Picture this…parents plan for years how to have the perfect birthing experience. Diets are just right, the whole Lamaze schedule is posted on the refrigerator door, the nurse midwife is brought into the picture, the perfect birthing suite is arranged, the nursery is painted with soothing colors and the perfect feng shui is used in designing it. You have the scene in your mind. The expectant parents are all psyched up for the most amazing moment in their lives and finally the baby comes. A bundle of joy arrives in the world at just the right time to enrich both of their lives and life is changed forever. As they planned, it is a blissful time. Then the unplanned happens. It seems that Junior won’t sleep at all. As a matter of fact, he cries all the time, or so it seems. At dinner time, Mom and Dad can’t enjoy a few moments at the table because Junior won’t stop crying. Holding him won’t stop it. Feeding him won’t stop it. Driving him around in the car won’t stop it. Nothing will stop it. Mom and Dad are suddenly wondering why they thought a new baby was such a good idea after all. The baby is miserable and so are they. Now they feel guilty for feeling like this for even a second. What is wrong?
Infantile colic is a troublesome and curious condition. When parents complain to their babies’ doctors about the incessant crying and apparent discomfort of their children their pediatricians usually tell them that colic will self-resolve in about three months. Three months is a very long time to weary parents who are worried about their children! Colic is characterized by uncontrollable crying in babies usually from 0 to 3months old, more than three hours per day, more than three days per week, for three weeks or more, usually in the afternoons or evenings. Colic usually goes away in less than three months, but one study found that a full 41 percent of cases lasted up to 6 months and 12 percent lasted up to one year.
Many causes have been suggested but none of them are verified. Some doctors think that colic is caused by gas pains while others think it might be caused by generalized pain of becoming accustomed to living outside the womb. In any case, infants with colic do not seem to respond to traditional efforts at comforting nor do they respond to medical treatment. Countless studies have been performed on various treatments from the usage of many harsh medications to vibration and music therapy. Anticholinergic drugs (drugs that relieve spasm of the gut) have been and are widely used today because many doctors think that crying is due to pain in the stomach or abdomen. These drugs are somewhat effective in helping manage infantile colic, but can cause sleepiness, constipation, breathing difficulties, limpness, seizures, and even coma. When parents realize the risks involved in using such drugs on infants they often choose not to treat them medically. This does present a problem and the frustration from the condition continues to mount.
Chiropractors have for some time reported tremendous success in treating infants with colic. We naturally know that if the nervous system is free of interference the body works better in general. Children are amazingly resilient, and when they are treated they respond very quickly. A landmark study was done in Denmark and reported in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT). The study involved 316 infants, and the Journal reported, “Chiropractic adjustments eliminated or significantly reduced colic in 94 percent of the cases. The median age of these infants was 5.7 weeks, with moderate to severe colic having an average of 5.2 hours of persistent crying per day. After two weeks, with an average of three treatments, in 60 percent the colic stopped and in 34 percent the colic improved.” The article in JMPT goes on to describe the technical aspects of the treatments given the children, but the upshot is that as a result of this very important study chiropractic adjustments are widely used in Denmark for treating children. It is estimated that up to 40 percent of children with colic in Denmark are managed by chiropractors. A very light and gentle adjustment is administered to the child’s upper thoracic and sometimes upper cervical spine if they are deemed to be misaligned. The nerves from these areas are then freed from interference and the baby’s discomfort is eased.
Chiropractic works when other methods fail because chiropractors work with the body’s innate healing powers. We detect and correct vertebral subluxations in people of all ages and allow the body to heal itself naturally. If you have a child with colic or any other common ailments, ask your chiropractor to check him or her for vertebral subluxations. You and your children might just be suffering needlessly. Treat your body well.