Colic is defined as the inability to comfort a crying young child or baby that exhibits periodic fussiness that can last up to hours or even days. This colic is characterized by a loud piercing cry, tightened or tensed stomach muscles, flexed legs and clenched fingers with the inability to try to calm down. In general it starts about three weeks of age and can last up to three months but even as long as six months. Colic affects approximately 10- 20% of newborns. While the research reports there is no one specific cause and with that in mind, makes it very difficult to treat a colicky baby. Other suggestions include that while you're breast-feeding, you sure don't want to consume foods that give you gas or indigestion like broccoli, cauliflower, garlic, onions and even spicy foods. it may be even as simple as an food allergy to the type of baby formula that you're feeding your newborn. 

In over 30 years of chiropractic experience, I've seen that some of the best results I've been with a very specific chiropractic adjustment. Chiropractic care may not be what you think, it is actually very gentle, conservative and quite successful in treating infants with colic. The chiropractic adjustment for an infant is very safe specific, gentle without any twisting, turning or cracking of the neck. Research studies on chiropractic treatment for colic has been shown to be quite beneficial and other treatments such as dietary changes, medication and even just changing a certain position for an infant. In a clinical trial from the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapies showed that spinal manipulation is effective in relieving infantile colic. In this study, they put infants in two different groups, one group was given an anti-medication for gas for two weeks and other received chiropractic care for two weeks. The babies in a chiropractic group showed a 67 % decrease in crying on the babies and the medication group only showed a 38% decrease. In fact, one study from the Journal of Canadian Chiropractic Association, showed that 94% of infantile colic cases presented satisfactory results from chiropractic care within 2 weeks after receiving an average of three adjustments.  

Quite often during the birth process, stress can cause misalignments is the babies spine. These misalignments cause disturbance to the nerves in stomach, intestines, and other abdominal organs could adversely affect digestive function and result in discomfort, gas, constipation and other colic symptoms. The Chiropractic doctor specializes in the detection and correction of misalignments or subluxations. As chiropractic helps to restore normal function in a child’s nervous system thru gentle spinal adjustments, the infant’s digestive tract and other related organs have a better opportunity to receive nerve supply from the brain, bringing it back to full normal potential. The result is a happy and relaxed baby and of course parents. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, thanks for reading, Dr. Joe