My month-old granddaughter has colic. We used to give colicky babies gripe water. I imagine that things have moved on; are there any new treatments? My daughter is tearing her hair out with all the screaming.

About 20 per cent of babies develop colic, which starts in the first few weeks of life and usually passes after three to four months.

It is important to check with your GP that the excessive and inconsolable crying associated with colic does not have a more serious cause. The problem with finding an effective treatment for colic is that no one actually knows for sure what causes it and, given that it always passes, some feel that treatments, medical or otherwise, are inappropriate anyway. Anyone who holds this view has probably not had to deal with a baby shrieking for hours on end.

Gripe water was trademarked in the 1870s and traditionally contains dill, fennel and sodium bicarbonate. Anecdotal, rather than formal clinical, evidence suggests that it may be helpful, possibly because fennel is known by herbalists to have a calming effect on the digestive system. It may be old-fashioned, but it certainly won't do any harm to give it a try.

Some research suggests that excess wind may cause colic in some babies. Feeding them in an upright position may help to reduce the amount of air swallowed and the gassy wind in the stomach and upper intestines.

If bottle-feeding, fast-flow teats with larger holes also tend to lead to less air being gulped down than those with small holes. Obviously, burping the baby well after feeding is also important to dislodge trapped wind. Some infant colic drops contain an active ingredient called simeticone, an “anti-foaming” agent that brings together small trapped gas bubbles to create larger ones that are more easily passed.

When my baby, who is now ten months, developed colic, I used lactase drops (called Colief, £9.99 for 7ml, Boots) in her milk and these proved helpful. It is clearly a personal experience I am giving, but it worked for us.

The drops can be added to expressed breast milk or to formula; the lactase helps to break down some of the milk sugar lactose before feeding.

Finally, your daughter may want to discuss with her GP the idea of doing a short exclusion of cow's milk protein. If breastfeeding, this will mean your daughter cutting out dairy foods in her diet; if bottle-feeding, then a special hypoallergenic formula can be tried. If cow's milk protein is the cause, the problem will be gone by the time your granddaughter is four months old.

If you have nutrition questions for Amanda, e-mail her at amandaursell@thetimes.co.uk

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