The crying started about a week after he was born, and it only stopped when he was sleeping.
We Tried Everything
We took him to the doctor. We tried soy formula while I eliminated foods from my diet and then quit breastfeeding altogether. We held him, we put him down, we rocked him back and forth in his car seat. We set him near the clothes dryer, hoping the sound would soothe him. We tried running the shower. We bought new baby gear like bouncy seats and swings. Nothing worked. He kept crying.
Finally, we tried running the vacuum, and like magic, he stopped crying and relaxed. So, we set up the rocking chair in a bedroom, held him while we ran the vacuum for half an hour at a time or whenever we needed a break.
Still, we needed to find a more reasonable solution or discover why our son wouldn’t stop crying.
Of course, his pediatrician gave us the diagnosis of “colic.” Oh, how I hate that word. I think I have a bit of PTSD when it comes to babies crying. Even if I’m out shopping and I hear a baby start to wail, my heartbeat picks up and I get a ball of anxiety in the pit of my stomach.
As we began to share our difficulties with our newborn baby (also our first) with friends and coworkers, suggestions came pouring in on how to get him to stop crying. We tried them all. Well, almost all of them. The one we didn’t care to try was taking him to the chiropractor, or, as I called them, the “quackinpractor.” I held the belief that chiropractic “medicine” was a joke – that any “healing” that took place was due to a placebo effect. No way was I taking my infant son to a quackinpractor.
Desperate times called for desperate measures
After literally trying EVERYTHING, we gave in and made a call to a chiropractic office that had been recommended by more than a few people. They got us in later that day.
As we waited in the adjustment room, I glanced around at the newspaper articles and posters on the wall (while I held my screaming son). “Hmmm…their ‘alt-med-crazy’ is showing,” I remember thinking as I read about a conspiracy in traditional medicine that only chiropractors knew about and how I should be consuming fish oil in mass quantities. My skepticism was probably palpable when the chiropractor walked in.
She asked us some questions about what was going on and then explained what she was going to do. In her practice, she claimed to have adjusted over 400 colicky babies and only 2 had not responded to treatment. The rest had stopped crying.
“I’m sure my kid is gonna be your third,” I told her.
Then, she placed my six-week-old son on his back and lifted him by the ankles and held him upside down, head dangling. Of course, he was still crying. After what felt like 10 minutes, she finally placed him back on the table and began using a chiropractic activator on his legs, hips, spine, neck and skull. She first demonstrated on my hand what the activator felt like.
When she was finished she said we could expect that he would sleep for a long period of time and that we should see a significant reduction in his crying, but that we would need to come back in three days for another adjustment.
“Oh, here comes the part where we have to come back every week for the rest of his life in order to see ‘improvement,'” I thought. Still, we scheduled his next appointment before we left.
The Day the Crying Stopped
My son fell asleep in his car seat on the way home. When home, he slept for the next 16 (yes 16) hours. He slept for the first 12 hours straight, then woke up, ate and slept for another 4 hours. My husband and I checked on him every half-hour, I think. We were sure something was either dreadfully wrong or insanely awesome.
When he finally woke up, he didn’t cry. He was alert and content. Sure, he got a little cranky in the witching hour, but nothing like he had been.
We took him back to the chiropractor a few days later where she adjusted him again. We also went back for a third and final appointment.
He never had a colic fit again.
When our pediatrician asked what made the crying stop, I didn’t tell her about the chiropractor. Traditional M.D.’s don’t always have a favorable opinion about chiropractic care, although I think that’s changed in the eight years since my son was born. It can go the other way, as well.
Babies Can’t Lie
Now, both my husband and I are firm believers in the benefit of chiropractic care. Babies can’t lie. The drastic change in my son’s behavior told us that something in his little body was not working properly and the chiropractor helped to fix it.
We’ve had two other children since, and both have made a visit to the chiropractor shortly after birth. I think our middle child was a mere three days old.
Of course, in all parenting and health-related concerns, use your own judgment, but if you have a baby with colic I recommend taking them to a reputable chiropractor. Ask around, I’m sure you’ll receive referrals from friends. Many health insurance carriers cover part of the cost, as well. Even without insurance, it’s fairly affordable.
However, as the office manager of our chiropractor’s office told me when I asked, “No, I’m sorry we don’t do attitude adjustments.”
But, they sure do help.
The content on Rochester MN Moms Blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.
