Picture this: A typical American kitchen, a fussy seven-month-old baby in a sturdy baby seat. Mother steaming carrots to hand-mash for her precious child. The baby waves his arms in the air and screams. “It could be hunger”, the mother thinks, “but Baby has been crying for several days… why does he keep having these horrible fussy spells, anyway?”
Picture that baby saying, “Mama, remember when I was brand new and Uncle Jim picked me up without supporting my big head and last week when I fell off the couch? Well, those two incidents caused some of the bones in my delicate spine to dislocate out of their normal position. Once they became misaligned, several things happened leading me to where I am right now. Which is in pain. I am suffering from what is called colic and it has always been trouble for lots of babies and their families”.
“According to the medical studies I’ve investigated”, continues Baby, “colic isn’t caused by air or intestinal constrictions. It isn’t intestinal hormones or microflora, and, you’ll be happy to know, it isn’t the birth process you chose. Colic isn’t caused by a shortage of medicine in my system, either. Were you aware of this? No? Well, I’m not surprised.”
Baby continues, “Did you know that 22.5% of 0-3 month old newborns suffer from colic and that 53% of these poor babies still have it after three months? Worse, 12% don’t get over it after six to 12 months? As you’ve noticed, I cry uncontrollably more than three hours a day, more than three days a week for three weeks or more. I know how tired you are of colic, mama. Guess how I feel about it!”
Baby isn’t through talking, yet: “Mama, I want you to know that there is hope for us. Studies on chiropractic and colic have been done repeatedly over the years and a new randomized, controlled clinical trial on colic was completed recently in Denmark that seems to be the last word. During the two-week study, half the 50 colicky test babies received a commonly prescribed medication, dimethicone, and half received spinal adjustments from chiropractors. Parents kept a ‘colic diary’ and were visited by nurses who made notes on the infants’ colic behavior.”
“Listen up”, Baby insists, “this is where it gets GOOD! After two weeks, the babies who were adjusted by chiropractors were doing much better. Their colic episodes had gone from 3.9 hours each day to 1.2 hours. The average number of adjustments was only 3.8 adjustments per infant. Their improvement was considerably better than that of those poor dimethicone babies.”
“I don’t blame you and daddy, you know, but now that we are all better informed, please pick up the phone and make an appointment for me with the chiropractor,” pleads Baby. “Call right now”. “Oh, and I’ll need a ride…”
