> no mothers in her practice should drink soft drinks
> because "the baby will get gas" . When pressed for the WHY? she said the
> carbonation would pass through-

Although I make it a policy not to make such blanket recommendations re:
mother's food intake ("Eat what you normally do and stay away from foods
that you know give you gas" is where I start), I have to say I have
*one* case experience where this *was* the cause of the colic. I even
consulted with Paul Fleiss for remote food possibilities as I recall.
This was an exclusively BF baby, no problems except terrible colic in
the worse possible way. I had mom delete dairy foods - no change, tried
adding lactase enzymes to her food - no change (told her this wasn't it,
go ahead and eat dairy foods), then in succession, eliminated the known
allergens from her diet (wheat, corn, nuts) - no change on any (so she
added them back in), also went through known gas-producing foods
(cruciferous veggies, onions, spices) - no change (added them back in).
Somewhere along the way she added in expensive simethicone drops with
*very* minor improvement. She knew the elimination routine. I was at a
loss - told her to survive until 3 months when the gut does a major step
in maturation and it would resolve. If she were to figure it out, please
let me know. This is how she figured it out. One day, a friend came for
lunch. "Would you like some flavored sparkling water? I have lemon,
raspberry or lime." "Oh no," he said, "I can't drink the stuff - it
gives me terrible gas." (lightbulb on) Turns out, because she didn't
like plain water, mom had been drinking tons of the stuff in order to
"drink lots of fluids to make milk" while avoiding too many calories.
It's all individual though, but it is something I *always* explore when
confronted with a colicky BFing baby.

Katharine West, BSN, MPH, IBCLC(exp)
Family Nurse Practitioner in-training
Sherman Oaks, CA