Chiropractic Helps Excessive Crying in Baby According to Study

The Journal of Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics published a case study and review in their January 2018 issue showing how chiropractic helped a baby who was suffering from excessive crying. This study points out that although crying is a normal way that infants communicate their needs, excessive crying can indicate a health issue, and can create parental stress or even depression.

The study reports that an incessant crying baby is one of the most common reasons infants are brought to healthcare professionals in the first sixteen weeks of life. In many cases, infants are brought to the chiropractor after a visit to the pediatrician has failed to significantly remedy the issue of incessant crying.

In this case, a five-month-old boy was brought by his parents to the chiropractor. The parents reported that their baby was exhibiting excessive and uncontrollable crying, a short attention span, and difficulties with sleeping. They reported that the excessive crying started immediately after birth and would continue for at least five hours each day. The baby boy would start inconsolable crying in the late afternoon and it would last until around 10 p.m. at night.

The birth history revealed a difficult and exhausting birth process, lasting over 30 hours and requiring vacuum extraction intervention. Additionally, immediately after birth, tube feeding of the infant was required due to low blood sugar levels. The tube feeding made breast feeding difficult as the baby showed defensive reactions around his mouth. Due to breast feeding problems, the baby was given formula which created issues of irritability and bowel problems. The child was finally diagnosed with colic.

At five months of age, the baby was brought to the chiropractor where a chiropractic examination was performed. After reviewing the information with the parents, they agreed to have chiropractic care started for their baby. The study recorded positive results by reporting, "After five treatments over five weeks, both parents reported that their child was a lot more relaxed, he could settle to entertain himself, was less irritable, and his crying had reduced to the normal unit of less than two hours a day."

The author of the study was cautious in her conclusion as to not overstate the results of this single case study. She wrote, "It can be concluded that there are different etiologies of excessive crying, each related to different underlying concerns. Even though the research isn’t unanimous about whether chiropractic care does have a positive effect on excessive crying, there is evidence to suggest that chiropractic care is safe for the infant and that taking an excessively crying infant to a chiropractic will result in fewer hours of crying."