Colic and Cranial Osteopathy

[KATC2010]

I just wondered if anyone has any experience/comments on using CO? My DD is 7 weeks old today and has been having an absolute horrendous time of it. We have tried all the usual remedies and currently get some relief from colief and infacol. Our GP put her on paracetamol several times a day at 6 week check as she thought she was in a lot of tummy pain and this has also improved things as well but still we get some really bad times. We went for our first appointment on Friday and the CO said it would take a few sessions and that she may be worse for first 24 hours - that was certainly true! Would very much appreciate any experiences/comments that people may have of using this treatment.

We didn't use CO in the end but dd had bad colic (is now 3). I just wanted to reassure you it gets much better and does pass. 7 weeks old was when I fell apart a bit as dh was working long hours and dd cried all day. I went to stay with my mum and dad and felt like a failure. Dad held her while I ate dinner and had never seen a baby like it so wanted to take her to A&E! Mum and I had to reassure him this was how she was a lot of the time!

We found the Boots own brand gripe water helped a lot (possibly because it has a strong apple taste and so distracted her).

I've also heard that baby beanbags are amazing.

DD grew out of it at around 3 months (which probably seems a long way off right now). I know someone who did try CO but the course finished at about 3 months old so my friend really didn't know if it helped or had passed naturally. It did make her feel like she was doing something though.

PS. if you're breast feeding do not eat curry (even very mild). It was a huge mistake!

Good luck xx

Hi, I used CO with all 3 of mine when they where babies. Thought it was fantastic!!!! my first had really bad colic and I took him at 6 weeks old!! by 8 weeks old he was clear and sleeping through the night! the next 2 I took as soon as they were born and they never suffered.

Mine was cos they were all born by c-section so had a lot of mucus

Good Luck x

Hi thanks both for your replies - we have another app't with CO today and really hoping that this helps! PrincessScrumpy I know what you mean about how bad they can be and why your dad thought your dd may need to go to A & E! I have reduced dairy and cut spicy foods and cruciferous veg out of my diet as I am BF. She is definitely the worse out of all my 3!
Thanks xx

DS had a horrible failed forceps then C-Section delivery. He was really badly bruised and had terrible colic for the first few weeks of his life. In desperation we took him to a CO and it was the BEST thing we ever did. It took 5 short sessions (as he screamed the house down when she touched his head initially then improved dramatically) and he was a much happier more content baby.

Would deffo recommend it x

my dc3 is 5 months and i took her for her first session last week as she is a terrible sleeper and often seems in agony with stomach ache (don't know if this is colic at 5 months or not). TBH I haven't noticed any difference and whilst trying every other trick in the book to keep her asleep, when it eventually happens (she writes optimistically!), I won't actually know what it was that helped!

However, I am going back next week for follow up and will see how that goes.

Sorry, this is isn't helpful for you but thought I'd share my experience.

Again thanks for your replies PieMistress and stickchildren 3. Both replies are helpful as I did want people to share their honest experiences and also it will be good to follow up with one another if that's ok to see how we get on. My dd had her 2nd session today and we are to see how she goes on but can go back Fri afternoon if still a problem. Although she was worse for over 24 hrs after 1st session on Sunday she was really good - not sure if this is a permanent or temporary change though! xx

Have you read anything about reflux? I was going out of my mind with DS when he was baby - he was obviously in pain but GP said 'babies cry, that's what they do' which wasn't massively helpful... we did try CO but they said he was basically healthy, but had a lot of tension in his tummy - reflux can be 'silent' ie they don't throw up - things that helped were holding him upright during and after feeding - and making him sleep at a very slight angle with head slightly raised. (he actually slept on me for about 3 months which was great for him, less so for me!)
Sears and Sears The Baby Book is excellent on it.
Good luck!

yes,very successful CO for awful costipation and screaming. Three sessions.

There is no evidence that it works, and its theory does not match up to the actual facts about physiology.

I was given a present of CO sessions after DS was born, trying to keep an open mind I rang up the therapist and asked about the evidence base. She said 'i don't treat sceptical people'!

Colic does pass eventually, although it doesn't feel like it at the time. Sorry though, that's not what you want to hear I'm sure.

There's evidence on this thread that it work, unless you think we're lying.

CO had a definite positive effect on DS's colic. It did take four sessions (i think four, that time of my life is a wee bit hazy)

He was screaming all afternoon and early evening and I was at wit's end. I was v sceptical about CO but the osteopath explained that DS's system had been put out of alignment by his difficult back-to-back birth and with some very gentle manipulation he ended up being a much happier baby.

A collegues DD took her DS at 3 weeks. He never slept peacefully was always moving, had colic. Again difficult birth and he was forceps delivery as his shoulder got stuck. The CO 'manipuated' his spine and said one of his shoulders was not aligned well. She was told the same about first 24 hours and more sessions. He came of of first one and slept properly for the first time.

My DD (now 12 weeks) had really bad colic. After the first CO session (at about 6 weeks IIRC) she started doing proper burps and bringing wind up which she had never been able to do before. We've had 4 sessions I think and last one is tomorrow. The osteopath said she had some misalignment in her skull which kept reverting back - thus rang true as without us saying anything she asked if DD turned her head more to the left than the right which she did. Now she turns easily both ways! the CO has also helped with her sleeping - she was terrible at napping during the day, never more than 30 mins unless cuddled on my lap, and the day after our third session she slept for 2 hours in the morning!
Now at 12 weeks her colic is (fingers crossed) virtually gone and yes I'm sure she would have grown out of it eventually but it made me feel better knowing that I was helping to ease her pain rather than just waiting it out.

