Can Chiropractors Give Your Colicy Baby Real Relief?
Colic babies can be not only physically taxing for the parent, taking away from already reduced sleep, but also mentally and emotionally draining as you watch your child crying in obvious distress.
Colic crying is more intense and can begin and end suddenly, creating further confusion and anxiety. How can you bring relief to your beloved child?
There are well-known measures such as anti-gas medications, changes in the baby’s diet or altering their positioning.
Other more hands-on suggestions you might hear are swaddling or pedaling the legs to release gas build-up. All are good things to try, but your baby, and you, may get the greatest benefit from a chiropractor.
Studies on Chiropractor Treatment of Colicy Babies
2 studies have pointed to an elevated value of chiropractic treatment for colic babies. The first, which came out in 1990, followed 315 infants over 3 months.
An overwhelming 94% of these babies showed a definite to significant improvement in their crying after 3 treatments over 2 weeks, the effects persisting to the end of the 3 months of the study and possibly beyond. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2486187)
The second, done in 1999, used a split test of infants. One was given an anti-gas medicine, dimethicone, for two weeks.
The second group had chiropractic treatments over the same time.
The children who saw a pediatric chiropractor had a 67% drop in crying, while the ones who took medication experienced 38% less. (http://www.jmptonline.org/article/S0161-4754(99)70003-5/abstract)
It’s essential that you take your child to a professional who has had training and experience in pediatric chiropractic care.
At this early point in your baby’s growth, an understanding of the gentle approach that is needed is crucial.
How the Chiropractic Treatments for Colic Work
The treatments often consist of soft, yet targeted, adjustments, sometimes with the child actually laying on the mother.
That provides your baby with a reassuring presence as well as a soft foundation below them.
Although one adjustment can bring relief quickly, this is not a one visit fix. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that, as your baby grows, the effect of the adjustments usually last longer and longer, providing more peaceful nights, along with days free from the stress and strain that colic brings to both parent and child.
Contact us today if your keiki has crying fits and seems to have the symptoms of a colic baby. We can help.
Dr. Robert is a trained pediatric chiropractor with extensive experience in treating this issue – with a gentle and caring approach.
