Acupuncture is regarded by many people as a somewhat strange and unorthodox treatment, but both eastern and western medicine have taken notice of its health benefits. According to a new study, among the benefits of acupuncture is the reduction in babies’ excessive crying known as infantile colic.
The study was published in the online journal Acupuncture in Medicine and it details how the benefits of acupuncture, a treatment known to relieve patients of pain, induce calm, restore gut function, and more, may even help parents reduce the excessive crying of their babies.
Doctors characterize infantile colic as a condition present in babies who cry more than three hours a day at least three days in a week. This condition can affect one in five families and causes pain for the baby and stress for its parents.
For their study, the researchers wanted to determine if the pain-relieving effects of acupuncture would also be present in babies suffering from the condition. Therefore, they compared two types of acupuncture treatments with just standard care. The study involved the observation of 147 babies affected by excessive crying and whose condition was confirmed during a routine check-up across four different child health centers in Sweden.
All the babies involved in the study were aged between 8 weeks and 2 years old. All of them were found healthy besides the colic condition. Furthermore, all of them did not receive any cow’s milk for at least five days as a way to curb excess fussing or crying.
The scientists then randomly allocated each baby to one of three groups and were required to visit the health center for two more times each week over the course of two weeks. The visits included a 30-minutes discussion with a nurse regarding the baby’s symptoms and situation as well as statutory appointments which consisted of childcare advice, weighing and measuring of the baby.
The first group in the study received minimal acupuncture treatment at one acupuncture point for a few seconds. The second group of babies received a tailored acupuncture treatment of five acupuncture points for 30 seconds. Finally, the last group received no acupuncture at all to act a control a group. Furthermore, over the course of the entire study, the parents were asked to monitor how long and often their child cried before and after the treatment.
The researchers saw a reduction in excessive crying in all groups as the colic cleared up in all babies, but the drop was more significant in babies who received the acupuncture treatment.
Image source: Wikimedia
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