Cranial osteopathy - made baby worse before he gets better?

[ATruthUniversallyAcknowledged]

DS is 3 months old and screams like the world is ending for at least an hour every evening before bed (red faced, arms in the air, shaking, eyes screwed up - he looks absolutely furious or like he's in agony) We've tried everything we can think of ourselves (cuddles, lullabies, massage, bath, routines, different place to sleep, feeding, infacol, calpol, etc) and my GP couldn't find anything wrong so following advice on here and from my friends I took him to a cranial osteopath this morning.

She thought his tummy was fine (not colic) but could feel a lot of tension in his back and neck that she thought was due to a traumatic labour (induction, long labour, brow presentation, back to back, emergency ceasarian) and therefore did some massage/stretching/realignment as well as advising me about some holds I could do and suggesting tummy time. I was relieved to finally know what was wrong and hopeful that DS would become happier and calmer, however...

Since then he has been worse than ever. He was grouchy all afternoon, screamed before his afternoon nap and for longer than ever before bed tonight. He's never been a great sleeper, but usually sleeps for at least 2.5 hours when he first goes down for the night. Tonight he managed only 50 mins before screaming again. The poor thing looks completely baffled and absolutely distraught. It's awful seeing him like this.

I'm due to take him back in two weeks time but am so worried about him. Is there any chance he has been hurt more by the treatment or do things often get worse before they get better with cranial osteopathy?

Thank you!

I swear by cranial osteo. My ds1 had terrible reflux, and CO helped enormously. Plus he had a v traumatic birth and his head was a very weird shape as a result. CO sorted him out, but it did exhaust him. Ring the osteo tomorrow, and get advice from her. But don't worry, it won't have harmed him. And good luck.

I've never heard of anyone being worse before they get better, but treatment can be very tiring.

What you describe in the first paragraph sounds like he might be overtired anyway. Is he usually getting enough sleep in the day? Do you swaddle him?

I see an osteopath, not a cranial one.

After a visit I walk out, an hour later feel utterly drained, come home, feed the kids, wait for DP to get in from work and go to bed. Wake up the next day feeling brill. I think it's the toxins in my body being shaken up and told to get out. If I have slight cold going to see the Osteopath I have to tell her otherwise later that day I will have full-on flu like symptoms.

My youngest sees a cranial osteopath. He is 3 and been going for over a year. He is often drained that evening, over tired and either zonks out or has a disturbed night.

I would phone the osteopath tomorrow.

Thank you ladies. He had a restless night (but usually does!) but is now napping peacefully after little fuss. I'm going to see how he is today & call osteo either later today or tomorrow (not in a pfb 'what have you done to my child?' way but to see how I can help him & discuss if the next treatment needs to be sooner)

If it helps, our daughter became worse before she got better, and we were warned this could happen. We were told this was due to her being older when we had the treatment - she was 3 months by the time we found that this could help. It did. She slept, colic was reduced, and she was far less fractous.
...........she is now 12!

I took my daughter to 2 sessions then stopped. It was clear to me that she was in pain when the treatment was being done. At the first session the osteopath pointed out that her nose was a bit crooked and said that the treatment would help straighten it out. Now, I'm no expert but if someone is moving things around on my head to the extent that my nose actually changes its alignment then I figure it's going to hurt...

Thank you mycarscallednev - that's reassuring. LO is also three months and I'd been told that as he is a little older he would need a few treatments, but not that it would get worse first. How many treatments did DD need? How long did it take to work?

Like you Rockdoctor, our osteo paid close attention to LO's face and pointed out that one of his eyes is slightly smaller than the other. I'd noticed, but just assumed it was 'one of those things', not something that could be fixed or that suggested other problems. I have to admit that I find the whole thing fascinating (though I'm a little skeptical!) He was incredibly calm during the treatment though so I don't think it hurt at the time. I just wonder if it hurt later / wore him out.

Anyway, LO has been much calmer today so I'm holding off calling the osteo just yet. Wish me luck with the evening screams!!! DP is bathing him now and we're going to try to put him down much earlier than usual as Lynette suggested.

At my first appointment with 3 week old DS I was told that there were 2 possibilities:
1 - he'd be very calm after the appointment and probably sleep all day
2 - he'd be very agitated and scream and not sleep

I was lucky to get option 1! But I was warned about the opposite being possible