Anyone used Cranial Osteopathy to successfully treat colic?

[firststeps]

We are considering this for our 3 week old DS who is in agony all day and night with trapped wind. Whilst he will pass wind from both ends, his tummy seems to be in permanent agony, he cries with a high pitched scream and the pains seem to come in waves coinciding with him drawing his legs right up and writhing in agony. I have had him at A&E twice in the last 2 days, they have told us it is definitely colic but all we can do it is more or less "ride it out" until about the 12 week mark, but we are keen to explore other options and would really appreciate hearing about any success stories

yes worked like a dream. My dd is 4 months now and we had it done at 3 weeks I think it was 3 sessions in all. She just seemed to put her hands on her head to me it didnt look like she was doing anything but dd fell asleep whilst it was being done and woke up a different baby, relaxed and calm and havent looked back. I couldnt have coped if it had carried on as even though she was in pain I was beginning to resent it as I could do nothing to help. I would say at least 6 sessions though and its about 45 quid around here. I would highly recommend it and afterwards the health visitors said they often recommend it as well.

You poor things - you must be exhausted. I don't know about cranial osteopathy, but what worked for us was a colic massge shown to me by the baby massage instrutor, which we did three times a day. It really helped with the passage of wind and also calmed dd3 down ( and me) loads. Basically, you just move you hand in clockwise stores accross the tummy and then bring legs up to tummy ( at this point mine always passed wind!!), Your HV should be able to advise

reading your post it could have been me DEFINAYELY DEFINATELY do the cranial therapy -like another poster we had 3 sessions from 3 weeks and i also thought that he didn't seem to be doing anything [and me an holistic therapist] but it DID work we still got odd days but nothing like as bad as bfore also consider a babyswing with a multispeed setting cos when i got tired of rockinh my lo or just had to put him down it worked without fail i told my friend and she wished she had had one from birth it defo on my list for my next[planned] one good luck honey

yes, it was great

i mean our daughter was rigid and purple-faced and howling almost all the time until we tried it

thanks everyone - looks like it is definitely worth a go then we will try anything - it is awful seeing him in so much pain and not being able to help. Can any of you recommend a cranial osteopath in the North East or suggest a website I can use to find one?

Wd reccomend. Ours just like that, has helped, and he enjoys the sessions, but he's still colicy.

My DD2 had colicy type of problems and we got her to a CO very early and I swear one treatment and she was fine. We also used a homeopath to treat her and kept her at the CO every 6 months. She is really healthy and well.

Definately worth a try and they don't mind the treatment.

Good luck!

what do the sessions involve exactly?

Firststeps are you near Manchester? If so the Children's Osteopathic Centre is there and it's a charity (takes donations) and specialises in Children and babies.

Yes we used it too very successfully. We had a 4 week old screamer from 6pm to about 12 every evening, tried everything and eventually went to the osteopath. I wish we had gone earlier. Wouldn't hesitate next time and certainly wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

Go for it it is amazingly gentle & simple but worked a treat for us for a number of problems but mostly colic.

FWIW many CO's think ALL babies ought to have a brief "MOT" asap after birth especially very swift/prolonged/traumatic ones as they think it would prevent so much heartache & sleepless nights for the whole family with all the associated problems that brings.

Sorry firststeps re-read you last question. BAsically the CO will (should) take a detailed history from you about baby & your delivery. Then he/she will put baby on the couch with babes head cradle in his hands. You don't see a lot but he is gently probing & squeezing the skull & high neckbones to assess the podition etc. It is very gentle & non invasive & the babe often goes to sleep.

The CO should be able to tell you sttraight away what he thinks the porblem is & how many sessions you will need we only had 4 & saw an immediate improvement.

Good luck!

POSITION sorry!!

some info

We had 3 sessions, but only one of them seemed in any way fruitful. The CO suggested I feed DD while he was doing his work as the movement of her jaw while suckling helps "loosen things up", and also kept her quiet and still. But she was only interested in feeding in one of the sessions, the other 2 she was just howling and back arching and he couldn't really get much done. The one session where she did feed was amazing - she fell asleep feeding (something she very rarely does) while he was working on her head. This did mean that she pulled off the nip as she nodded off and I was left sitting there with a boob waving around and no hands free with which to pop it back in, which was a bit awkward, but tbh I was that desperate for her to be cured I'd have sat there starkers if it had helped
There did seem to be some improvement after that particular session, but about 10 days later she was back to her usual screamy self again, so it isn't necessarily a miracle cure.

thanks everyone for your messages - we went to the CO today, they think it is 50% colic and 50% trauma from a very quick assisted birth that has left our ds with trauma to his neck, causing his whole body to tense up with pain, and once they have fixed his neck his colic symptoms should ease at the very least because his whole body will be relaxed. The session itself was amazing - as soon as she put her hands on the back of his neck he immediately stopped crying. She said it should take 2 or 3 sessions to see a definite improvement so fingers crossed. Thaks again to everyone who posted their positive stories - it made me act much more quickly than I normally would have

When my daughter was a baby i used Dr Browns bottles and we used them for my niece and we never had trouble with colic with either of them...maybe trying them from now on would help out.

Fantastic news firststeps. COs are fab!

Erm yes Kez but maybe those babies just didn't have colic...

I did use Dr Browns and mine did....

it was only a suggestion from personal experience....not a guaranteed answer...thats why i put MAYBE trying them would help...i would like to hear other peoples opinions on dr browns though....

I found CO to be the only thing that made my dd sleep for more than an hour, I think we had 4 or 5 sessions. Apparently was to do with a really quick birth and them getting a surge of your adrelaline which causes there whole body to be tense. It is a miracle. Also I couldn't believe they could touch my baby and tell me exactly what probs I had had in pregnancy, what the birth had been like and what she was like now. Absolutley amazing, I know it is very expensive but any mother would pay her own blood for a quiet happy baby ( and some sleep). I am so pleased that you are having such a positive experience, do keep us updated.