RESEARCH

They say that it is hard to tell which is easier to spot a colicky baby or parents that are suffering from a colicky baby. Colic is defined as periods of intense fussiness or crying that occurs in frequent and extended lengths of time in what is otherwise a seemingly healthy infant. Colic can certainly add a lot of stress to the baby, parents, and the entire family. Thankfully chiropractic has been proven as a great way to treat and improve colic in infants helping to benefit the whole family. Below are just some studies and published research on chiropractic and colic.

Two Case Overlook on Chiropractic and Colic

Two case studies were presented, one about a 7 week old infant that was diagnosed with colic along with associated reflux and a distribution in sleep since birth. The second case was about an aged 10 week old infant that had colic for 1 month along with vomiting and difficulty breast feeding. Both cases presented with typical characteristics found in colic case presentations and also experience birthing trauma. After thorough spinal analysis several subluxations were found in the upper cervical and mid thoracic region as well as cranial dysfunction. After 3 week of specific chiropractic adjustments of varying appointment frequencies, the infants had complete resolution of all the symptoms that were presented at the first visit. These cases demonstrate the effectiveness of chiropractic adjustments with colic presentation in infants, as well as a possible link between birthing trauma and colic babies

Systematic Review of Colic and Chiropractic

A systematic review was done by a collection of doctors in Southampton, England looking over six cases containing over 325 patients that suffered with colic and received chiropractic adjustments. Each study had a primary focus on the effectiveness of using chiropractic adjustments on infants suffering with colic, but each were done in slightly different ways varying in what was the main focus of the criteria for the study and how it was done. Some of the results that were found from the systematic review was a reduction in crying periods by over an hour, infant sleeping time improving dramatically, and many instances of complete resolution of the colicky infants.

Chiropractic Care Conquers Colic

The above title appeared in the December 1998 issue of Country Living’s Healthy Living, beginning on page 53. The article details the concerns of a mom whose new baby was suffering from colic. The article featured the mother’s account of the situation starting from her initial phone call to the pediatrician. “When I phoned my doctor to ask if he thought it was safe (to see a chiropractor), he was ambivalent: Chiropractic would neither harm nor help. He told me that if it was colic, it would run its course in three months.”

After this advice, her next stop was to take the child to the chiropractor. She recalled that the first visit was an extended one with a lot of time spent caring for the child and the parents. Following the first adjustment, the child seemed to be more reactive and colicky, but she followed the instructions given her by the chiropractor and the baby calmed right down. “We had five more sessions with the chiropractor. Each lasted 20 minutes and Lucy (the infant!) really seemed to enjoy them. It completely changed what was fast becoming a nightmare. I’d like to recommend to everyone with a colicky infant see a chiropractor. It certainly worked for us.”

Deep dive on 2 cases of Colic

Case 1: A 6-week-old female infant crying almost continuously since birth, which the mother described as often “violent screaming,” had steadily gotten worse. She slept only 3 hours a night and had 15 minutes of rest 3 or 4 times per day from brief periods of feeding or riding in a car.

Her pediatrician diagnosed the infant with infantile colic, and the mother brought the infant for chiropractic evaluation after a nurse suggested that adjustments might help.

[Diagnosis of] T8 segmental dysfunction was made on the basis of the mother’s statements and observation of the child’s behaviors since entering the clinic. After a single adjustment the child rested for 11 hours during the following 24-hour period and slept for 9 uninterrupted hours during the night. The infant awakened smiling and laughing.

Case 2: A 9-week-old male infant had infantile colic. The mother had been taking Lorazepam T, Paxil T, Zyprexa T, and Wellbutrin T for the first 4 months of her pregnancy until she discovered she was pregnant. At that time she discontinued all medications except Zyprexa, which she continued throughout her pregnancy.

Child was diagnosed with acid reflux as a result of crying day and night; unrelieved by normal parenting behaviors, and Zantac T was prescribed. On entrance to the office 3 weeks later, the parents stated the crying had progressed to about 14 hours per day in spite of these interventions.

After 4 consecutive daily adjustments crying was reduced to 7 hours, uninterrupted sleep increased to 5 hours (from 3 hours before care), and total sleep in a 24-hour period increased to 13 hours (from 5 hours before care).

After 9 adjustments over 2 weeks, the infant was crying an average of only 2 hours per day, was sleeping 5 hours per night and averaging 14 hours of total sleep per day. The baby no longer screamed but smiled and remained awake without crying for long periods and responded appropriately to normal parenting efforts. On subsequent consultation with the pediatrician, all medications were discontinued except Benadryl T as needed. However, the mother occasionally gave the infant Mylicon T on occasion. Colicky behaviors, such as inconsolable crying and clenching of fists, did not return.

Studies/Published Research:

Andrea J. Hipperson, Chiropractic management of infantile colic, Clinical Chiropractic, Volume 7 Iss. 4, 2004 ,Pages 180-186, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clch.2004.02.003.

Differential compliance instrument in the treatment of infantile colic: A report of two cases Leach RA, Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics January 2002, Volume 25, Number 1

Dobson, D., Lucassen, P. L. B. J., Miller, J. J., Vlieger, A. M., Prescott, P., & Lewith, G. (2012). Manipulative therapies for infantile colic. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.cd004796.pub2