Abstract
BackgroundEvidence for the effect of minimal acupuncture in infants with colic is limited.AimTo compare the effect of standardized minimal acupuncture, individualized acupuncture (where traditional acupuncture points were chosen according to the infant’s symptoms) and no acupuncture on objective measures of stooling, feeding and sleeping in infants with colic (based on diaries) and perceived changes in these parameters (based on parental questionnaires).MethodsThis was a secondary analysis of a multicentre randomized controlled three-armed trial conducted in four counties in Sweden between January 2013 and May 2015 (ACU-COL). The effect on crying has already been published and showed a decrease in crying time for the acupuncture groups. Infants, 2–8 weeks old, who cried and fussed for more than 3 h/day for more than 3 days/week, and thereby fulfilled the criteria for infantile colic, received four extra visits to their ordinary child health centre. The infants (n = 147) were randomly allocated via a computer-generated list to standardized minimal acupuncture at LI4 for 5 s (group A, n = 48), semi-standardized individual acupuncture with a maximum of five insertions for up to 30 s (group B, n = 49), or no acupuncture (group C, n = 48). The parents and the ordinary staff were blinded. Data were collected using: (1) diaries at baseline, during the two intervention weeks and 1-week follow-up; and (2) questionnaires with quantitative and qualitative components used at the second and fourth visits and during a follow-up telephone call. Outcomes were the changes in frequency of stooling and in hours of sleep per day.ResultsThere were no differences between groups for stooling, feeding, or sleeping at any time point according to data from the diaries. At the follow-up phone call, more parents in groups A and B (compared to group C) perceived that feeding and sleep had changed and that the symptoms of colic had improved.
Highlights
Acupuncture with strong stimulation affects gastrointestinal motility[1,2] and promotes sleep[3] in adults
The frequency of bowel movement decreased to median of 1.8 times/day during follow-up
Mean feeding time decreased to 153 min/day at follow-up (Table 2)
Summary
Acupuncture with strong stimulation affects gastrointestinal motility[1,2] and promotes sleep[3] in adults. The effect of two types of minimal acupuncture on stooling, sleeping and feeding patterns in infants with colic is explored. Frequency of stooling, feeding, sleeping and crying in healthy infants has considerable variation between countries. When infants are 1 month old, decreasing to 1–2.2 times/day when they are 2 months old.[4] Infants are fed a mean of eight times/day. They sleep about 13 h/ day when they are 2–12 weeks.[5] About 10% of newborns fuss and cry for more than 3 h/day on more than 3 days/week and are thereby defined as having infantile colic. Evidence for the effect of minimal acupuncture in infants with colic is limited
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