Lily and The Chiropractor

Ok, so I mentioned yesterday, at the suggestion of the lactation consultant I decided to take Lily to see the special ‘child friendly’ chiropractor.

Today was the day - our first appointment.

Although apparently one of the best around I still managed to ask him at least 4 times whether he dealt with babies much (needless to say he has been ‘doing’ babies for well over 10 years – some as early as 2 hours old) - you can't be too careful!

Today’s session really was an assessment of her condition so to speak. The paperwork was interesting. They wanted to know what type of labour I had; whether she was chemically induced; was she posterior; were there any drugs involved; was there intervention (ie –c-section; forceps; ventose). Labour has a major impact on babies ‘alignment’. Apparently...

“Babies are a bundle of reflexes; these reflexes are controlled by the nervous system. Any compression to the nerves from birthing trauma, long difficult labour or cranial moulding problems can interfere in these nervous system reflexes. This may lead to problems with feeding, colic, restlessness, irritability, ear infections, colds and many other unnecessary symptoms.”

From his examination of Lily it was quite obvious to him that she had some nerve and reflex issues, particularly on the left side (hence the feeding issues on my right side). He noted that in all likelihood she was uncomfortable lying on that side (hence the squirming). There was a lot more said but I just can’t really remember what it was. Lets just say she has ‘issues’.

I will be honest; it wasn’t anything like I really expected i.e. there was no back cracking involved. He explained a few things to me; picked up Lily – talking baby gibberish like a pro – whilst carefully feeling her spine; taking note of reflexes and muscle tone. It was almost as if he wasn’t doing anything really – but he was.

Apparently infants do not carry any previous health complaints and therefore when seen early (apparently the earlier the better – like within hours of birth) their problems can be identified and corrected relatively easily. It won't happen over night; we do require some more sessions, but he did say that I should see some improvements with the feeding over the coming week and they will improve within a few more sessions.

I guess we will see...

On a side note, I mentioned my issues with the SPD and my back and of course he made sure I made an appointment for myself with Lily next week (WOW more $$$).

Before I sign off I also wanted to mention that I caught up with the lovely Kyles today (given I was over her way). It was a lovely fleeting visit and hopefully there will be many more to come!