What is Colic?

Category: General Health

Written by Arron

What is colic?

Colic is diagnosed when an infant cries for more than 3 hours for more than 3 days a week for more than 3 weeks Like so many conditions, the diagnostic criteria are “made up.” If you have an unhappy infant who was only crying for 2 and a half hours a day instead of 3, we would still encourage you to seek help.

An infant that is unable to be soothed is very distressing.  It can bring about feeling of inadequacy, guilt and failure in tired and grumpy parents.  As well as this it can lead to marital tension, social disruption and even child abuse. 

How is colic treated?

If you are a parent with a colicy infant reading this then you are probably aware that medical treatment does not work very well  Medics don’t really know what causes it. Many parents come into the office having tried Gripe Water, Infants Friend and perhaps a range of reflux medications, all with very limited success.

Parents often get told that their infants will simply “grow out of it.” This growth seems to take a long time when you are holding a distressed infant in your arms. As such, motivated and sleep deprived parents are seeking other options for their crying infants. Chiropractic care is one of the more popular ones.

Why Chiropractic?

In a 2012 randomised controlled trial on infants with colic it was demonstrated that babies who received chiropractic cried significantly less than those in the control group who did not receive chiropractic care.  We are talking about one and a half hours of less crying per day after 10 days compared with the babies that received no chiropractic care! 

Is it safe?

Yes.  Many studies have looked at the safety of chiropractic care for children and infants (4-6.) These studies overwhelmingly suggest you need not have any safety concerns.  Chiropractic can be safely applied to people of all ages, even babies and the seriously old.  Adverse events in children are very rare and usually involve short periods of muscle soreness or irritability.

The Victorian State Government conducted an inquest into chiropractic care for children under 12 in 2019.  The public response was the largest in history with over 22,000 people responding.  98% of parents/guardians from this inquest stated that chiropractic care helped their child. 99.7 had a positive experience!  These are amazing stats.

Safety is a concern for parents regarding any kind of care or treatment for their child. Safety was the main driver for the inquest into chiropractic by the Victorian Government.  This inquest was sparked by a video of a Queensland chiropractor holding a baby upside down which found its way to social media.  Whilst this was inappropriate, silly and unnecessary, it is not unsafe. There has never been an insurance claim against any chiropractor in Australia for the care of babies or children under 12.

Share this with friends and family who have colicy babies as chiropractic care can make a huge difference.  It is important to note, chiropractic does not treat colic and more that we treat back pain or headaches.  We just improve the biomechanics and the spine and thus, make a healthier nervous system.

Call the office on 94781777 to book an appointment or to request a chat with one of our friendly chiropractors.

  1. Johnson et al. J Am Fam Physician 2015;92(7):577-82
  2. Alcantara et al. J Explore (NY) 2011;7(3):168-74
  3. Miller et al. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2012;35(8):600-7
  4. Alcantara et al. J Explore (NY) 2009;5(5):209-5
  5. Todd et al. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2014.
  6. Doyle. J Clinical Chiropractic 2011;14(3):97-105

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