COLIC CHIROPRACTIC

And what will this adorable creature grow up to be? A happy baby, or ...

INFANTILE COLIC

Colic Chiropractic is the answer to the 15% of families who have a miserable time of it. There IS an answer to why your baby is in so much distress.

Infantile Colic or huilbaby is defined by the RULE OF THREE:

� crying, fussing and irritability for more than three hours a day

� for more than three days per week

� for longer than three weeks

in any infant who is gaining weight normally and is otherwise healthy.

"We must be skeptical even of our skepticism."

- Bertrand Russell.

There is no evidence to suggest that colicky babies become temperamentally difficult adults.

Normal infants cry an average of 2.2 hours per day, peaking at six weeks of age and gradually decreasing.

It is estimated the colic occurs in approximately 15% of babies. It occurs in both caesarian section and normal birth babies.

TYPICAL SIGNS

COLIC CHIROPRACTIC has the solution to the fairly typical signs which are:

Attacks of screaming in the evening, often a piercing, high-pitched shriek.
Associated motor behaviours such as flushed face, furrowed brow, and clenched fists, pulling of the legs to the abdomen, arching of the back.

Crying is concentrated in the late afternoon and evening. It often occurs in prolonged bouts, and is unpredictable and spontaneous. The crying child cannot be soothed, even by feeding.

THE CAUSE

The cause of infantile colic remains unclear. Organic causes account for less than 5 percent of infants presenting with excessive crying. However the following should be considered: Constipation, cow's milk intolerance, Gastroesophageal reflux, ear infections, Urinary tract infection, Abuse.

The fact that most infants outgrow colic by four months of age lends support to a NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL cause of colic.

DIAGNOSIS

The physician should ask about the infant's behaviour and the time of day and the length of the crying episodes. Parents should be asked to document this information of colic. A history of blueness in the face, or struggling to breathe may suggest previously undiagnosed pulmonary or cardiac conditions in the inconsolable, crying baby.

Documentation of frequency and quantity of spitting up is necessary to rule out gastroesophageal reflux or pyloric stenosis.

The fact medicine suspects a neurological link in infantile colic is very significant. This is precisely why colic chiropractic is so effective. Subluxations cause neurological changes in the nerve bundles passing close by the subluxated vertebra.

A chiropractor's approach is thus quite different to the crying baby. Knowing that less than 5% of babies with infantile colic have an organic problem is reassuring.

Over and above the normal physical exam that every chiropractor will do, the examination of the crying baby should include searching for subluxations of the pelvis and spine, signs for muscular tension, for tenderness, and for an abnormal posture of the head.

Surprisingly, even in the very young, evidence of spinal fixations is immediately evident in the crying baby. The baby immediately reacts - these subluxations are extremely tender to the touch, just as they are most often in adults.

RESEARCH

The Effect of Spinal Manipulation in the treatment of infantile colic: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial with a Blinded Observer, J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 1999 (Oct);22 (8): 517-522

This research was done in a private colic chiropractic practice using blinded National Health Service nurses. One group of crying infants received spinal care, the other was treated with the drug dimethicone. Changes in daily hours of crying were recorded in a colic diary.

By trial day 7, hours of crying were reduced by 1 hour in the dimethicone group compared with 2.4 hour reduction in crying in the colic chiropractic group.

By day 11, crying was reduced by 1 hour for the dimethicone group, whereas crying in the chiropractic group was reduced by 2.7 hours. A 270% improvement over the standard medical treatment.

Conclusion: Spinal manipulation is effective in relieving infantile colic. Interested in reading more about Chiropractic Colic research?

TREATMENT

Medically speaking, treatment is openly acknowledged to be limited. Feeding changes usually are not advised. Medications available in the United States have not been proved effective in the treatment of colic, and most behaviour interventions have not been proved to be more effective than placebo.

Colic Chiropractic on the other hand has solid research proving the treatment is effective. Care of the crying baby is very gentle. There is no manipulation. Having found the subluxations that cause most cases of infantile colic (or huilbaby), gentle pressure is placed on the subluxated vertebra by your chiropractor. An activator instrument may be used.

There is usually an early positive response in the chiropractic colic care of the child with inconsolable crying. Sometimes after just one or two treatments, though I won't promise that!

I must acknowledge that when this research first came out, I too was extremely sceptical. However, when the research was repeated several times over, with thumbs up for chiropractic colic, I started treating colicky babies with very satisfactory results.

Raw Honey has in the past been widely used for soothing your child's tummy troubles. However, this has now become controversial as it has apparently been proved that in very few rare instances babies less than one year old are susceptible to a serious infection from spores in raw honey. Why this is controversial is because these self same spores are found in dust, in the air, in raw foods ... just how did they prove the spores came from the raw honey and not from a deep breath of fresh air? Follow your own conscience in the matter. Colic chiropractic takes no particular stance on the matter.

PARENTING

Parents of a colicky infant may think that they have poor parenting skills. Infantile colic is extremely distressing to parents whose infant is inconsolable. Parental anxiety and fatigue are common. Abuse of the baby is not uncommon, not the cause of the baby's screaming, but as a result of parents' feeling of total inadequacy and frustration.

However, there is no evidence that parental personality or anxiety or even skills causes colic. Colicky babies of skilled, professionally trained and experienced mothers have been shown to cry twice as much as babies without colic. It has nothing to do with how good or bad a mother you are.

If three weeks of inconsolable crying has passed, for at least three hours per day, three days in the week, then it's time to consider Colic Chiropractic.

Aside. Many women suffer from groin and inner thigh pain both during the latter stages of pregnancy, and after the birth. This can last many months, sometimes a year or more, inhibiting walking, walking mums at night, and even making sex very painful. Does this ring any bells?

Now for a bit of fun ...

Go from COLIC CHIROPRACTIC to TEDDYBEARS' PICNIC.

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