Baby Colic: How Osteopathy Can Help Your Baby

We call it colic when a healthy baby cries a great deal - intense crying that’s hard to console - mostly at the end of the day, with no obvious cause. It usually starts around two to three weeks of age and most often fades by three or four months.

The typical signs

• Intense crying, often in the late afternoon or evening
• A baby who squirms, pulls up their legs, clenches their fists
• A tense tummy, sometimes relieved by passing gas
• Crying spells that don’t respond to the usual comforting

The most reassuring detail

Between episodes, a baby with colic is doing well: they feed, they sleep, they gain weight normally. That’s precisely what sets colic apart from a problem that would need medical attention - and it’s an important benchmark to keep in mind.

Several explanations coexist: a digestive system that’s still immature, air swallowed during feeds, a gut microbiome still taking shape, a sensitivity to the overload of stimulation at the end of the day. No single one of them explains everything on its own.

One thing is certain: this is not your fault. Colic is not a sign that you’re doing something wrong or that your milk isn’t right. For many babies, it’s simply part of those first weeks when everything is still settling into place.

Colic is recognizable precisely because the baby is otherwise doing well. Some signs, however, are not colic and call for prompt medical attention.

In these situations, osteopathy is not the answer: a doctor needs to see your baby first.

Tummy massage and “bicycle legs”

Gently massage your baby’s tummy in a clockwise direction, with a warm, resting hand. You can also take their legs and move them in a slow pedaling motion: this sometimes helps move gas along and ease the tummy.

Babywearing and calming positions

Carrying your baby against you, in a wrap, or holding them tummy-down along your forearm (the “airplane hold”) is often reassuring and relaxing. The contact, the movement, and the warmth of your body are genuinely soothing.

Warmth, burping, and the rhythm of feeds

A warm (never hot) water bottle on the tummy, a quiet moment for burping after each feed, a calm environment at the end of the day: these small adjustments matter. If you’re breastfeeding or bottle-feeding and wondering about making a change, talk to your pediatrician first instead of switching your baby’s milk on your own.

Your baby is settled against you or on the table, in a calm setting. I start by listening to you: how the days unfold, the feeds, sleep, the birth. Then I work gently, wherever I feel tension. You stay by their side from beginning to end.

Often, one or two sessions are enough to take stock. Remember to bring your baby’s health record and, if you have it, the Tipat Halav follow-up booklet: it helps me get the full picture.

We talk a lot about the baby, and rarely about how exhausted the parents are. Yet crying that never seems to end wears you down. If the tension is rising, it is not only okay but recommended to put your baby down safely in their crib, leave the room for a few minutes, and breathe. A baby crying in their crib is not in danger; a parent at the end of their rope has every right to catch their breath.

Hand things off whenever you can, and talk about it - with those around you, with your pediatrician, or with me. You are not alone, and this phase, however hard it is, always passes.

At my practice in Katamon, as a French-trained osteopath I see babies from Jerusalem’s English-speaking and international community, in English or in French, with parents present throughout the session and in coordination with your pediatrician and Tipat Halav. If your baby’s crying is wearing you out and you’re wondering whether a session could help, send me a message: we’ll talk it over simply, with no obligation.