Research from Sweden has found that acupuncture helps reduce the crying of colicky babies. The study monitored 147 babies between the ages of 2 and 8 weeks with colic at four separate Swedish public child health centers.

The babies were divided into three groups; each visited the clinic twice a week for two weeks. One group received “gold standard” care plus five minutes of minimal acupuncture, one group received standard care plus five minutes of acupuncture and one group received standard care only.

After two weeks, both acupuncture groups showed a reduction in crying time by the second week and at a later follow-up. More babies dropped to less than three hours of crying per day in the acupuncture groups than the control group, removing them from the colic category altogether. No adverse effects were recorded.

This article appears in the July 2017 issue of Natural Awakenings.