Cranial Osteopathy for my baby

[ButteryJam]

Hi

My little one who is now 8 weeks has been a high needs baby since she was born and quite unsettled. I took her for an assessment to a local osteopath who specialises in treating babies and children. He assessed her and said that her head is compressed due to the birth (I did tell him before that, that I was pushing for 3-4 hours), which is why she is so unsettled. He suggested treatment, probably around 3-6 sessions.

I know the NHS doesn't endorse/recommend cranial osteopathy and there is lack of evidence, but do you think I should go for it? The cost isn't really an issue.

Three out of four of my babies had cranial osteopathy after precipitate deliveries. It worked well for one, almost magically for another, and it wasn't the answer for the third (she was just perennially hungry as I wasn't producing enough milk).

I'd say go for it. These are incredibly highly trained and sensitive people, not lentil weaving freaks (not that you suggested that they were!). Good luck!

Silly question but have you spoken to your HV or GP about her being 'unsettled'? That would be my first port of call. I really wouldn't recommend cranial osteopathy I'm afraid.

My dd only needed 2 sessions. She was brilliant after, and did start sleeping through. Although, she was a good sleeper anyway. She was collicky, so screamed a lot towards the evening especially. We used all the crap like Infacol, but nothing worked better than the osteopath.

Thank you ladies

DawnOfTheDee, yes I have spoken to both GP and HV and they both said it was normal - some babies are like that. Why would you not recommend it?

Ok, well to me one of the following statements must be true:

a) someone is manipulating my babies skull to the extent that the cranial bones are actually being moved and this has a noticeable effect

b) someone is not manipulating my babies skull/no bones are being moved but is instead giving them a nice head massage

Now if a) is true then I find this extremely worrying. If anyone is going to do anything to my babies skull then I would want it to be a fully qualified consultant in a hospital - even then I would want it fully explained to me what was happening and that there was empirical evidence of its efficacy. This is patently not true of cranial osteopathy as far as I'm aware.

If b) is true then I'm not worried about the procedure but I would be a bit miffed at the cost and I would not expect it to have any real effect on my baby's demeanour.