Osteopathy For Children

Osteopathy can be an extremely gentle, yet effective form of treatment for babies & children.

A lot people wonder how a baby can possibly have anything wrong with their bodies and think that treatment is surely unnecessary, but bear in mind that the birthing process can be quite forceful and traumatic.In a “normal” birth the baby’s head will change shape, the small bones of the skull will slightly overlap to allow movement through the birth canal, often resulting in a slightly misshapen head.

In the days following the birth the bones of the head are guided back to their correct position by a moulding process, which occurs as the baby suckles, cries and yawns. In some cases though the moulding process is incomplete.

If the birth process has been traumatic, ie too long, too short, breech, posterior, forceps or ventouse delivery or caesarian, excessive forces may have caused compression in the skull and prevent the moulding process to fully occur. In these babies there may be an asymmetrical head shape persisting longer than the normal 1-2 weeks, or a head shape that is symmetrical but “tight”, where you may feel raised ridges where the bones may still be slightly overlapped.

These babies are often tense through their whole bodies, cry a lot and clench their fists.It is common in babies where the moulding process has not been complete that symptoms develop such as feeding problems, excessive crying, irritability, sleep problems, and digestive problems such as colic, wind and reflux.

Cranial Osteopathy is an extremely gentle treatment that can be effective in releasing any tightness remaining in the head that has not been fully resolved by the natural moulding processes. Just as importantly, these compressive forces can also effect the shoulders and pelvis.

If one arm gets stuck during the delivery, this can cause strain through the arm into the shoulder, neck, head and spine. My treatments using Biodynamic Osteopathy (a form of cranial osteopathy) are appropriate for the whole body. It will help to restore health to any areas under strain, restore balance in the whole child and it aims to alleviate any symptoms causing discomfort.

Young children cannot easily communicate their pain, or dysfunction, and it requires a gentle, subtle approach to get long lasting, effective results.If you and/or your baby are looking for an Edinburgh Cranial Osteopath, give me a call today!