My NEWBORN Needs a Chiropractor?

“Chiropractors can work with newborns?”
“Why would an infant need to see a chiropractor?”
“I don’t want my child to get hurt from seeing a chiropractor.”

Unfortunately the value of chiropractic for infants is misunderstood and unfamiliar to parents in our mainstream medical world. And yet chiropractic is the least invasive intervention, and can result in your child reaping more health benefits overall!

This blog is not meant to frighten current and expecting mothers, but rather to educate parents on the birth process as a whole. Birth is meant to be a joyous experience, not a frightening medical procedure! However, according to a well-known research study completed by Viola Frymann, DO, 9 out of 10 infants suffer from birth trauma. This means 90% of the studied infants suffer from some sort of “birth trauma” that includes strain in the neck and cranial areas.

 What Does “Birth Trauma” Look Like in My Child?

Birth trauma can be a result of two separate types of injuries: intervention-based injuries and natural-occurring injuries.

Intervention-Based Injuries
C-section delivery
Forceps use
Vacuum extraction
Medications taken via the mother crossing into the infant’s bloodstream at a higher dose than the infant is able to handle

Naturally-Occurring Injuries
Umbilical cord wrapping around infant’s neck
Infant’s positioning in utero (forms of breech-positioning)

The issue lies in the fact that these harmful interventions are becoming all too common in today’s birthing world. Even during the most natural of childbirths, trauma can still occur as the child travels through the birth canal and experiences an average of 60-90lbs of pressure on their head and neck. But these birth traumas don’t just result in a sore neck for the infant! Improper spinal structure and strains can manifest into more long-lasting issues if not taken care of. After all, the first year of life is where the largest amount of neurological development occurs!

Birth trauma can occur without parents even knowing. But many of your parental instincts may have picked up on your child expressing signs of discomfort since birth that many medical doctors are unable to explain! These can be “symptoms” such as:

-colic
-favoring one side during positioning
-difficulty breastfeeding   
-improper digestion, vomiting     
-irregular breathing and respiration rates        
-asthma        
-imbalance in muscle tone
-ear infections
-vestibular (balance) concerns
-sleeping problems
-headaches
-behavioral issues (ADD, ADHD, autism, etc)
-sensory integration dysfunctions

How can you as a parent reverse these signs, and help transform your child into a happy, healthy, epic-kiddo? The answer lies in CHIROPRACTIC!

The Role of a Pediatric Chiropractor

 Chiropractors know that these signs of discomfort are a result of misalignments to the cranium and spinal vertebrae. These misalignments or “subluxations” place unnecessary pressure on spinal nerves resulting in a lack of communication from the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body. And this poor communication can account for the complications listed above that are seen in many of today’s children!

Since the nervous system controls EVERY other system in the body (respiratory, digestive, circulatory, immune system, etc.), it is important to have your child checked by a chiropractor to remove any interference post birth! Nervous system function will be restored allowing for a new expression of health and wellness.

The techniques used by chiropractors to adjust infants are much more gentle to compensate for the developing frame of the child. According to the ICPA (International Chiropractic Pediatric Association), the pressure used to adjust an infant can be compared to the amount of pressure you would use to test the ripeness of a tomato.

But the importance of chiropractic doesn’t just end with a few adjustments post birth. As your child continues to grow and develop, and enters into new developmental periods of rolling over, holding up his/her head, crawling, and eventually walking, chiropractic should continue along side of your child to ensure new traumas are addressed and corrected!

We know that it is better to grow healthy kids, than to fix injured adults.
Do you? Get your child checked by a pediatric chiropractor today!