To ask if cranial osteopathy is a load of bollocks or not?

[RachelWalsh]

I often see people on here discussing having visited cranial osteopaths with their babies or recommending that others do so to solve sleep, feeding problems etc. Quite often they seem to have been given really odd advice re feeding etc by the osteopath.

What is the science behind cranial osteopathy? Is it scientifically proven? Does it work and if so how?

Disclaimer- I probably incline towards a more Ben Goldacre bad science approach to these things I just wondered what other people thought and if they had had success with this. I kind of suspect they are taking advantage of new parents desperation to solve sleep problems etc...

I know someone who swears by it and I believe it really worked for her. I would definitely try it if I needed to!

No science behind it and definitely not scientifically proven.

Not sure if YABU because you haven't asked it.

Think about it. An adult pushes about the malleable plates of your tiny baby's skull. Then your baby's behavior changes: she becomes quiter, sleeps more.

I'd be very worried.

I took DD age 12 because she couldnt sleep. Biggest waste of money ever. I think the woman thought she had magical powers as she barely touched DD.

No that's not how it works cote

My sons neck was out of place . I could only breast feed from one side, he could not move his head in other direction. The osteopath did some movements and it clicked into place and my sox
Month old smiled for the first time immediately. I feel terrible that I did not take him before poor lad was in pain all the time and could not feed or sleep properly .

Amazing. It was a last resort for me but should have been the first .

I thought it was a load of old bollocks, but got so desperate with DD not sleeping and crying constantly that I took her to a charitable clinic in London when she was about 14 weeks. It was advised by my GP, oddly enough, as she said they also worked in a couple of north london NICU's and were highly regarded. Maybe she just wanted to get rid of me, but I'm very grateful for that advice.

I don't know what they did. It honestly looked like nothing. But it was like they gave me a different baby - she was so happy and relaxed afterwards. The change was instantaneous . I'm still very about all sorts of woo, but I have to admit that it worked for us.

valium - Enlighten us. How exactly does it work?

I also thought it was a load of old bollocks until I tried it.

DD2 born back to back after a 50 minute labour, wouldn't feed well, never slept more than about 10 minutes, cried constantly, always seemed to be pinched and hunched iyswim.

HV suggested it, 3 sessions later we had a completely different baby

She didn't really seem to do much, but you could almost see the tension and discomfort drain out of her.

It doesn't work for everyone, a few of my friends have tried it, it worked for some but not others

Magic, then.

It was suggested to me - by friends who had unsettled babies.

We decided not to - turned out what I need to sort was an o.k but could be better latch so she fed better and to accept that she wanted to be with me - so we co-slept and bought a sling for the day.

My friend is an osteopath and knows a lot about anatomy! But even she admits that some osteopaths are a lot more wooo than others.

She used very gentle manipulations on my son's neck (he was very very flat-headed, as he never turned his head fully round to one side) and within 24hrs I saw a much fuller range of movement in his neck, he seemed a lot more comfortable and would turn to roll onto that side.

I don't think it's magic. I think that by gently stretching the ligaments and tendons and all those bits that connect muscle to bone you can improve the range of movement in joints / free trapped nerves etc. Given the trouble my own back has given me I can easily believe this would improve sleep! Waking up with a crick or an ache all the time is horrible.

I'm inclined to agree with cote - if they are really manipulating the bones in a baby's skull then I would want conclusive evidence that it was a) safe and b) beneficial, if they aren't actually doing anything then it's just placebo effect quackery isn't it?

Actually I'm not sure what the difference is between an osteopath and a cranial osteopath? My friend doesn't just poke your head, she does lots of back / neck / hip stuff. When I trapped a nerve during pregnancy she did lots of lifting & very slight pressure on my legs until it sorted itself out.

But clearly Cote has NO idea what they actually do and is talking out of her arse

I've had cranial Osteopathy as an adult. It's very effective for fibromyalgia sufferers. I found it really helped. My osteopath did it within my appointment for my neck.

Didn't work for us. A lady came to the house, did a bit of laying on of hands, manipulating some minute energy fields she said. She expressed surprise that both babies let her "work" on their heads. I wasn't that surprised since I can also rest my hand on their noggins. Then I gave her 60 quid. May as well have just flung my wallet out the window for all the good it did. What a load of hooey. Had a friend waste 7 months of valuable time throwing money at one of those charlatans instead of taking her kid to physio for his neck problems. When she finally admitted that she should have sought proper medical help and took him to physio they said what would have taken them weeks to fix if she'd taken him in at the beginning was now going to take a year. Neither of my girls relaxed during their session. In fact, both cried all the way through. Not sure why I tried it. Maybe because it is fashionable! I think babies change their patterns of behaviour quite rapidly, so something which has resolved itself naturally could be attributed to Cranio.

Well, it cured my toddlers gastric reflux, after a whole year of misery, no sleep for either of us, horrible invasive tests for him, multiple medications, etc.

The (very highly skilled and experienced) cranial ostepathy made him better. He is 14 now and no obvious brain damage

Yep, we went to the Foundation for Paediatric Osteopathy, and they weren't limited to cranial osteopathy. They didn't offer advice on feeding or anything else though - the woman who treated DD came across as very professional and non-woo, which is why I liked her.

Minute energy fields?!? That sounds like bollocks to me. My friend made no mention of energy fields! Only the very long Latin names of all the bits she was working on. Mind you I suppose she could have been making it up

So it definitely seems from MN anecdotal evidence that not all osteopaths are the same.

I work at an Osteopaths and the parents always seem pleased with the results

It isn't bollocks but it has a bad rep as up until recently-ish it wasn't Regulated so any old bugger could say they were an osteopath and use that label to pedal their own nonsense.

DD had it as she was all stiff after a traumatic birth and it loosened up her neck and head so she is now able to move both ways and not just favour her right.

It's never heard any osteopath talk about energy fields - that reiki not osteopathy. Osteopathy is about seeking out tensions in the body and using small movements and adjustments so release that tension.

It worked for DD, she stopped crying with discomfort in the car.

If you do take your baby though, please make sure you go to a proper osteopath, who has been through years of training and is properly regulated, rather than a 'cranio-sacral therapist' or similar who may well be an untrained woo-merchant.