Cranial osteopathy for my 5 month old- am I crazy?

[2childrenandout]

My DS (2nd child) has been very difficult from birth. He suffered with with terrible wind, hardly fed and if he did he screamed throughout. Poor sleeper too. Recently was diagnosed with a tongue tie and had it snipped. We're still having problems although he is taking more milk. Sleep is absolutely horrendous. Now we're struggling to get through each day entertaining a 2 year old and him. I'm at the end of my tether and am now am considering visiting a CO. Am I crazy and will it be a waste of money?

They’re a bunch of unqualified, evidence-less quacks.

Don’t waste your money.

I think like many unregulated therapies cranial osteopathy is open to fraudster levels of incompetence. That said I have used a brilliant one locally for both myself and my daughter and found him to be worth every penny and more. If you can find a practitioner with a solid reputation and ideally get first hand word of mouth recommendation it has to be worth a try, even a faker will do no harm given the method of treatment

Here’s a good study:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/27936211/

Reliability of Diagnosis and Clinical Efficacy of Cranial Osteopathy: A Systematic Review.
Review article
Guillaud A, et al. PLoS One. 2016.
Show full citation
Abstract
CONTEXT: In 2010, the World Health Organization released benchmarks for training in osteopathy in which they considered cranial osteopathy as an important osteopathic skill. However, the evidence supporting the reliability of diagnosis and the efficacy of treatment in this field appears scientifically weak and inconsistent.

OBJECTIVES: To identify and critically evaluate the scientific literature dealing with the reliability of diagnosis and the clinical efficacy of techniques and therapeutic strategies used in cranial osteopathy.

METHODS: Relevant keywords were used to search the electronic databases MEDLINE, PEDro, OSTMED.DR, Cochrane Library, and in Google Scholar, Journal of American Osteopathy Association and International Journal of Osteopathic Medicine websites. Searches were conducted up to end June 2016 with no date restriction as to when the studies were completed. As a complementary approach we explored the bibliography of included articles and consulted available previous reviews dealing with this topic.

STUDY SELECTION: Regarding diagnostic processes in cranial osteopathy, we analyzed studies that compared the results obtained by at least two examiners or by the same examiner on at least two occasions. For efficacy studies, only randomized-controlled-trials or crossover-studies were eligible. We excluded articles that were not in English or French, and for which the full-text version was not openly available. We also excluded studies with unsuitable study design, in which there was no clear indication of the use of techniques or therapeutic strategies concerning the cranial field, looked at combined treatments, used a non-human examiner and subjects or used healthy subjects for efficacy studies. There was no restriction regarding the type of disease.

SEARCH RESULTS: In our electronic search we found 1280 references concerning reliability of diagnosis studies plus four references via our complementary strategy. Based on the title 18 articles were selected for analysis. Nine were retained after applying our exclusion criteria. Regarding efficacy, we extracted 556 references from the databases plus 14 references through our complementary strategy. Based on the title 46 articles were selected. Thirty two articles were not retained on the grounds of our exclusion criteria.

DATA EXTRACTION AND ANALYSIS: Risk of bias in reliability studies was assessed using a modified version of the quality appraisal tool for studies of diagnostic reliability. The methodological quality of the efficacy studies was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Two screeners conducted these analyses.

RESULTS: For reliability studies, our analysis leads us to conclude that the diagnostic procedures used in cranial osteopathy are unreliable in many ways. For efficacy studies, the Cochrane risk of bias tool we used shows that 2 studies had a high risk of bias, 9 were rated as having major doubt regarding risk of bias and 3 had a low risk of bias. In the 3 studies with a low risk of bias alternative interpretations of the results, such as a non-specific effect of treatment, were not considered.

CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate, consistently with those of previous reviews, that methodologically strong evidence on the reliability of diagnostic procedures and the efficacy of techniques and therapeutic strategies in cranial osteopathy is almost non-existent.

PMID 27936211 [Indexed for MEDLINE] PMCID PMC5147986

We tried it because, like others have said, you’ll almost try anything when you’re desperate! From memory I think the midwife may have mentioned it too...

We had one session and the CO said that he was very well balanced and there was nothing he could do to help with his symptoms. I was quite pleased with this as he could easily have said come back again etc.

DS was a very vommity baby and incredibly cranky at night but it did get better on it’s own luckily with time.

My sister’s newborn has brought it all back to me. She’s cutting out dairy from her diet and seems to be having some success.

Good luck and no harm done (apart from to your wallet!) if you find someone you’re confident is qualified!

I have actually had this.

Do not waste your money would be my advice.

Expensive, I had a number of sessions with absolutely 0 difference

A family member had this done as a baby and he went from screaming constantly to normal after the adjustment.

Another one saying no evidence for it at all. Perhaps placebo effect from being seen by someone who has the time to listen to your concerns.
I had a similar rotten time with my first (that’s why there is a five year gap!) Have you had a look at the Crysis website they have some good information on there

I have friends who swore by it back when we were in the young kid years, but I agree that it's a placebo solution borne of desperation.

Thanks for the messages, it's really interesting to hear everyone's opinions. Definitelya devisive topic!

@PainUni DS is bottle fed (long story with mess up of weight at birth, then 'massive' weight loss in first 3 days, admitted to hospital and scared me to death he needed formula to top him up). We tried colief for 5 weeks- no difference. Then docs prescribed Aptimal Pepti as she thought he might have CMA. We tried that for 4 weeks- no difference.

We went to docs today. Normally I'm quite a quiet type. But today I practically forced the GP to give me ranitidine when she first told me 'we're already doing everything we can' bloody rubbish!

We'll see how it goes. I'm sceptical about CO and married to a scientist, who in normal circumstances would 100% say it's a load of BS. But we're that sleep deprived and sad that the first 5 months of DS' life has been that rubbish, we'd try anything to hold on to a bit of hope that things will improve.

Different situation but here's my positive experience with CO. My boy was 5 when diagnosed with glue ear and booked in for an operation to insert grommets. The week before the op a friend suggested I try CO for him. I only took him for a treatment out of respect for my friends suggestion and so that I could say I'd at least tried it. Didn't really know what it was and had zero expectation that it'd do any good. I actually presumed it was a just a quack treatment. An hour after getting home I realised my boy could hear everything I was saying from the next room, which he'd not been able to do for months. We soon realised his hearing was back and cancelled the op. His hearing remained good and I'm a CO convert. If you can afford to try it, you have nothing much to lose and it really might work.

hi, my osteopath said:

"There's no such thing as being a cranial osteopath. If you aren't an osteopath, you can't be a cranial osteopath. I thought that the idea of cranial osteopathy on newborns was a load of rubbish so I went on a training course thinking I'd prove myself right. I was hugely impressed and now see it as an important branch of osteopathy. I would not want someone who had only studied cranial manipulation to treat a baby - it should be a real osteopath (osteopath is a protected term, like doctor and solicitor)"

good luck

In your circs I would give anything a go. What if it is the answer but you don't try?

Osteopathy can be the very best treatment out there for many aches and pains. Make sure you identify a reputable practitioner who is trained and experienced in cranial osteopathy for newborns.

I think proper osteopaths have in-depth training sufficient to know if something is not an osteopathic issue but requires referral back to a doctor (as in doctor of medicine). They call it being "clear to treat".

My osteopath's concern with "just cranial" practitioners is that they aren't really qualified to assess? (he also thinks they'll do a poor job but that, I suppose, matters less than the safety element)