Osteopathy for Babies: Expert Care from Paediatric Osteopaths
Many people may have been to see an Osteopath for a sore back or neck but never dreamt of taking their baby; why would you, they don’t get aches and pains do they, and you certainly wouldn’t want them stretched and ‘clicked’ back into place if they did, right?!
What a lot of people don’t know is that there are a number of paediatric osteopaths who specialise in treating children using gentle methods.
What for you may ask?
Well paediatric osteopaths are highly trained in knowing what normal looks and feels like and any deviations from this can contribute to issues of unsettledness, colic, reflux, flattening to the head to name a few
It’s easy to understand that if your baby has something affecting their movement or causing them discomfort then it will have an effect on them.
Most children adjust to life outside the womb well, having to handle milk rather than getting nutrition through their cord and handling gravity rather than their water filled home and don’t need any help.
Physical factors are what osteopaths can help with and that’s where we help with babies, by listening to your concerns and then knowing how the body works and what supports your baby’s ability to normally do these things we look for physical factors that might be related to the symptoms.
How a Paediatric Osteopath can help?
But how, you may ask?
Well, a healthy newborn baby is soft, flexible and symmetrical.
We will have a really good look and play with your child to see if they are showing any signs that their body might be exhibiting signs of pain or tension and if so how this might relate to their symptoms.
Treatment is not that different to adults except for the fact that baby’s can’t tell you when something hurts so I will focus on keeping them happy as I consider a screaming child to be saying I don’t like what you are doing.
Gentle massage and stretching of their body is usually what I’ll do whilst showing you how and what you can do at home to help address things.
Baby’s are quick to respond and don’t usually need more than 2-3 sessions if a course of treatment is recommended.
Treatment by Paediatric Osteopath
Colic
William had been getting very unsettled and crying incessantly into the evening and night, much to his parents exasperation they really struggled to find any way of relieving his apparent discomfort, passing wind did seem to bring some relief but not always.
The newly born baby has to learn how to process the milk it is ingesting, this can lead to excess gas being produced, trapped wind can be very uncomfortable, as you may well know.
Labour was quite slow to progress with a long time pushing. William had never liked having clothes pulled over his head and his upper back and neck felt stiff and seemed uncomfortable when playing with him.
By gently releasing the tension which was mostly in his upper back and shoulders and showing his parents what they could do at home plus simple ways to help move the wind through William he was much more content in the evenings, as were his parents!
Plagiocephaly – Flattening to one side or the back of the head
Emily was brought in by her mum who was concerned that there was some flattening to one side of the back of her head
Since the introduction of the back to sleep initiative in 1994 all parents are advised to place children on their backs to sleep, this has seen a great reduction in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and is undoubtedly excellent advice.
However as babies have soft malleable skulls this can cause a flattening to one side of the back of their head if they consistently lie on the same side Whilst the flattening is usually mealy cosmetic it’s the underlying cause that is of greater interest.
A baby may favour one side for a number of reasons including the side mum and dad are to them in the room and other stimuli, but it may be due to a sore neck or tight muscles in the neck.
Treatment involved aiding the child’s ability to comfortably move the neck fully in both directions uses gentle techniques to release a tight muscle and giving advice to the parents about turning the cot around so she is encouraged to turn her head towards them during the night (her reluctant side).
Reflux
Isla was a very sicky baby and it upset her greatly when she was sick, she didn’t like to lie flat on her back, which her parents had initially mistaken for her getting upset when put down.
She was fine in her car seat and was having to sleep in it sometimes, as it seemed the only place she was comfortable.
On discussing the birth history it was discovered that Isla needed a few rescue breaths at birth and took a little while to ‘come around’.
Whilst examining Isla a poor feeling of movement was present in the diaphragm (tightness) – the muscle that is primarily responsible for breathing and through which the oesophagus (food pipe) passes.
Reflux is when the partially digested contents of the stomach go back up the food pipe and the diaphragm is largely responsible for forming the sphincter that prevents this.
The birth might have caused the diaphragm to be tight or could just be incidental.
Work directly to the diaphragm which is under the lower six ribs and nerves suppling it helped and soon the car seat was back in its rightful place, the car!
Steven Ojari is our Osteopath who specialises in the treatment of children. Being trained at The Osteopathic Centre for Children in London http://occ.uk.com/