Swedish researchers have looked at the effects of minimal acupuncture for colic, in babies unresponsive to conventional treatment. Forty such babies, median age six weeks, were recruited from 21 child welfare clinics and assigned to receive either acupuncture (light needling for twenty seconds at two points only), or the same care except acupuncture. The acupuncture group cried significantly less after the treatment, and exhibited a significant reduction in pain-related behaviour eg facial expression. Parents also rated acupuncture as more effective than the care received by the control group.
(Effects of Minimal Acupuncture in Children with Infantile Colic – A Prospective, Quasi-Randomised Single Blind Controlled Trial. Acupuncture in Medicine, September 2008.)