Probiotics , fennel extract  and  spinal manipulation  show promise to alleviate symptoms of colic , although some concerns remain .
Background Infantile colic is a distressing condition characterised by excessive crying in the first few months of life .
The aim of this research was to up date the synthesis of evidence of complementary and alternative medicine ( CAM ) research literature on infantile colic and establish what evidence is currently available .
Infant massage compared with crib vibrator in the treatment of colicky infants.
OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of infant massage compared with that of a crib vibrator in the treatment of infantile colic . METHODS Infants < 7 weeks of age and perceived as colicky by their parents were r and omly assigned to an infant massage group ( n = 28 ) or a crib vibrator group ( n = 30 ) . Three daily intervention periods were recommended in both groups . Parents recorded infant crying and given interventions in a structured cry diary that was kept for 1 week before ( baseline ) and for 3 weeks during the intervention . Parents were interviewed after the first and third weeks of intervention to obtain their evaluation of the effectiveness of the given massage or crib vibration . RESULTS At baseline , the mean amount of total crying was 3.6 ( st and ard deviation : 1.4 ) hours/day in the massage group infants and 4.2 ( 2.0 ) hours/day in the vibrator group infants . The mean amount of colicky crying was 2.1 ( st and ard deviation : 1.1 ) hours/day and 2.9 ( 1.5 ) hours/day , respectively . The mean number of daily intervention periods was 2.2 in both groups . Over the 4-week study , the amount of total and colicky crying decreased significantly in both intervention groups . The reduction in crying was similar in the study groups : total crying decreased by a mean 48 % in the massage group and by 47 % in the vibrator group , and colicky crying decreased by 64 % and 52 % , respectively . The amount of other crying ( total crying minus colicky crying ) remained stable in both groups over the intervention . Ninety-three percent of the parents in both groups reported that colic symptoms decreased over the 3-week intervention , and 61 % of the parents in the massage group and 63 % of the parents in the crib vibrator group perceived the 3-week intervention as colic reducing . CONCLUSIONS Infant massage was comparable to the use of a crib vibrator in reducing crying in colicky infants . We suggest that the decrease of total and colicky crying in the present study reflects more the natural course of early infant crying and colic than a specific effect of the interventions
Probiotics , fennel extract  and  spinal manipulation  show promise to alleviate symptoms of colic , although some concerns remain .
Background Infantile colic is a distressing condition characterised by excessive crying in the first few months of life .
The aim of this research was to up date the synthesis of evidence of complementary and alternative medicine ( CAM ) research literature on infantile colic and establish what evidence is currently available .