Cranial Osteopathy for babies

[Jackie994]

Has anyone any experience with the above?
did it help? Did it not?
Baby has become really unsettled, presumed reflux but doctors aren’t the most supportive

Would you mind saying who that was@Dora26? I'd like to give it a try maybe.

Hmm if he's crying when you put him down he could literally just be feeling touch-needy. Babies are mammals, and we are carry mammals, they need to be held and feel secure to know they've not been abandoned. You know the theory that babies who contact nap in the day are more likely to sleep longer through the night?

Have you tried boobing him to sleep? I put a muslin cloth under my baby so that when he's properly sleep I use it to swaddle his arms and then transfer him to his crib and then unwrap him so that we don't get the startle reflex waking him up. Might be worth a go?

You have all my sympathies, it all sounds so tough (and I am in the trenches of a sleep regression myself).

5 months is a really tough time. They’re really waking up to the world and it is pretty intense. Plus sleep regressions happen around now.

Cranial osteopathy is generally for babies that had a tough birth and have painful muscles/tightening a few weeks after. I’m not sure it would do much now, but if you have the money to throw at it it might be worth a shot.

Dd was a terrible sleeper around this age, this that really helped: really strict with nap/awake/bedtime schedule, loud white noise playing during sleep times, bf to sleep, co-sleeping (I know this isn’t for everyone but this is what worked the absolute best for us).

Everything is a phase at this age, and sleep isn’t linear. They go through bad patches and then sleep brilliantly and go back to the beginning again. Total pain in the bum when you’re absolutely shattered I know! But it will get better.

Oh also baby in a sling for naps? Dd liked to be as close to me as humanely possible and this really helped.

I found 5 months the hardest point with all three of my children. They are on the cusp of so many things but can do none of them yet and they seem so frustrated and grumpy. Dramatic sleep changes or regressions are also common and, however hard it seems, are always a phase. My eldest didn’t nap well without contact until around 6 months. She did everything in the baby carrier. As others have said, my understanding of cranial osteopathy is that it tends to be used for babies in their v early months. I wasn’t 100% convinced and didn’t see a miracle difference, but I used it with my third as his jaw was very tight and was making his latch so painful when feeding so it was recommended to me. His jaw did ease but even the osteopath said that it might have done so over the early weeks anyway. My friend swears by it though and took her boys to them at multiple points throughout their early years. Good luck either way, 5 months is a tough stage.

I saw a Cranio-Osteopath on the advice of a lactation consultant due to continued breast feeding difficulties, including my baby always being unsettled and having reflux.

I was so sceptical but she was AMAZING. All osteopaths who perform cranio-osteopathy on infants have to do extra training on top of their osteopathy qualification.

He was born via emergency c-section and she said babies born via that method are her biggest client group, followed by babies who had assisted deliveries. She said those two forms of birth can cause damage to a babies joints/muscles around the baby’s head and jaw which can cause the behaviours/upset in infants that have been discussed on this thread.

After 3 sessions my son was a completely different baby!

I always recommend it to mothers who are in similar situations to what I had been in.

Yes.

We saw a cranial osteopath on the recommendation of our HV when my DD2 was a baby. She was so colicky, unsettled, wouldn’t feed, never slept, etc.

I went into it totally sceptical, thought it was a load of woo, couldn’t see how it could possibly work but thought I’d give it a go.

There was a marked difference after the 1st appointment and a totally different baby by 3rd

How do you find one? (If not recommend a specific one).

Is there a register of qualified practitioners for example?

I googled to find a nearby one and then I delved into her credentials and customer feedback.

My baby had bad colic age 4 to 11 weeks. Like, severe 12+ hours a day non stop inconsolable screaming colic. The kind where you're losing your mind. GP and HV didn't care, gave me a number to call if I thought I was at risk of murdering her (not kidding,this was a low). We saw an osteo twice. It calmed baby down permanently both times and the colic stopped totally like an off switch a week after the second. But that could be a coincidence, I had colic as a baby and I've been told it stopped very abruptly at 12 weeks. This isn't the same as reflux, my baby continued to have reflux to 12 months but wasn't anywhere near as miserable with it. I don't generally believe in alternative medicine and I'm still not sure about the cranial osteopathy but if I had another colic baby I'd book myself in without any hesitation if I had the money.

FYI cranial osteopathy was not what I expected. The osteopath doesn't seem to be doing anything. The second session I asked if the first session had just been a long consultation because I couldn't what she'd done. No, I was told, the treatment is very subtle. It looked like a mix of cuddling, rocking, rubbing back. Kind of a stranger just cuddling your baby a lot. It's comforting in a way because it's not dangerous looking, there's no bone crunching action going on. It makes the fact that it worked more mysterious to me.

incidentally if you have a baby with colic you never hear the end of suggestions about reflux, CMPA, wind, burping, gaviscon, Omeprazol, trying formula. I know people are trying to help but none of these things ever helped us and I didn't love constantly being told that I should be fixing my baby. Newborn colic is a shit thing and often there's no known cause. Sometimes the only thing that helps is the grandparents taking baby out on long screamy walks in the pram. I know your baby is a little older but some people might be reading this for colic advice.

We did this for our first born as it was recommended by a friend who had used it for her son.
Massive con. Did nothing. Waste of time and money.

FYI cranial osteopathy was not what I expected. The osteopath doesn't seem to be doing anything. The second session I asked if the first session had just been a long consultation because I couldn't what she'd done. No, I was told, the treatment is very subtle. It looked like a mix of cuddling, rocking, rubbing back. Kind of a stranger just cuddling your baby a lot. It's comforting in a way because it's not dangerous looking, there's no bone crunching action going on. It makes the fact that it worked more mysterious to me

This is why I was so sceptical!

I was watching her do the assessment whilst my baby was lying down and she was barely touching him. She was waving her hands over him and touching certain parts of his body but the pressure was barely noticeable. She stroked his
neck a little, touched the back of his head and gently moved his head from side to side but it was so ethereal and almost impossible to see - it was so strange to watch. I was sitting there thinking, “WTF is going on?!” 😂

She was talking to my baby in really hushed terms and he genuinely seemed to be in a trance, he lay there for about 20-30 minutes, not taking his eyes off her and not moving a muscle.

She asked if I wanted a demonstration of how firmly she was touching him and when I said yes she put the tip of one of her fingers on my thigh and pressed down so gently I could barely register it.

The whole thing was strange but amazing.

I've used it twice. They are miracle workers IF what is causing your baby's issue is caused by a mechanical body issue - tightening/misalignment etc. however if your babies fussiness is something else - allergy, tongue tie, just wants to be held then you won't see an improvement. But it is super gentle and if you can afford it it's worth a try.

I also agree with other posters. 5 months is tough. My son was just super frustrated the entire time that he couldn't physically do what he wanted to do!

We went to one session as our DC was colicky/silent reflux and I was desperate. He was quite relaxed during it until the end - he then went super upset and took forever to settle. It was pretty bad so we didn't go back again.

My DS1 had about 4 or 5 sessions 15 years ago when he cried 6 hours every day non stop, always slept facing one way and born via ventouse. Constantly sicking up as well.

Wasnt obvious what the osteopath was doing but DS instantly relaxed, fell asleep and farted. I hadn’t seen anything like it and he slept for a long time after the first session. Whether it was just age or it was the osteopathy, but he definitely improved over the few weeks he had treatment.