scoobypreza

Just wondering if by any chance anyone has been to see one or taken their child to a cranial osteopath?

Our doctor has recommended we take our baby to try one to see if it will help him with his gastric reflux problems and not sleeping for longer than 2hours!!

I was just wondering if anyone had found a cranial osteopath helped at all?

We are going tomorrow afternoon and I'm not quite sure what he will do to Adam?? I'm a bit nervous about it actually.

cath

ProperCharlie

Cath - we took our daughter to a cranial (she was born with forceps).

It seems to have helped - she no longer has colic, and is basically the smiliest, happiest, most adorable baby you could possibly imagine (biased, moi? ).

And she sleeps for 11 hours a night.

ProperCharlie

As for what they do, you would be forgiven for thinking you had just let go of £30 or thereabouts for nothing. They feel around the child's head and apply *very* light pressure here and there. It really doesn't look like much. We found Bea was quite sleepy afterwards. She has been back several times, but it defintely seems worth it.

scoobypreza

11 hours!!!! If i ever got any sleep I would dream about having 11 hours sleep!

That sounds fantastic!
Adam was pulled out with vountouse :insert ouch smily here: so it could be a factor.

What did the CO do though??? Was it just a laying of hands type thing or more like manipulation?

Did you have to go to lots of sessions?
Sorry this is like 20 questions! Just want to get a better idea of what they do from someone whos been through it.

Glad to hear your little one is doing well she sounds adorable.

cath

scoobypreza

You musthave read my mind
As I was typing more questions you were answering them!!!

Thanks PC

ProperCharlie

Yeah, the birth was a bit of a nightmare at the end - doctor tried to use ventouse, that didn't work (the midwife was telling the doctor that he was using the machine wrong) after a while they abandoned that plan and used forceps instead. She had colic and didn't sleep well for the first month or so, but she's settled down really well now.

ProperCharlie

Regacy

We took our eldest when he was 6 months, it was fine and he's been no trouble.
Don't know how much of a contributing factor this was but we'll be taking our next along in a couple of weeks.
R

messiah

How old are the babies we are talking about?

richiewong

Worked for my nephew, he used to go apesh*t if you touched his ears quick manipulation later and he's fine.
Can't help him being French though

ProperCharlie

Ours was only a few weeks old when we first took her to the osteo.

richiewong

Thats pretty amazing as the skull would still be very soft and not fused yet.

messiah

Our's is only 7 weeks old, he's fine most of the time but has days (like yesterday) when there's just no settling him down - Nappy OK, not hungry, no wind to come up, won't sleep - drives you mad, all he wants to do cry.

Girlfriend would think I was mad if I suggested taking him anywhere.

ProperCharlie

I agree but as I said before, the pressure applied to the skull is very light indeed. My sister had cranial osteopathy as an adult and said that the manipulation was so light she could barely feel it, but she was amazed at how much of an effect it had.

scoobypreza

0ur little one is five months but I've read that the earlier the babies have it the more effective it can be.

Thanks for the positive feedback guys. I'll let you know how we get on tomorrow.

PC can't see your pic

cath

David Lock

Good luck. DL

scoobypreza

Thanks David
Hope all is well with you and your family

scoobypreza

Thanks B2Z just the kind of thing I wanted to hear
I feel we are doing the right thing for sure now.

Hope W69 and bump are ok ... Been thinking about you Sending lovely nice labour vibes I know its not long now. So looking forward to hearing your good news.

jbryant

Hi Cath,

Seriously - Go for it. We had real problems with our first. He had a very long and protracted birth, and was finally dragged out by ventouse just as an emergency C-Section was being prepared. Poor blighter never really settled down, and over the next 4-5 months became a complete nightmare and very unhappy. He would not lie down on his back EVER without screaming, and would not sleep for >2 hours (though reflux was discounted). I didn't see my wife for months (I got in from work 5pm - she went to bed. We then swapped shifts from 1am-6am )

Eventually we got wind of cranial osteopathy (recommended after discussion with NCT advisors). Initial visit showed that his plates at the back of his head were 'staggered' and that the overlap somehow messed nerve endings affecting his seratonin levels (or somesuch medicalese). Basically this meant his day-night cycle was 6 hours, not 24. After the first session he slept for 10-11 hours when he'd not slept for more than 2 ever before!!!

After about 4 more sessions (fortnightly or so) he was diagnosed as being 'fixed' and now sleeps a normal cycle with long night sleep and a hour or two nap during the day

Edited to add - "What do they do" - Well it basically looks like a very gentle head massage - could hardly realise that she was doing it as she was chatting to us at the same time. Baby seemed totally unfazed by it. Then again, I'd go into a trance with a head massage too LOL

Best of luck with your littl'un
Julian

PS. Most annoying factor - one midwife during second birth says she strongly recommends cranial ostepathy as a matter of course to any parents who have just had newborn delivered via ventouse or forceps, as chances of issues such as this occuring seem to increase significantly. If someone had even mentioned this, it could have saved us 5 months of hell!!

scoobypreza

That sounds just like us.
He wont sleep on his back at all. When he does sleep its on his front.
My HV gave me such a lecture about letting him sleep on his front.
But I tried telling her that it was that or no sleep.
You know what she said.... "welcome to the real world"
!!!!! I nearly hit her... such a nice thing to say to a sensitive first time mum suffering from sleep deprivation.
I don't go and see her at all now she's so crap.

We spent the first couple of months holding him in our arms so he could get some sleep. He just didn't want to be put down at all. He just cried all the time.

If this works for us it looks like we have had a miserable 5months with no advice too.
ggrrrr
So glad things are better for you.

Thanks for sharing your experience with me

cath

weapon69

Cath-No more than 2hrs sleep at a time?? No thanks

Good luck taking Adam

jbryant

No problem Cath. Anything else you need, please just let me know - happy to share to help a fellow parent and child in need.

As for your views on HVs, let's just say useless and wholly unsympathetic. "oh they all do that" was the best one. Bullcrud. A couple have been very supportive so I don't want to diss the whole network, but it's so much easier to diagnose nothing wrong, KWIM...?

I really hope this treatment helps your little one as much as it did ours. Keep me posted...

Julian

scoobypreza

Well we survived!
The osteopath was such a lovely guy. Much younger than I expected.

He asked all about my pregnacy, the birth and how Adam is in general.
Then as said here he was very gentle and examined him all over.

He said that his neck was fused and that caused him to be quite stiff.
There was a lot of resistance when he tried to turn his head.

He said there was no wonder he couldn't sleep. He thought the position of the bones and nerves caused him to be on high alert all the time. His brain always active and not letting him relax.

Then he went on about the bones of the skull and a membrane .... he lost me a bit there but it sounded very convincing.

One thing I noticed was that Adams head was really warm and his hair was sweaty after the osteopath lifted his hands away. There must have been some major heat passing through his hands.

I'm seriously considering going there for myself. It seemed very relaxing.
I'm taking Adam back in two weeks. He was fully booked next week. Thats a good sign.

One thing though..... Adam was not sleepy at all after, some people report their babies sleep for hours after the session.... well not mine!!
I put him to bed as normal but he was awake after 1/2 hour. I think its teething though.

Oh and one more thing ....

He's six months old today!
and to celebrate he crawled right across our 20ft living room!!!!!!!!!!

The baby is mobile!! aarrgghhh No rest for me now!

Thanks again everyone

Cath

David Lock

Happy 1/2 Birthday. Glad it was a good start. And thanks my family are fine. D

scoobypreza

Thought I'd add my sig from a mum and baby forum I use...

So you can see whos causing all this!!!