Osteopathic Treatment For Babies
What is Osteopathy for Babies?
Babies are known to develop some common health conditions as a result of their developing system. These baby ailments are sometimes hard to read due to the baby’s inability to communicate properly. A special form of osteopathy, paediatric osteopathy, is used to take care of these ailments in babies.
Paediatric osteopathy uses a very gentle approach to identify stress points and affected areas on the body of the baby. Through gentler therapy, which may include cranial osteopathy, the paediatric osteopath is able to restore the baby back to full health.
Our professionally-trained osteopaths go beyond the scope of paediatric osteopathy to make the session comfortable and fun for the babies. Treatment and care methods are very safe and effective too.
What Common Baby Ailments Can Be Treated Using Osteopathy?
Paediatric osteopathy treatments sometimes vary depending on the ailment. Here are some common baby ailments that can be treated using paediatric osteopathy:
Traumatic Birth
Traumatic birth is used to describe physical or mental injuries caused by the delivery of babies. This can be caused by prolonged labour or fast delivery. The wrong use of delivery tools or the baby coming out bottom first (leading to surgery) can also cause a traumatic birth.
An experienced paediatric osteopath can utilise cranial osteopathy to provide balance to the baby. This helps to ease all pressures and release stress from the baby.
Sleeping Disorder
A baby’s sleeping pattern begins to stabilise from the age of three. Before then, the baby’s sleep routine is mostly irregular. Signs of a sleeping disorder may include waking up several times at night, sleeping for only a short while, difficulty falling asleep, and crying a lot at night. When your baby presents two or more of these symptoms, the baby may have a sleeping disorder.
With paediatric osteopathy, the baby can develop a comfortable sleeping pattern. Cranial osteopathy is used to relieve the baby of stresses and keep him or her calm. Our paediatric osteopaths can also identify the cause of the sleeping disorder and offer appropriate advice.
Reflux
Baby reflux is a common condition that affects about 50% of infants in the first three months following childbirth. The reflux is a small portion of swallowed milk mixed with stomach acid, which gets trapped within the baby’s food pipe. Baby reflux causes significant discomfort for the baby and can lead to inflammation of the airways.
Common signs of baby reflux include splutter, vomiting, hiccups, a cough, and irritable cries. Paediatric osteopathy aids digestion and helps to clear the baby’s airways.
Constipation
When a baby is weaned off breast milk, the child can develop constipation. Baby formula is harder to digest than breast milk. Dehydration, due to changes in the feeding pattern, can also cause constipation in infants. Some signs of constipation include crying before or during poo time, and little eagerness to eat. Sometimes, the baby’s tummy will feel hard.
Paediatric osteopathy and gentle massage therapy on the tummy is very helpful in getting rid of constipation. Cranial osteopathy can also be included to relieve the baby from stress and keep it relaxed.
Colic
Baby colic (colon pain) is tension in the digestive systems due to birth conditions. This is mostly noticed in babies between 2 weeks to three months old. When the baby’s digestive system is not yet fully mature, digestion and egestion will be difficult too causing colon pain.
When the infant has a gassy tummy and cries more than three hours a day, the baby might have colic. Colic can also cause baby agitation and red face. Osteopathic care for baby colic is normally a gentle tummy massage carried out by an expert paediatric osteopath.
Chronic Ear Infections
Chronic ear infections are mostly seen in babies and young children. These are due to the underdeveloped middle ear and the body’s inability to properly drain fluids from the inner ear. When these fluids stay trapped in the inner ear for long, they lead to infections.
The infant may cry repeatedly while tugging at the ear. The baby may also develop a fever with fluid draining from the ear. Cranial osteopathy delivered by an expert paediatric osteopath will help the body drain the excess fluid.
Recurrent Respiratory Infections
Babies can easily catch chest infections such as cold and bronchiolitis in cold seasons. These normally wear off in about 7 days. In some cases, the chest infections can occur repeatedly with medication having little effect on them. This can be caused by certain restrictions within the lungs that prevent proper draining of fluids.
Soft and gentle massages towards the rib area can help clear the restrictions. This is carried out by a seasoned paediatric osteopath. The therapy improves circulation and restores the baby back to sound health.
Osteopathy Care for Expectant Mothers
In some special cases, paediatric osteopathy is used to offer holistic treatment to pregnant mothers. This is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the babies. Paediatric osteopathy is needed to provide balance and rest to the baby in the womb.
Deep tissue massage therapy and soft tissue mobilisation for the mother may also be necessary to relieve pain and muscle strain. Paediatric osteopaths can also treat acute headaches in expectant women.
Better Osteopathic Care for Your Baby
Paediatric osteopathy makes it possible to deliver better therapy treatment to babies. This requires skill, experience, and expert knowledge in dealing with infants. Our paediatric osteopaths possess these qualities and are always poised to utilise them for the care of your babies.
We recognise the need to make osteopathy sessions comfortable for your baby. We utilise a holistic and gentler approach to diagnose ailments and provide better care. Contact us today for a consultation with a senior paediatric osteopath and to commence therapy.