Cranial osteopath for newborn

[lovefromplum]

Hi all, I wondered if anyone has had experience with taking their baby to a cranial osteopath? And how long before you saw results?

My little one is 6 weeks old and has started displaying colic symptoms in the evenings and has a preference for positioning his head a certain way.
He had a shoulder dystocia at birth and I can't help but feel all these things are connected.
Any shared experiences welcome ...

I think it's total bullshit. In desperation I tried it. The woman just held him in different positions. Then she did some nonsense "realignment" of me. She barely touched either of us.

Crock of shit.

I did it with my 2nd and honestly I don't think it massively did anything.

Mine went for poor latch as they didn't open their mouths wide enough, it helped after the first treatment and I think they only went twice each? I had rapid deliveries.

Friend took her c-section baby that just winged and cried 24/7 apart from when he sometimes slept. He was transformed after the 1st treatment and again only had a few more session. He'd been very squashed at an angle and the Drs had been concerned that he had a fused skull at first. Reckon must have had one hell of a headache!

I was so tempted because of a number of issues, but as pp have said, it is completely unevidenced. The practitioner will not be able to explain what it is they are trying to “align”. You could try your gp if you haven’t already. Huge sympathy for you - it is so hard and I know what it is like to want to try anything.

Yes, absolutely do it. There are people who expect it to magically fix everything that is challenging about having a baby, and it won’t. Having a baby is hard and sometimes what needs to be fixed is outside their remit (nutrition, digestive, parents who are struggling, whatever). But it can be really effective for some things like soft tissue issues or those related to malpositioning.

My youngest had torticollis (wry neck) and 3 visits and some exercises fixed it completely. My GP’s approach was, give it 6-9 months and if he needs a helmet for flat head, we’ll sort it then. I was much happier to pay privately to sort it out and prevent the problem.

I see an osteopath for back pain myself and it’s hugely beneficial. It’s the difference between barely being able to get out of bed and feeling perfectly fine again. I go once or twice a year for them to sort my dodgy pelvis.

www.babydoc.com.au/faq/colic-bore-your-baby-to-sleep/

Have a look at this before you decide. It explains 'colic' really well.

I would recommend a physio referral.

Ive been taking DD2 to an osteopath for the past 4 weeks - we have one more session planned. She was breech until the day before i went into labour and had a significant tongue tie so we had lots of feeding issues and she was displaying a side preference (i think maybe from being in an awkward position). She always comes out of the sessions totally chilled and so even if the medical evidence is weak, i do feel that it is benefitting her in the wider sense. You can always try one session and just dont go back if you think its a waste of money?

I tried cranial osteopathy for mine at a very young age too, in desperation, and despite several sessions it made no difference at all.
Osteopathy is certainly reported to make a real difference to some people. Cranial osteopathy is not general osteopathy, it's completely different.

This.

I did it in desperation with my son who had colic and rarely slept for anything over an hour.

The colic was colic - I just walked him in his sling for the hours he usually screamed - he liked the sling and someone told me it helped with the wind so he rarely cried in it. It was over at around 12 weeks.

The sleeping thing rectified itself when I realised that he hated sleeping on his back. He was over seven months old by this stage...

I took DS at 6 months cos he had a flat head on one side due to torticollis. He wouldn't do tummy time and his muscles were all still. He was fixed after one session but we decided to do two. Worked for us!

He did have a tongue tie snipped at 7 weeks but I'm not sure if cranial osteopathy would've helped him at that stage.

Did you ever go to an osteopath? My DD2 is almost 7 weeks and totally totally miserable unless she’s eating or sleeping, I’m debating if it’s worth a try for the money or not!

I took my son aged 7 weeks who cried all the time and I was sleep deprived and not thinking straight! The osteopath looked like she lightly touched him! Gave me advice about breastfeeding that was not asked for and frankly dangerous!! (Don't eat any carbs!!!!) and was really creepy!! The only strange thing was that that same day he slept for hours and actually gave me his first smile! 😃! Probably a coincidence as most babies smile at some point but I went back twice more 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️! I am a rational scientist and healthcare professional myself so I feel a bit of an idiot trying this non-evidence based treatment but I think they prey on these mums! Avoid!!!!!

Nothing to lose by giving it a go. I found it helped both my DC only needed a couple of sessions

Our youngest was to a chiropractor specializing in babies. It worked well.

Practitioners are not all the same. Find an amazing one. Ask around.

Dont bother it's hokum and not the same as broader osteopathy. If your baby has a muscular or 'tightness' issue like torticollis then go to a peadeatric physio.

If your baby is screaming all the time then assume allergy and cut out dairy and soya (if bf) or switch to a dairy free formula.

Osteo will help massively with head preference, straightening them out and making sure there are not stiff in any part of their body. I think they are worth their weight in gold. Osteo does the work for you, physio show you how to do it yourself and it takes longer!! Osteo every day over physio

for “colic” there is no quick fix, Osteo can help but ultimately that’s a job for your GP.
If the baby is windy, I do suggest learning baby massage techniques and doing them a few times a day to help relieve discomfort and wind

I think you're conflating osteopathy and cranial osteopathy. They're very different. The latter, which is offered most to babies (i.e. desperate mums) involves light touching of the head. It would do as much to help a baby's head preference as running a soft baby brush through their hair.

In that case, I recommend an Osteopath who work on babies.

I took my now 25 year old to the www.occ.uk.com/book-an-appointment/. He was a failed ventouse and forceps delivery and was clearly in pain and put on paracetamol at birth by the doctor. He then developed colic. After one session he was hugely improved and chilled, we had about 4 in total. They are a charity and don't charge but welcome a donation. We couldn't afford it at the time, what with train fares and everything else and there was no pressure to give anything.

They are still going strong! That's where we went with my 4month old.

I think it depends what you want it to fix. Mine were all assisted deliveries, basically pulled out and they ended up with weird head shapes and screamed a lot. I took them to my chiropractor, who had training with babies and also had trained in cranial osteopathy. Fixed the screaming in one session (one had their little back adjusted) and heads are normal shapes.

But to me it makes sense that being pulled out of a narrow space will hurt your back, neck and affect the shape of your head. I can't see how it will affect colic or tongue tie and I would be wary of anyone who offers anything as a cure all.

Both DS and DD have chiropractor/osteopath appointments and I've found it makes a big difference! I don't know if I still have DS's progress shots - I'll see if I can find them. He had a string of daily appointments to begin with because he had a very odd shaped head and it rounded out beautifully. You'd barely notice now and he's 6.

DD's been going since she was 6 weeks old (she's 17 months tomorrow) and her osteopath started on her head and diaphragm. He's also sorted her arm and leg as she learned to roll over really awkwardly and her foot turns outwards at the moment. I can't fault either of their treatments

I took my daughter after a very traumatic birth involving venthouse and forceps. She cried and cried and had some significant bruisjng. I have to say, I found the whole experience very weird but she did stop crying and she also had a lot of bruising come out around and inside her little ears overnight after the first session. I recall taking her for 3 and she was so sleepy and calm at each one. I can only liken it to reiki. This was 26 years ago!

13 years ago I repeated it with my second child who was also a screamer despite not having a traumatic birth. It did bugger all and he hated it. He screamed for nearly 3 years and turned out to be autistic. I don't think cranial osteopathy can help with that!