INFANTILE COLIC
o What is colic? Colic is a term used to describe a seemingly
healthy baby who cries persistently and often violently for no apparent reason. This distressed behavior is believed to be
a reaction to pain.
o Medical studies have proven that chiropractic treatment on
infants with colic has proven to be a more effective treatment for the condition than using drug therapy. Avoiding dairy products,
like cows' milk, has been shown to be effective, but chiropractic may be a better solution.
Source: For the Love of Children, Dr. Louis R. Briegel, II &
Stacey A. Stefanski
Infantile Colic responds well to Chiropractic Care
Infantile colic is commonly described as persistent and often
violent crying for no apparent reason in seemingly healthy and thriving infants.
The August, 1989 issue of the Journal of Manipulative & Physiological
Therapeutics reports that 94% of a group of 316 children with infantile colic responded very favorably to Chiropractic care.
The study involved infants with an average age of 5.7 weeks at
the beginning of the study and included reassessments at 1 week, 2 weeks and 4 weeks.
The infant's mothers were provided a diary and kept track of
the babies symptoms, intensity and length of the colicky crying as well as how comfortable the infant seemed.
94% of the children in the study showed a satisfactory response
to Chiropractic care within 14 days from the beginning of care.
"The results occur shortly after the treatment has been initiated
and show both a reduction of the daily length of the colic periods and a reduction of the number of colic periods per day."
Colic and Chiropractic Treatment
If you have a colicky baby, and other forms of treatment don't seem to be helping
very much, you may want to investigate taking your baby to a chiropractor.
As your child is being born, the neck and
back vertebrae can go out of alignment due to the stretching and compressing of the body as it emerges into the world. If
your delivery included a prolonged pushing stage, forceps or vacuum extraction, or other form of assisted delivery, the chances
of a misalignment are great.
If the misalignments, called vertebral subluxations, are big
enough, the functioning of major systems in the body can be compromised. The digestive system can be affected and ineffective
digestion of breastmilk and formula can cause major discomfort in your baby, leading to colic episodes.
The adjustments that a chiropractor will do on your baby is basically
applying
gently pressure with the finger to areas on the neck and back. You may see your baby totally relax before your eyes as the
misalignments are corrected.
As with selecting any health care provider, you need to ask questions
first. In this case, "Have you adjusted other infants?" would be most important. Ask for referrals that you can contact if
you are unsure.
Chiropractic care can be very valuable in helping to calm the
colic tendencies.
Reference: 2000 - 2004 ColicHelp.com