Does your newborn suffer from excessive crying? Acupuncture may be an effective treatment option

New Delhi: A new study suggests that acupuncture may be an effective treatment option for babies with infantile colic.

Infantile colic, also known as baby colic is a benign process in which babies cry hard and continuously, at about the same time each day, at least 3 days a week.

Excessive crying in babies is an issue for up to one in five families, causing pain for the baby and stress for the parents.

In a trial involving 147 babies aged between two and 10 weeks, researchers from Lund University tested the traditional Chinese needle-piercing technique in two different ways.

For the study, researchers divided the babies into three groups. Babies in the first group were given “minimal” acupuncture treatment, while babies in the second group were given up to five 30-second needlings per session. The third group was not given any needle treatment.

The researchers found that the babies who were given standard acupuncture showed 49 per cent reduction in crying in the second week of treatment than those who received no treatment. They also found that those who underwent the tailored acupuncture were 32 per cent more likely to have stopped crying.

"Fussing and crying are normal communications for a baby, therefore a reduction to normal levels (rather than silence) is the goal of treatment," said the researchers, who emphasise that parents should record how long their baby cries to see if it is excessive and then try eliminating cow's milk from their feeds before seeking further help.

"For those infants that continue to cry for more than 3 hours/day, acupuncture may be an effective treatment option," they concluded.

Acupuncture is associated with relieving pain, restoring gut function, and inducing calm.

The findings have been detailed in the journal Acupuncture in Medicine, published by the BMJ – formerly known as the British Medical Journal.