Cranial Osteopath advice and reccomendations

[tiredbutlearning]

Hi there,

I am new to MN but have been using its wisely words for 10 weeks now. My DD is 10 weeks old and has a few niggles that are driving me potty.

She only sleeps on one side of her head - it is now noticeably flat

She cries all afternoon and cant be settled - i dont think its collic

She is very hard to wind and often brings a little up or chucks the whole feed out.

Apart from that she is the light of my life and makes me smile all day..

I have been told of cranial osteopathy but am not sure what it is or how to find a trusted one. We live in NW London but will travel.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to your answers....

this website has loads listed - we saw Timothy John who is based on Harley Street. He was brilliant. DS had been born four weeks early, had been hospitalised for hypothermia and then wasn't feeding very well. When we went to see Tim for the first time he was very unsettled on arrival but lay so still and relaxed during every session.
You would swear that you are paying for nothing as he appeared to just have his hands on him! We only saw him for 3 or 4 sessions then he said he didn't need to see him again (so he wasn't fleecing us - we would have happily paid for more session).

I took both of my subsequent children to an osteopath just as a matter of course - sadly we had left London then and saw someone else but I still rate him as the best! (Not far from John Lewis either so you can go for a coffee afterwards with your lovely relaxed baby )

Try the Children's Osteopathy Centre in Farringdon. 0207 490 5510. They are excellent and work on a pay-what-you-can basis. I took my DD at two weeks for colic and they were great. They also do a post-natal treatment for mothers. Hope that helps.

I just noticed that he does a clinic in Mill Hill also.

are you breastfeeding? a baby has a suckling instinct and part of this is designed to help the baby's head go to the correct shape after being squashed in the birth canal, if you are bottle feeding you need a teat that closely imitates the action of suckling a breast. can't remember the makes but i'm sure you could google this.

caranio oesteopathy will definately help,

if possible find someone who was a trained osteopath first who then did the cranio training rather than someone who just did cranio as a short course.

I've taken ds to a good one in Leeds - but you might not be willing to travel that far...

Wow - thank you for your answers!!
I will look up all listed so far...

I am breastfeeding 4 out of 6 feeds, I give a bottle for the last 2. I am using C&G comfort to help with her wind.

You have all put me at ease - cheers......

I can recommend Kristian Wood here, he's fantastic...

would you choose osteopathy over gadgets like pillows and special matteresses????

well you could trun the baby's head so that she doesn't always sleep on the same side but some baby's are reluctant about this.

She screams if I go past midway! I tried tha - at the moment we have her propped with a muslin so her head is vaguely central.

if i stand on her left side and talk to her, she moves her head to the middle and then gets so fustrated as she cant go any further. It seems like she is in pain????

well cranio is definately the thing.

Cranial sounds the way to go with that reaction.

DS2 was terrible - exactly the same problem. NEVER slept during the day. Screamed until falling to sleep exhausted at night, only ever slept with head to one side so head was going flat. GP and health visitor usless, they just said to move his head myself when he was asleep (yeah right, it stayed that way for all of 5 mins at a time, then he'd move it himself).

At around 9 weeks I took him to a cranial osteopath, and it honestly was like a miracle. Took him for 2 sessions (he probably needed more but v pricey so couldn't afford it at the time.) After the first session I thought "What have I done?!" as he cried even more the first night I was trying to get him to sleep. BUT, BUT, BUT, he slept ALL night, and when I went in to wake him up next morning (yes, me wake HIM up!), he was asleep with his head FACING TO THE OTHER SIDE!!! I couldn't believe it. His head is lovely and round now (he is 3), unlike DS1 who had a milder version of the same problem and still has a flat funny looking bit at the back age 6.

The colic/crying got a bit better, but then seemed to regress a bit back to where he was, which is why I think he probably needed a couple more sessions to keep everything in place. But something was definitely released/loosened in his neck or something, there is absolutely no doubt about that. It was worth it just for the better movement in his neck.

I'm in Liverpool so too far for you, but the clinic I rang recommended that we see someone who was specially trained in treating babies with cranial osteopathy. Apparently some are trained in the cranial osteo but don't have much experience dealing with little babies.

Oh, and take comfort in the thought that yes, these are difficult times, OP, with the daytime crying but give it a few more months and you'll be through it. It is exhausting and frustrating because you feel you can't get anyting done and you KNOW they are tired. But, like the books say, most babies do actually sleep peacefully at times during the day, they just weren't born with the type of problem that your and my baby had.

My sister, by the way, had a similar problem with her first. But her second was an absolute dream baby. She slept nearly all the time for the first couple of months (my sister couldn't believe her luck), and would just go from being held in someone's arms to drifting off into sound sleep (my two only did that for about 3 days after birth then all hell broke loose). She didn't appear to suffer from much wind or pain or anything, just was really happy, content and easy to look after.

So they do exist, these perfectly happy newborn babies! I never got one (probably would only have made me smug!), but they are both happy and content now and the light of my life, so hang on in there through these difficult times.

I have made up my mind now, we're booking my DD dylan in asap. than you for your answers and also for taking the time to write them.

fingers toes and eyes crossed.

I went to a brilliant one who has since left the country but she has recommended this one for me.

Ms Hedwig Verdonk (principal)
The Tufnell Park Osteopaths
8 Dalmeny Road
Basement Flat
Tufnell Park
London
N7 0HH
T: 020 7609 8973
F: 020 7609 8973

Opening hours
Mon 9:00am - 12:30am, Tues - Fri 8:00am - 7:45pm

brilliant......spoke with bupa, i have to get a referral letter from my doctor first.

Thank you. x