At the Marc Bony Chiropractic Center in Mataró, we understand the distress that colic can cause your baby. Discover how chiropractic care can be a natural and effective solution.
It can sometimes be heartbreaking to hear distressed mothers describe their babies' colic.
Mothers often come to me and say, “My baby won’t eat—it seems like something is hurting him, and I don’t know what I can do to help him!”
What is colic?
Colic manifests as a baby who is constantly irritable. It usually begins during the first two or three weeks after birth and continues until the baby is three months old, sometimes longer. Unfortunately, colic affects up to one-third of newborns.
What causes colic?
Although there is no known specific cause of colic, there are many speculative explanations for its causes, including gas, constipation, lactose intolerance, or food allergies. Another possible cause of colic may be a structural weakness in the baby’s stomach or diaphragm area.
Treatment in conventional medicine often involves medication or simply waiting for your baby to outgrow the condition. From a chiropractor’s perspective, many of the symptoms of colic may be caused by a nervous system dysfunction, which results in poor communication between the brain and the digestive organs.
Is your newborn having trouble breastfeeding, especially when nursing more from one side than the other? Does the baby seem uncomfortable while nursing? One way for a mother to assess whether her newborn has any nervous irritability is to compare how the baby nurses on each side, comparing one breast to the other. Often, the baby will feed well from one breast but won’t latch on properly to the other, or the newborn may frequently “unlatch” while feeding from a particular breast. These babies seem to be truly uncomfortable.
Chiropractic adjustments to correct vertebral subluxations (nerve dysfunctions) have long been recognized as an excellent therapeutic tool for infant colic. In fact, chiropractic care has been shown to have a 94% success rate in cases of colic.
IDEAS that help RELIEVE PAIN
Have your baby examined by a chiropractor who feels comfortable working with children.
How well your baby’s spine and nervous system are functioning will play a vital role in your child’s overall health. If you intuitively feel that something isn’t right with your baby, have a chiropractor examine him or her. Healthy babies—free from nerve interference—are happier babies.
Body Position and Abdominal Massage:
The best way to explain this position is through a proof; however, I will try to keep the description simple…
If you hold your baby along your forearm in this position, you can stretch out your baby’s abdominal area, which may provide relief as you massage your baby’s stomach. Extend your right forearm outward (crossing it in front of your body), and then place your baby face down on that same forearm, with the head near the outside of your elbow. Place your right hand on your baby’s lower abdomen, groin, or diaper area. Your baby’s legs will hang down on either side of your right hand. In this position, you should be able to support your baby entirely with your right arm.
Now, with your free left hand, gently place your fingers near the center of your baby’s upper abdomen, just below the lowest rib. Very gently, begin rubbing with your fingers, moving downward toward your baby’s belly button.
The purpose of this massage is to help relax your stomach. It may help to imagine that, with the gentle movements of your fingers, you are trying to stretch a small, compact ball of modeling clay into a flat shape, like a crepe.
If you are breastfeeding, ask for advice on the correct technique:
If you are breastfeeding, getting the right advice from a lactation consultant can make a big difference.
Give your baby time to burp
It takes a while for newborns to learn how to nurse, burp, and digest their food properly. It is therefore important, amid the hustle and bustle of daily life, that we allow our newborns the extra time they may need to burp.
To help your baby burp: sit your baby on your lap, place your hand on their chest, and lift them slightly; this relieves the pressure on their abdomen and helps them burp (see the illustration on page 301 of Babies Securely Fastened).
How often should I help a colicky newborn burp? If you're bottle-feeding, try to burp the baby after every 30-milliliter feeding. If you're breastfeeding, try to burp the baby every time the baby lets go of the breast.
Cut out all those unhealthy foods.
If you are breastfeeding and your newborn has colic, it is essential that you avoid foods that cause irritation, at least for a while. This includes wine, champagne, carbonated beverages, coffee, tea, and other caffeinated drinks. Chocolate, acidic fruits such as oranges and berries, as well as highly spiced foods. Also lentils, split peas (ham and pea soup), and legumes such as beans.
Stop drinking cow's milk!
There is a wealth of literature discussing the high prevalence today of cow's milk-related allergies, such as milk protein allergies and lactose intolerance. In fact, statistics suggest that many of us may unknowingly suffer from a mild sensitivity to it. This is a cause for concern for both breastfed infants and those who rely on formula and infant formula. Please see Chapter 12 for more information and suggestions about the most recommended formulas, as well as the elimination diet for breastfed babies. In this chapter on breastfeeding, I explain how many simple or refined carbohydrates are found in dairy products and how we should also be careful with them.
Herbal Remedies for Colic
There are a variety of herbal remedies for colic available, and any of them can be very helpful. I've heard of positive experiences with “Lardner's Herbal Blend,” which can be found at some pharmacies or at www.colicsolutions.com.
I hope that putting these suggestions into practice will provide your newborn with effective relief from colic, so that these first few months of bonding can become a beautiful and peaceful time for both of you.
Chiropractic Research and Colic.
Two very important research studies on the “”Chiropractic Care and Infant Colic" Studies have shown that spinal adjustments can have a positive effect on colic.
In the Journal of Manipulative Physiological Therapy A research study was conducted in 1989. In that study, 73 chiropractors adjusted the spines of 316 infants with moderate to severe colic. These infants cried an average of 5.2 hours a day. The mothers were given a diary in which to record their children’s symptoms, the intensity and duration of the crying caused by colic, and the baby’s level of comfort or discomfort.
Over the course of two weeks (usually in three visits), the 94% Children treated with spinal adjustments showed a success rate compared to the other group of infants. A quarter of them showed improvement after the first treatment. The other group of infants, who were treated with dimethicone drops, improved by only 38%.
Again in 1999, some researchers compared the new results they obtained with those from this first test, and the results of both studies were virtually identical.
Dr. Jennifer welladjusted.es
