The baby’s crying is an important indication that something is wrong. For inconsolable crying, it’s much worse. And because babies lack the ability to speak, parents often feel helpless on what to do. And one of the most common causes of inconsolable crying in babies is known as colic.

What is colic?
Colic is defined as uncontrollable and unexplainable crying of a baby for at least three hours a day for at least three days and for at least three consecutive weeks. It typically starts around three weeks of age and lasts for about three to six months. Babies with colic usually present with loud cries, clenched fingers, flexed legs and tensed abdominal muscles.

What are the causes of colic?
There are several theories of what causes colic in babies. Some of the most popular ones are:

• The baby may have ingested air while drinking milk, either from their mother or bottled milk. When the baby drinks too fast, it may cause air to enter the baby’s stomach leading to pain.
• A breastfeeding mother who eats a lot of gas producing food such as apples, plums, cabbage, onions or even when she drinks a lot of caffeinated products like tea, chocolate or cola, the baby may experience the same result when breastfed. The baby may not have a fully-developed nervous system which prevents him or her to adapt to new stimulations.

Another important consideration is when the baby is inconsolable is that he or she might have spinal distortions particularly in the upper cervical spine. During child birth, the baby’s neck and back vertebrate can be misaligned due to compression and distraction stretching of the spine brought about by prolonged pulling by the physician during the delivery. This situation is commonly acquired during a difficult birth and may result in the baby suffering from head and neck pain. Unfortunately, the baby cannot communicate this to you.

How colicky babies can benefit from chiropractic care?
Studies have shown that chiropractic care has demonstrated a significant improvement for babies suffering from colic compared to other modes of treatment such as infant positioning, dietary changes and medication.

In a randomized trial published by the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics in 1999, it was found out that chiropractic care provides relief to babies with colic. For this study, a group of pre-diagnosed babies were randomly assigned to two groups: one who will receive anti-gas medication and the other with chiropractic for two weeks. At the end of the trial, it was found out that 67{9af40bf80e52f11aa5d7472b6ee2426c1e641e46093dbc3d29b8bc21a0ebb17e} of those who received chiropractic showed a significant decrease in crying compared in contrast with the other group who only showed 38{9af40bf80e52f11aa5d7472b6ee2426c1e641e46093dbc3d29b8bc21a0ebb17e} decrease in crying.

Chiropractic is not a cure. Chiropractic only restores and improves the proper functioning of the nervous system that controls the digestive organs, thus allowing the body to heal on its own. All the organs have to have a nerve supply to function. Without it, you get dysfunction and that is usually followed by symptoms. Keep in mind that such conditions may occur to anybody regardless of age.

If the cause of your condition is related to the misalignment of one or more vertebra which is directly affecting the flow of nerve impulses to your body, you need to know that only specific chiropractic adjustments to gently move your spine into balance is going to fix the cause. Medications may change the symptoms you are experiencing, but drugs have serious side effects and do not address the cause of the symptom. Physical therapy in the case where spinal misalignments are the cause is a waste of money and time.

The diagnosis is simple. You either have misaligned vertebra or other boney components that are out of alignment or you don’t. A good analogy  is when your car’s wheels are out of alignment. The only fix is to realign your wheels.

Finding your problem:  Subluxations or misalignments for the benefits of laymens terms, are easy and painless to detect by a highly trained and experienced chiropractor. Call us today at 949 388-0800 and let us get you back to health.