Good luck and hope it helps your little one!

co was fantastic for ds, took 3-4 sessions to make it properly work but when I first took him he was bent double and wouldn't straighten his legs out at all, second session this had improved dramatically and we could get his wind up more easily, 3 + 4 more and more improvement. We haven't had to return yet and my baby is so much more content.

I am sure that if you are "open" to it it works better, I am happily open to it as I am accupuncture for me (and have visual proof of this having had a large swelling at an operation site on a joint within 10 mins it had reduced by half). It might not work for everyone and you are likely to need more than one go but imo worth it. Within a month I had a different baby!

Appletrees I am sure you are not lying. I am sure every person who has posted positively here had a baby with colic, took them for CO and saw an improvement.

Equally there are many others who didn't take their babies for CO but whose babies grew out of their colic stage anyway, and then people who took their babies for CO and didn't see any particular improvement at that time.

Anecdotes are not the same thing as evidence. That is why they do medical trials to see what really works.

So, for example you would recruit a hundred families with babies with colic and assess the severity of the colic using a standard set of questions (how long, how often etc..) then randomly allocate half of them for CO, and half of them to see an actor who (safely) pretends to do CO. Then assess them again using the same standard set of questions (and the person doing the assessing doesn't know which group they were in). Then look at how the changes in the CO group compare with the changes in the 'control' or placebo group.

That would be evidence. From what I remember, when I looked into it at the time, when tests like these have been done they could find no evidence that CO was any better than the placebo treatment.

Actually they are evidence, they are just not proof.

Baby has profound constipation for eight days. Visit to CO. Constipation disappears, two days of pooing. Repeat experiment two weeks later. Result same. Repeat experiment two weeks later. Result same.

That's evidence. It's just not proof.

It's very hard to do randomised controlled trials on babies. There are mammoth ethics issues to get round and by the time you've got permissions often the babies aren't babies anymore!

Appletrees is right - anecdotal evidence is still evidence. It's not as strong as RCTs etc, and of course it's definitely not proof, but it all adds to the knowledge base out there. There's still massive disagreement amongst the medical profession as to what colic is, what causes it and if it even exists at all. So there won't be any definitive proof answers for years yet, if at all.

ALL that said...... OP, we tried several sessions of cranial osteopathy and it didn't work for DS's colic. A friend recommended a Mctimoney Chiropractor instead and for us, that did the trick in one treatment. For us, it was amazing. But I'm sure it wouldn't work for everyone. It depends what's causing your baby's colic, I guess. But I just put that out there so you're aware of another option.

Hope you find the right thing soon. It is horrible and I really feel for you. Best of luck.

I think that's right -- I recommend it because it worked for my baby, but that was a problem which your baby may not have, OP. I would say it's worth a try, definitely. I know it wasn't coincidence with mine, but yours may/probablyl does have a different though related issue.

Casserole - I would have thought there were mammouth ethical issues around doing untested treatments on babies, it doesn't seem to have got in the way of the Cranial Osteopathy industry through.

What like vaccinations? Doesn't seemto have got in the way of that either.

I'm not getting into medical and research ethics with you here Himalaya, it'll only clutter up the OP's request for help here. But it's an interesting topic if you want to start it elsewhere

Appletrees, vaccinations are tested before being unleashed on babies!

I'm also rather sceptical about CO, but DS2 has appalling digestion, farting and probably reflux, and since I have a friend who does this, I thought I'd give it a go. We did some today. Not a clue what it's supposed to do, or how it 'works', but it's very gentle and non-invasive and I'm at the stage where I'll try anything.* Interesting, though, how a lot of these courses finish at around 12 weeks, when many infant problems generally disappear anyway!

*(except homeopathy. I just can't.)

My youngest went an osteopath ( not cranial) at weeks old as he had awful colic. No difference.

Due to other issues I took my youngest to a cranial osteopath out of desparation when he was 1yr 6 months. The CO said his head/spine/neck were not aligned. 4 treatments later and he was sleeping and he was not grumpy. We'd been seeing a neurologist cos' his head and face was so distorted and he had slow development ( probably due to being in constant pain) - he now looks normal.

Many CO's do a check in the early weeks. I hate myself for not doing that.

MMR research was "inadequate" (Cochrane). Cervical cancer vaccine research continued on general population after release. Vaccines tested separately but not together. Control subjects not given no vaccine but given vaccine "solution" without virus.

And so on and so forth.

I would like to know how you test an eight week old baby for signs of autism before the first mercury containing vaccine is administered to said baby.

Hi hodgepodge I have heard a little about silent reflux and thanks for your input on this - it is something I also wondered about and I have been holding her more upright during feeding and after her feed and although sometimes it seems to help on other occassions there doesn't seem to be any effect and similarly at other times she's quite happy to lie down so a little unsure on this one at the mo!

We went for the 2nd CO on Monday and for the rest of Monday she was the most relaxed she has ever been and apart from waking for a feed and a short crying session slept most of the evening - something she has never done so far.

Yesterday wasn't so good but although the evening wasn't as good as Monday evening she was much better than any of the other evenings so I think i'll see if I can take her back on Friday as the therapist said she would see her then if need be.

Thanks to all for your input - would be interested to see of anyone else's continuing experiences!