Why chiropractic could be the solution for your crying baby

For many people having a baby is one of the happiest times of their lives. But what if you have a baby that doesn’t stop crying no matter what you do? Very quickly it can become one of the hardest times of your life. A crying baby disrupts the whole family. New mothers often feel helpless because they don’t know what to do about the problem, and GPs and pediatricians don’t always have an answer either. However, the mother always knows something just isn’t right.

The only way a baby has of letting you know something is wrong is by crying. Parents usually learn to discriminate between cries to know what is going on when. Obviously if your baby cries a lot without a good reason and is inconsolable, there is a problem. Persistent crying is often diagnosed as colic, and the official definition is that the crying happens more than 3 hours a day, 3 days a week, for more than 3 weeks. As a parent this doesn’t help you much though – if your baby cries more than 2 hours a day for no apparent reason, something needs to happen.

Chiropractors can often help babies with unexplained, excessive crying. Although the diagnosis of colic implies a gastro-intestinal problem, this usually isn’t the case. However, because of this diagnosis a lot of people with crying babies don’t even think about taking their baby to a chiropractor. Chiropractors specialize in detecting and correcting spinal joints that aren’t functioning properly. In newborns spinal problems can be the cause of excessive crying.

But why would something be wrong with a baby’s spinal joints? The answer is: birth. The birth process can be traumatic to a baby’s spine, especially the neck. During a natural birth the baby is under pressure from contractions and the mother’s pushing. This pressure increases if it’s a very fast or slow birth, and when the birthing position is less than ideal. The most natural way to give birth is to squat, but a lot of women give birth lying down. This decreases the pelvic opening and increases the pressure on the baby’s neck. Interventions like a C-section, or a forceps or vacuum-assisted delivery further increases the forces on the spine.

These forces can cause spinal misalignments that interfere with the baby’s nervous system function. Spinal misalignments can result in pain and can be the reason for excessively crying babies. GPs and pediatricians don’t usually check a crying baby’s spine for misalignments, and spinal problems can go unnoticed. Chiropractic care for babies is very gentle and safe, and it’s a good option if your GP or pediatrician can’t find a cause for your baby’s crying.

It’s normal for parents to be a bit hesitant about taking their crying baby to a chiropractor. Most people only know the chiropractor as someone who ‘cracks backs’. Rest assured that that’s absolutely not the case! Chiropractic care for babies is very gentle. The amount of pressure that is used on a baby’s spine is equivalent to the pressure you could comfortably put on your eyeball, or the pressure you use to check if a tomato is ripe. Most crying babies enjoy their chiropractic treatment, and if they do happen to cry this is usually because of fear of something new happening or a stranger touching them, not because of pain.

If you’re concerned about your crying baby schedule an appointment for an examination today. Chiropractic care might be able to help your baby be a lot happier!