Is sticking needles in babies really best way to ease colic distress?

ACUPUNCTURE may help babies suffering from colic, say scientists.

Their research suggests the ancient Chinese practice could help reduce the babies’ distress.

But other scientists dismissed the idea, with one professor saying the idea of ‘sticking needles’ into a baby was ‘bizarre’.

Colic affects one in five babies and refers to a period of intense crying in a child who appears to be otherwise healthy.

Experts are unsure what triggers the problem, which usually lasts a few weeks in babies under the age of four months, but it is believed to be caused by indigestion, trapped wind or gut sensitivity.

Researchers from Lund University in Sweden tested 144 babies with colic, aged two to eight weeks, comparing the effects of two different forms of acupuncture to normal treatment. Each of the babies had been crying for at least three hours a day, on at least three days a week.

One group of babies received minimal acupuncture, another group received individual acupuncture inspired by traditional Chinese medicine and the last group had no acupuncture. This happened twice weekly for a fortnight.

Each baby’s parents kept extensive diaries noting down the time and period for which babies cried. Babies who were given acupuncture saw a greater reduction in the amount of time spent crying, the authors wrote in the BMJ journal, Acupuncture In Medicine.

The authors noted that the babies ‘tolerated the treatment fairly well’, adding that in 200 of 388 sessions, the babies did not cry at all. But 8 per cent of the treatments triggered crying that lasted longer than a minute, they said.

‘The magnitude of the reduction in crying was greater, suggesting a faster recovery, in infants who received either type of acupuncture,’ they wrote. ‘For those infants that continue to cry for more than three hours a day, acupuncture may be an effective treatment option.’

Acupuncture, which was devised in China 2,000 years ago, involves stimulating sensory nerves under the skin and in the muscles of the body. Practitioners believe this triggers the release of natural chemicals and hormones such as painrelieving endorphins, but many scientists dispute the power of the treatment.

Professor David Colquhoun, a pharmacology expert at University College London, said: ‘What parent would think that sticking needles into their baby would stop it crying? The idea sounds bizarre.’