What is acupuncture benefits for babies?
Crying is one of the most exhausting, frustrating trials that all new parents go through. Regardless of how easygoing the baby, from months 0-6 there will definitely be periods of crying that can be deemed excessive. It's the worst feeling in the world, when your baby is wailing and wailing and you feel completely powerless to help him.
Colic is one of the commonly cited reasons for infants crying for up to 3 hours a day on 3 or more days a week and can affect as many as one in five families. It can be caused by indigestion, trapped wind, intolerance for cow's milk and the fact that the baby's gut is still immature.
But a recent study from Swedish researchers suggests that acupuncture may be an effective treatment.
Two Swedish researchers from the Lund University's medicine faculty tested this traditional Chinese remedy in a trial involving nearly 150 babies between two and eight weeks old. The results suggest that acupuncture “appears to reduce crying” in babies suffering from colic.
The team found that infants who received acupuncture over two weeks exhibited “a significant relative reduction” in crying compared to babies who did not undergo the treatment.
Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese medical practice that uses needles to penetrate and stimulate certain points in the body. It is commonly used to relieve pain and treat various health conditions and has been found effective at treating nausea.
But for many, the idea of poking needles into the skin is rather scary, so its unsurprising that the doctors who used acupuncture on babies were criticised by their colleagues in the field, with some calling the study methodology "incompetent" and "appalling".
However, the study did mention that the babies tolerated the acupuncture treatments fairly well. Out of 388 treatments administered, the infant did not cry on 200 occasions, cried for up to a minute 157 times and 31 times for more than that.
So really, the ultimate question for desperate parents is - Would you do it?
You can read more at The Star.