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Homeopathy & Chiropractic for babies

bridgy

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Having lurked around these forums for some time (and learnt a great deal btw!) recent circumstances have prompted me to make my first post!

I’m currently having a “debate” with my wife over suggested treatments for colic for our 9 week old baby. In search of some relief (for both her and our baby!) she has asked friends and our Health visitor for suggested treatments to relieve colic – she is currently using infacol (contains simethicone) which seems to have little or no effect.

The health visitor recommended a homeopathic remedy (Chamomilla 30c), but more alarmingly, friends have recommended a chiropractor – apparently they have a treatment for colic involving cranial manipulation as well as spinal manipulation for babies. Although she didn’t make the original recommendation, the Health Visitor has endorsed the Chiropractor as worth a visit.

I am in no doubt that the Homepathic remedy is useless but harmless and object purely in principle. Having done some research, I’m equally sceptical of the effectiveness of Chiropractic for colic, but I have more serious reservations about the Chiropractor as it involves spinal manipulations – I can find lots of info on the net about Chiropractic in general but v.little regarding its use for babies and colic.

Now, I’m trying to argue against these to my wife but she is understandably inclined to take the advice of the health professionals – that is after all what they are there for!

I would really appreciate any views/comments/advice/links from forum members – many thanks
 
As far as i know, it isn't actually possible to crack the bones of a 9 week old baby in the way a chiropractor would do. I think i have that from a Bullsh!t episode.. if you want i can watch it and report specificly what it says on the case.. but i believe you will be able to get better information from other posters here..

pubmed.gov may have some information, i'll try looking as i don't want anyone to do that to a 9 week old baby.
 
Unfortunatly i haven't been able to find something specificly on colic and chiropractors.. but i have found a lot of abstracts that say we don't know the cause for the problem reported as colic.. And that it may not be colic at all.

Quote of the important part and link to abstract or report.

QUESTION: Young parents often visit my office because their infants are crying inconsolably. Results of physical examination are unremarkable, so colic is the most likely cause. Colic has been known for many years, but I am unaware of any good remedy for it. Are there any modern, effective, safe methods of managing colic? ANSWER: In most cases, colic is a "noisy phenomenon"for which there is no good explanation or treatment. Changing babies' feedings rarely helps, and effective pharmacologic remedies are as yet unavailable. Several behavioural and complementary therapies have been suggested, but they have not been found effective. Addressing parental concerns and explaining about colic is the best solution until the colic goes away.
Click to expand...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/..._uids=16190173&query_hl=7&itool=pubmed_docsum


Infantile colic has a multifactorial genesis with most cases being due to non-git causes. It is a benign condition with good long-term outcome. One should keep his mind open as infantile colic may be a manifestation of other hidden pathologies. Management of infantile colic remains an open issue with Cimetropium bromide as a new promising drug.
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http://www.ijppediatricsindia.org/a...e=71;issue=10;spage=903;epage=906;aulast=Garg


Colic is a term that is often used for crying in infancy. There is no unified definition, the aetiology is disputed and there is no effective method of treatment. Therefore, the crying infant constitutes a problem for parents and for nurses in child health clinics.
Click to expand...
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1365-2702.2002.00643.x

Conclusion: In regard to the colic problem, attention must be paid not only to the characteristics of the child, but also to aspects of maternal perception and processing of the crying problem.
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http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...serid=10&md5=850c6591688529e50b785393c863403e


MAY BE OVERSTIMULATION
(1) Carers were asked to agree to randomisation of their infants to hospital or home management. Those at home were advised to reduce stimulation. A 10 point questionnaire was used to describe distress in mothers of subjects and age matched controls.

[- cut -]

After the latter received advice 79% improved (95% confidence interval 61 to 97%). For babies under 12 weeks, the customary upper limit for a diagnosis of colic, 14/15 subjects advised improved compared with 6/12 who were not advised (p less than 0.02). These studies have shown that infants with troublesome crying admitted to hospital seem to improve quickly as do those whose carers are advised to reduce stimulation.
Click to expand...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...t_uids=1776889&query_hl=9&itool=pubmed_docsum


NOTE: none of this should be taken as genuine medical advice, always talk to a real MD.

