difficulties gaining weight or meeting normal growth milestones. For parents, this can affect quality of life by causing worry, sleepless nights and feelings of frustration, hopelessness and guilt.³

Health of babies' digestive system

To help the digestive system to work well and healthily, we all need a variety of bacteria. If the amounts of the various bacteria become imbalanced, digestive issues can occur, which may lead to excessive crying and fussing in babies.^{3, 4}

Bifidobacteria are usually found in high amounts in a baby's digestive system

The potential benefits of probiotics are specific to the probiotic strain, with different probiotic strains providing support for different parts of peoples health. Bifidobacteria are a common type of bacteria and are usually found in high amounts in babies and can even help with their digestive issues.^{6, 7} One such Bifidobacterium is the BB-12^® strain by Chr. Hansen. Recent scientific studies suggest that the BB-12^® probiotic strain helps support a healthy digestive system in babies.^{6, 7} 

BB-12^® may help reduce excessive crying

In a recent study in which babies were given the BB-12^® probiotic strain, the various bacteria in the digestive system became more ideally balanced, with an increase in the quantity of the good bifidobacteria. These babies had fewer episodes of daily crying and they did not cry for as long as babies who did not receive the BB-12^® probiotic strain. Specifically, the length of crying episodes reduced by at least half in 80% of babies given the BB-12^® probiotic strain, but in babies who did not receive BB-12^®, only 33% halved the length of their crying episodes.⁷
This study suggests that BB-12^® may help soothe and lessen excessive crying and fussing in babies by helping restore imbalances in the bacteria of the digestive system.

Consult a health care professional for more information about supporting babies digestive health with BB-12^®.

BB-12^® is a registered trademark of Chr. Hansen A/S.

The article is provided for informational purposes regarding probiotics and is not meant to suggest that any substance referenced in the article is intended to diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent any disease.