A Holistic Approach to Wellness
Imagine being a first-time parent. Maybe you know this feeling already! You’ve spent 9 months carrying this baby in your womb (or supporting your partner during pregnancy). Delivery was a whirlwind of testing, stretching, and pushing you past what you ever thought you were capable of, ending in the most overwhelming joy you’ve ever experienced! You look at your baby and feel a kind of love you’ve never known.
A day or so later, you’re home and navigating how to feed, care for, and love this baby, and get a little sleep for yourself in between. But things aren’t quite like you imagined while pregnant. This baby you fell in love with won’t nurse. You’ve planned on breastfeeding and did all you could to prepare for success, but nothing prepared you for the screaming, the failure to latch, the cracked nipples, the engorgement, and the complete feeling of failure. How can I not feed this baby? Aren’t babies designed to nurse? Why can’t we figure this out? And on top of not nursing, baby is also not pooping. He strains and screams, but nothing comes out. He winces and pulls his legs to his chest until he can pass gas. He’s miserable. He screams and screams and screams. You bounce and sway and rock until your arms and back are on fire. Why won’t this baby just sleep? Why can’t he just be happy? All my friends have babies that are so content. You’re experiencing an exhaustion you never knew possible, and you’re losing hope. Postpartum depression is setting in.
Then, one day at a breastfeeding support group, another mom mentions trying a chiropractor. A chiropractor for babies? It’s not like he has back pain. What can a chiropractor do to help? The mom explains that her baby had the same issues, and a few visits to the chiropractor changed their lives. She tells you it’s extremely gentle and there was no twisting, cracking or popping. You decide to give it a try. On your first visit, the chiropractor examines your baby boy and finds spinal misalignments in his neck, jaw, cranial bones, mid back, and pelvis. She explains that the birth process can be very tough on babies as they are squeezed and pushed for hours and hours. And interventions like inductions, forceps, vacuum extraction, and C-sections can add to the stress on the baby. These forces can create misalignments in the spinal bones and cranium that negatively affect the nerves. These nerves control functions like sucking and swallowing, digestion, sleep and more. She gently uses her hands to guide the bones into normal alignment as your baby is held in your arms. She tells you it will probably take three weeks to fully correct these misalignments, but you should start seeing positive changes soon. Your baby sleeps for 4 hours straight after his first adjustment and wakes up to have the biggest blowout you’ve ever seen! For the first time, you have hope! After the next visit, breastfeeding starts getting a little better, and he has another blowout. After three weeks your baby is nursing, sleeping and pooping like a champ. He even gave you his first smile! This is what you had been imagining during your pregnancy!
Countless stories like these have happened in my office over nine years of practice. Chiropractic care is aimed at restoring proper nervous system function for optimal health, whether you’re 1 day old or 1 century old. Your nervous system consists of your brain, spinal cord, and the nerves that connect to every part of your body. These trillions of nerves control and coordinate every other system of your body. They are so important that the central nervous system is fully encased in bone for protection and support. Your skull and spinal bones are designed to keep your brain and spinal cord safe. Your brain tells your heart to beat, your lungs to breathe, and your stomach to digest. It tells your muscles to move, your eyes to blink, and interprets sound vibrations into words. Every moment of your day depends on a properly functioning nervous system. Spinal misalignments can interfere with the nervous system and decrease communication between the brain and the body. I commonly see colic, constipation, reflux, breastfeeding latch issues, sleep problems, ear infections, bedwetting, and behavioral issues caused by spinal misalignments in children. In adults, some of the most common issues are back pain, headaches, migraines, seizures, sinus issues, vertigo, frequent sicknesses, acid reflux, shoulder pain, constipation, irritable bowels, incontinence, low back pain, sciatica and more. Spinal health is a key component to your overall health. Getting checked and adjusted regularly by a wellness-based chiropractor can be one of the simplest and most effective ways for you and your family to experience your best health!
Submitted by Daryle Hightower, DC
Thrive Chiropractic