I will see if i can find something generic for babies and chiropractic pracsis.
 
Loads of babies get cranial osteopathy / chiropractic if their mum's believe their heads got squashed when they were born.

Remember, in order to sell something, it needs only to claim to address an insolvable problem, not actually do so.
 
A (desperate) couple I know tried the chiropractor/colic thing on their baby. First time it worked, second time it didn't, third time it didn't, no fourth time...

A cynic might say that a condition that comes and goes and eventually goes away completely all by itself is perfect for any kind of medicine that does not actually work. But I sympathize with your willingness to try anything that might possibly have the slightest bit of effect in this case!

Ririon
 
bridgy said:
Having lurked around these forums for some time (and learnt a great deal btw!) recent circumstances have prompted me to make my first post!

I’m currently having a “debate” with my wife over suggested treatments for colic for our 9 week old baby. In search of some relief (for both her and our baby!) she has asked friends and our Health visitor for suggested treatments to relieve colic – she is currently using infacol (contains simethicone) which seems to have little or no effect.

The health visitor recommended a homeopathic remedy (Chamomilla 30c), but more alarmingly, friends have recommended a chiropractor – apparently they have a treatment for colic involving cranial manipulation as well as spinal manipulation for babies. Although she didn’t make the original recommendation, the Health Visitor has endorsed the Chiropractor as worth a visit.

I am in no doubt that the Homepathic remedy is useless but harmless and object purely in principle. Having done some research, I’m equally sceptical of the effectiveness of Chiropractic for colic, but I have more serious reservations about the Chiropractor as it involves spinal manipulations – I can find lots of info on the net about Chiropractic in general but v.little regarding its use for babies and colic.

Now, I’m trying to argue against these to my wife but she is understandably inclined to take the advice of the health professionals – that is after all what they are there for!

I would really appreciate any views/comments/advice/links from forum members – many thanks
Click to expand...

I doubt that the chiropractic can be guaranteed to be harmless but it is likely to be useless. Homeopathy is likely to be both.

If I was faced with this I'd be telling my wife about the nonsense of these therapies and be reporting my deep dissatisfaction to the Health Visitor's superiors. But, I'm a bit of a militant on this subject.
 
In one study, researchers randomly assigned infants to receive spinal manipulation or an anti-flatulence drug (called dimethicone) for a period of 2 weeks. Infants who received chiropractic care demonstrated a 67% reduction in daily hours of colic compared to a reduction of only 38% in the dimethicone group.
Click to expand...

In a different study, however, infants who received spinal manipulation for 10 minutes were compared to a group of infants held by a nurse for the same amount of time. Seventy percent of the infants in the spinal manipulation group showed improvement compared to 60% of those held by nurses. The researchers concluded that the difference between the two groups was not significant and that chiropractic spinal manipulation was no more effective than placebo in the treatment of infantile colic.
Click to expand...

Use whatever works, and remember that your baby will outgrow the colic in a few weeks or months. Keep in mind, however, that colicky babies often grow up to have other allergy-related health problems, such as ear infections, asthma, and digestive problems.
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http://www.umm.edu/altmed/ConsConditions/InfantileColiccc.html#Treatment

But the page also gives options like "bath" and "massage" as options, though it doesn't offer any stats on it.

I would claim that chiropractors may work solely because of the massage.


And from what i found at pubmed, tell the chiropractor to stay AWAY from the neck. Besides that, i don't think there is any harm.

But yet again, i am NOT an MD. My advice should be looked at skepticaly.
 
Many thanks TobiasTheCommie for the links - I have printed the CNN report to show to my wife.

Good point regarding the nature of colic itself. I was aware of the view that it is "simply" a case of excessive crying (as measured by the parent and/or society's level of acceptance for what is a "normal" amount of crying) and is not due directly to wind, digestion problems etc. It is therefore interesting that virtually every "remedy" for it is supposed to treat trapped wind and/or digestion problems as if this is the direct cause - leading to the impression that colic IS trapped wind...(I always thought it was before looking in to it)

Added to the fact that the amount of crying comes and goes, and that it usually clears up by itself after 3 months it seems to be a perfect target for "alternative medicine" practitioners.

