By Dr Jennifer Barham-Floreani
My number one tip or proactive step for raising the health status of your children is to FIND AN INSPIRING, RECOMMENDED WELLNESS CHIROPRACTOR and have your child’s nervous system regularly checked.
I’m a chiropractic baby and cannot emphasize enough how chiropractic adjustments with a wellness chiropractor are a parent’s secret weapon when desiring to raise strong, healthy children. If you have never seen a chiropractor or have any questions regarding safety and effectiveness please read my post on The Legitimacy of Chiropractic. Chiropractic for babies and children is evidenced to be gentle, safe and effective and in the spectrum of all health professionals – chiropractors have an extremely enviable safety record and more and more parents world-wide use their chiropractor as their trusted health resource.
While chiropractic may be able to help with a number of health issues, chiropractors do not treat colic or asthma for example — chiropractic adjustments free-up the nerve “communication channels” and the body is then better able to address and clear health challenges.
Unfortunately most of us do not realise that the way our children enter the world may have a direct effect on their health. Spine and nerve distress can at times arise from restricted or abnormal positioning in the uterus and also from the journey through the birth canal or potentially during the delivery process itself. In my book Well Adjusted Babies 2nd Edition I discuss that there are many factors that may cause birth trauma, including:
1 False labour
2 A long or very short labour
3 Poor positioning of the infant’s head and neck as they journey through the birth canal with a natural vaginal delivery
4 Failure of the mother’s cervix to dilate
5 The use of drugs to increase contraction intensity
6 The use of vacuum extraction or forceps
7 Caesarean section delivery because of lack of progress
8 Cord around the baby’s neck
9 Foetal distress.
10 An awkward position within the uterus prior to birth
Left unresolved, this spine and nerve dysfunction may place further stress on the communication systems of the body. Birth trauma has the capacity to affect a baby’s nervous system, which in turn (amongst other things) may then effect digestion and an infant’s capacity to breast feed or sleep well. The Journal of Neuroscience (2008) states that, although the first year of life may be a period of developmental vulnerability, it may also be a period in which therapeutic interventions would have the greatest positive effect.
Sometimes children have nerve and spinal distress that results in their head being tilted to one side so that one ear sits higher than the other (refer to picture below). At other times a child’s head may be rotated or turned more to one side, so that they display a preference for having their head turned this way.
A misshapen head is not merely a cosmetic issue; it is a brain stem issue. If your child’s head looks uneven or you notice flat areas, this can indicate restrictions between the skull and the soft layers that cover the brain and spinal cord. A healthy brain requires good movement of the skull and spine; when this movement is impaired, brain and nerve function are also impaired.
There is a myth that an odd-shaped child’s head is of no concern and will ‘right itself’ with time, however, anomalies of shape can be the first indication that your child is susceptible to developmental delay.
For older children, nerve interference may play out as developmental delays, digestion issues, asthma, behavioural problems, low energy, inability to concentrate, headaches, etc – the list is endless.
By the age of seven, a child is likely to have had hundreds of falls and while children seem to have a “bounce-back” resilience, left uncorrected the body tries to hide subtle damage that potentially leads to poor postural and neurological function. We need to keep in mind that each seemingly insignificant slip and fall our child has does ADD up, and that as the branch bends, so grows the tree. With a subluxated spine (where misaligned vertebrae may affect the function of the nervous system), our child’s “communication highway” no longer functions at 100%, potentially altering the way they are able to think, feel and behave.
I often explain to patients that having a subluxation is like driving a car with the hand brake on. You can certainly still drive the car but you don’t get anywhere — very effectively. And after a period of time, all sorts of engine issues arise. A chiropractor’s focus is to increase the neurological function of your child’s body by removing nerve interference which may be hindering nerve communication.
I encourage parents to have newborn babies checked by chiropractors very soon after birth and special techniques have been developed to carefully correct any subluxated areas of the spine. Many chiropractors have a special focus on family health and work with babies and young children. If you haven’t had your child checked by a chiropractor then find a recommended family wellness chiropractor in your area.
If you are already taking your child to a chiropractor but feel that they are not thriving in a manner that you hoped then consider if you are only seeing your chiropractor sporadically, — investments in health work best when they are made consistently and regularly. I believe that children do well to be checked each fortnight, your child may not need to be adjusted each time but a quick “check-up” is an important health ritual. Most chiropractors have fee systems that make regular care viable.
People see chiropractors regularly not because they are told too, people see chiropractors because they feel and experience how adjustments add vitality, immune strength and clarity back into their lives.
It’s like eating clean, healthy food — every cell in your body tells you, “this is a good thing.” Ask other parents who take their child to see a chiropractor about their experiences — worldwide, typically parents delight in the results they notice in their children.
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This blog is sponsored by Little Ninja & SPARTAFIT