Chiropractic medicine and osteopathy have not shown any significant effect on colic in studies at low risk of bias.[1][2][3]
In general, the higher-quality research on acupuncture indicates that it is not clinically more effective than placebo.[6]
Increased infant carrying throughout the day (besides during feeding and in response to crying) does not seem to reduce infant crying.[7] Also, a car ride simulator was not effective for reducing crying.[8] Alternatively, one study found that reduced stimulation of the infant (by not lifting and patting the baby “excessively,” and giving the infant time to fall asleep on its own despite “a certain amount of crying”) may be effective to reduce colic; however, this study suffered from serious methodological flaws, reducing confidence in its findings.[9] Overall, evidence across each of these interventions was rated as low quality.[5]
Besides the infant, it is important to assess and treat caregiver depression, anxiety, and/or exhaustion. Otherwise, colic can lead to adversarial or alienated feelings toward the unsoothable infant; it increases the risk of shaken infant syndrome and other forms of abuse, which can be clinical emergencies.[10]
Importantly, caregivers should be educated on the self-limiting nature of colic, and taught that the vast majority of the time, colic is neither due to disease nor anything the caregivers have done, or not done, to their infants. Caregivers should be advised to try not to exhaust themselves, and if possible, to regularly leave their infants with others in their support network in order to have breaks.[11][12]