(And don't worry btw, I won't act upon any comments without referring to our MD - who incidentally is a great advocate of Homeopathy :confused:)
 
Ririon said:
A (desperate) couple I know tried the chiropractor/colic thing on their baby. First time it worked, second time it didn't, third time it didn't, no fourth time...

A cynic might say that a condition that comes and goes and eventually goes away completely all by itself is perfect for any kind of medicine that does not actually work. But I sympathize with your willingness to try anything that might possibly have the slightest bit of effect in this case!

Ririon
Click to expand...

That must make me a cynic then!!
 
But i really suggest you try the warm water bath and the massage. there is no danger, it can be done at home, and it may remove any back pains(for whatever reason) :D
 
TobiasTheCommie said:
But i really suggest you try the warm water bath and the massage. there is no danger, it can be done at home, and it may remove any back pains(for whatever reason) :D
Click to expand...

Sounds great, I think I'll try that for sure...but what about the baby;)
 
You could ask the Health Visitor to explain to your wife the logic of chiropractic for this condition.
 
You can probably find someone certified in infant massage who will teach you how to massage your baby. Or you can get a book. From what I read, it's beneficial to the baby; they just plain enjoy it. I'll bet it's better than chiropractic adjustment, and less risky.
 
Badly Shaved Monkey said:
You could ask the Health Visitor to explain to your wife the logic of chiropractic for this condition.
Click to expand...

I had thought of this although the Health Visitor didn't make the initial suggestion - just agreed it would be worth trying, so I expect she's likely to view it as harmless but possibly useful for the reasons cited in some of the above links - for which I'm very grateful, thanks a lot.

What I might do is ask the chiropractor themselves what the logic is and how it is better than just the warm bath/massage (my wife has done baby massage before with our first child and I think even I can work out how to do the warm bath bit!)
 
bridgy said:
What I might do is ask the chiropractor themselves what the logic is and how it is better than just the warm bath/massage (my wife has done baby massage before with our first child and I think even I can work out how to do the warm bath bit!)
Click to expand...
Ok, it is important to make a distinction here..
There are (atleast) two types of chiropractors.

1) does massage, and clicks your bones(apply pressure and make the joints seperate a bit, like many people do with their fingers, you know, cracking your fingers). I'm not sure what the purpose of the latter part is. Or if there is an explanation for it(and honestly, i'm not intersted enough to look it up, i don't fear a child is going to get its neck broken anymore).

2) Same as above, with the addition of chi and the energy conduits(or what they call them) that acupunctur is all about.

This is very simplified, of course.

The big distinction here is that the first group isn't quacks.The second group on the other hand are.

Maybe the cracking from the first group doesn't help, but, contrary to group two, they don't claim that they can cure aids or cancer.

Atleast that is how i see it.

I may be wrong, it may be that many from group one also think they can cure migraines and chronic headaches(and some of them can, if the pain is situated in the back, but no differently than a good massage).



So, to sum my belief(that is all it is this time) down.
Some massage, and that is good.
Some massage, but mix it with acupuncture(not the needles, but everything else in the theory is the same).

I'm sure someone will correct me and point out my many flaws, errors, mistakes and omisions.
 
OK, I have now managed to find some more info on the Chiropractic explanation of why it works. I can't post the link yet but it's at http://www.colichelp.com/colicandchiropractic.html if you add the 3 w's at the start and put HTML at the end after the full stop. Anyway, it states:

"As your child is being born, the neck and back vertebrae can go out of alignment due to the stretching and compressing of the body as it emerges into the world. If your delivery included a prolonged pushing stage, forceps or vacuum extraction, or other form of assisted delivery, the chances of a misalignment are great.

If the misalignments, called vertebral subluxations, are big enough, the functioning of major systems in the body can be compromised. The digestive system can be affected and ineffective digestion of breastmilk and formula can cause major discomfort in your baby, leading to colic episodes."

On the basis that this claims the subluxations lead to problems in the digestive system, does this qualifty as the "quack" version as defined by TobiasTheCommie above? From what I'm starting to gather, it seems that the manipulation does help as a by-product of the massage relief/distraction but not for the reasons claimed by the Chiropractors...I think?

Edited by Lisa Simpson: 
To allow link.
 
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