Screaming babies, colic and Granny Annie with her needles!

The last two weeks have been pretty crazy…. I have been learning to be a granny, My daughter has been learning to be a mum and Maya is learning to be a baby...

Very interesting to watch and feel the familiar anxieties that come with having a new born,  for all concerned.
Amongst it all I had a call from a patient of mine whom I had given acupuncture to throughout her pregnancy, who now has a lovely 9 week old bouncing baby boy. “He is suffering with colic” she says “is there anything you can do with acupuncture” ?
So what is colic…. Colic is an attack of crying and what appears to be abdominal pain in early infancy. Colic is a common condition and is estimated to affect at least 20% of babies during their first few months. As a parent is is extremely distressing to see your new born gorgeousness in what appears to be absolute agony and distress. With symptoms such as:

• Baby cries intensely and furiously, and there is not much the parents can do to comfort him/her. The baby’s face will become red and flushed. With the crying starting suddenly for no apparent reason.
• fists may be clenched, tensed abdominal muscles, knees drawn up, and the back arched.
• sleep may be irregular and interrupted with episodes of crying.
• feeding may also be interrupted and irregular with episodes of intense crying. However, the amount the baby eats each day is not reduced.
• during episodes of intense crying the baby may pass wind.

This is all pretty scary, and of course you should discuss any of these worrying symptoms with your doctor. The doctor however will normally say “your baby is fine but has colic! Nothing to worry about it will pass”… so you feel reassured for a little while until the next episode when you have no idea how to calm your beautiful screaming bundle.
There are lots of things you can try such as:
Swaddling,
Sit your baby more upright when feeding.
Smaller more frequent feeds.
If you’re breast feeding try avoiding tea, coffee, spicy foods and alcohol.
If you are bottle feeding Make sure the holes in the bottle teats are the right size. If they are too small the baby is likely to swallow more air during each feed.
A warm bath, or gentle massage.
Or amazingly enough Acupuncture! I treated Eden for 3 consecutive days, each treatment takes about 10 minutes, We use only four points just below the knee and just above the ankle. The needles are placed and removed (not left in place) Eden smiled at me (lucky me) throughout the treatment and didn’t even flinch….
On the 4^th day I had a message from mum to say…. Eden is fine, no more colic and actually slept for 5 hours through the night.

Happy Baby, Happy parents and me…. well I am ecstatic