A colicky infant ended up with lead poisoning after being treated with an alternative colic remedy, Brisbane doctors report.

The diagnosis unfolded after the six-month-old was referred to hospital for assessment and management of seizures, wrote the authors from Queensland Children’s Hospital.

A week earlier, the baby boy had experienced decreased oral intake, vomiting and irritability; however, on examination, he was alert and no longer in a postictal state.

Laboratory testing showed hypocalcaemia, hypophosphataemia and microcytic anaemia.