Small Business Feature
Newborn Chiropractic Care in Cedar Falls at Wayson Family Chiropractic
When I was pregnant with the baby we miscarried (my second pregnancy), I experienced the most excruciating pain I’ve ever felt in my life second to giving birth.
I’ll never forget it.
I was walking out to my car and holding Mary Grace. She must have been about 14 months old. I reached into our Subaru and all of a sudden, it happened.
I threw out my back. I made the 30 minute drive home in pain, and was barely able to lift Mary Grace out of her seat and up the two steps to our front door. Those two steps were the most painful I’ve ever taken. From there, I was helpless.
I couldn’t lift Mary Grace, who by now needed a nap. I could bare move.
Joe was at work. So, naturally I turned to my phone and called our neighbor down the street who I barely knew but knew that she stayed at home. Thank God she wasn’t tied up. She came over and played with Mary Grace, while I sat in pain for the next three hours waiting for Joe to come home.
Another friend came over the next day – for 8 STRAIGHT HOURS. I couldn’t lift Mary Grace into/out of her crib or highchair so someone had to help. If you’ve never thrown your back out, be thankful. Because it truly brought me to my knees. To add to it, it was a couple days later that we found out that I’d miscarried.
What does this have to do with chiropractic care?
It was during this experience that I learned the power of chiropractic care and would come to rely on it for the next – wait for it – 4 more times that I threw out my back. This, was how I found Dr. Sara Cahill.
Except, this post isn’t about prenatal chiropractic care, although Dr. Sara did help me during my last pregnancy when I threw out my back yet again. This post is about newborn chiropractic care.
From time to time, I like to feature local Cedar Falls businesses that I have come to trust and love. Dr. Sara Cahill has cared for me, for my husband with his hip problems from cycling, for our girls, and for our newborn, Caroline.
When we brought her home from the hospital, she had a terrible latch while breastfeeding. It was so shallow and it left me in terrible pain with a cracked nipple and all.
A Lactation Consultant friend of mine had recommended chiropractic care.
She said that babies born sunny side up can sometimes have restrictions in their jaws which prevent them from opening their mouths. Enter Dr. Sara to the rescue yet again! After just a couple adjustments, Caroline was nursing like a pro and my nipples were feeling much better!
I asked Dr. Sara if she’d share with you some details about their practice at Wayson Family Chiropractic and their experience with newborns. Here’s what she had to say.
“What does a baby see a chiropractor for?”
This question is asked multiple times a week in our office and I absolutely love it. Most people come to our office looking for pain relief of some kind, so it’s understandable that they would be confused about a baby needing to be adjusted. After all, they’re brand new! What could be wrong with them?
I usually start off by saying what things I take care of most in babies: gas/poor digestion, constipation, difficulty burping, sleep disturbances, latching issues, excessive spitting up, colic, and even failure to thrive. This tends to breed more confusion. How does chiropractic help with all of that? To answer, we need a little science lesson and I promise to keep it as lively as possible.
The master control system of the entire body is the nervous system which is made up of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves that branch off the cord and go out into the entire body. The spine’s job is to protect these vulnerable structures so the nerves are able to relay messages back and forth from the brain to coordinate every function the body has. When there is a misalignment of the spine, the resulting inflammation can stress the nerves that are nearby and decrease the communication along those nerves. A Harvard study was done that showed the weight of a dime on a nerve is all it takes to decrease its ability to transmit its signals by 60%. Can you imagine if only 40% of the letters you typed in your work emails got through to the recipient? It would certainly make communication a lot more difficult and make any job harder to accomplish.
The goal of chiropractic is to find any areas along the spine that are causing stress to the nervous system so they can be fixed and relieve that stress so the body can go back to functioning normally. The best part is there are no side effects and nothing new is added into the body. Your body knows what to do—we just need to turn it back on!
As for how misalignments even occur in newborns, the birthing process is a big feat for all involved. In a natural, unassisted birth, the average pressure on an infant’s head during delivery is up to 150 Newtons (nearly 34 pounds of force)—that’s a lot of pressure on a little one’s spine! There’s a saying in chiropractic: “The best time to get your first adjustment is at birth. The second best time is now”!
In our office, we use the Gonstead method of chiropractic. This technique uses several tools to really pinpoint where the problem is and only adjust the problematic areas. It’s the Gold Standard of hands on adjusting and allows us to cater to each individual patient. Gonstead can be modified to all individuals and is absolutely safe for newborns. An adjustment for an infant looks different from an adjustment for a bodybuilder! We see new babies in our office every week and the youngest baby we’ve had in the office was 36 hours old! Dr Blake and Dr Thad who also practice at Wayson Family Chiropractic were fortunate to be able to adjust their own children at birth as well. It’s our tried and true method for taking care of the Cedar Valley and really sets us apart in the community. It’s been our pleasure to serve the wonderful people in this area for the last 15 years and will continue to take care of the entire family’s spines!”
For more information about Wayson Family Chiropractic, please check them out here.
Comments