Is it Time
Your Baby Saw a Chiropractor?
The above headline comes from a
November 11, 2011 article in Essential Baby, an Australian
publication that claims it is, "the largest online parenting
community in Australia providing information and resources
for conception, pregnancy, birth, baby, toddler, kids,
parenting and women's lifestyle."
This article, written by Rebecca
Martin starts off with her recalling the birth of her baby
by saying, “After a long arduous labor requiring a
suction cap to help my large first-born out, among the
torrent of advice received was one unusual tidbit: ‘If he
gets colicky, try taking him to a baby chiropractor’.”
Initially, Rebecca thought this
advice was absurd, but when her colicky baby would not respond
to every other remedy she tried, she started asking about a
chiropractor for her baby. To her surprise she realized that
many people were using chiropractors for their children. She
reported, “Everyone, it seems, was doing it. All my more
experienced mum-friends had one they could recommend. The
child-health nurse, my GP and even the pediatrician who
treated my son’s severe reflux, gave them the thumbs up.”
The article notes that when
babies are adjusted there are no “bones cracked” as they
called it. Many adjustments involve finger pressure on areas
of the spine to have an effect on the nervous system. Dr
Simon Floreani of the Chiropractors Association of Australia
explained, “In the last decade there has been a lot more
instrumentation used in the birth process, so babies get
sprained and strained,” he says. “Chiropractic can help
reverse the structural or mechanical injury of birth, and
also help the nervous system to develop and construct
normally. In infants, the biggest part the nervous system
[affects] is sleeping, eating and pooing. Colic is a
digestive thing, so if we can help ease the movement of milk
through the bowel, we can help colic.”
The article also interviewed a
chiropractic detractor who questioned research about
chiropractic helping babies. To this Dr. Floreani responded
with, “It’s difficult to get permission to do studies or
trials on infants without getting caught up in a lot of
ethics and issues.” He noted that medicine has tried to take
the power away from mothers, and the best proof was that
mothers are willing to pay for the care themselves.
“Medicine can disempower you to say you know what’s right
for your child. The fact that parents are paying out of
their own pocket to [go to chiropractors] is more evidence
than the best trials in the world.”
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