How my Chiropractor stopped the crying!! September 30, 2010

It turns out that Ayla is a completely different child to Erin. **surprise**

In her first couple of weeks she cried so much that Steven and I were at our wits ends.  I could tell the crying was not discontentment…it was pain, or discomfort, something was not quite right and I was desperate to help my little angel. I remembered hearing about Chiropractors helping others and decided to call up Dr Maryellen Stephens, who has an amazing reputation.  Chiropractors and cranial osteopaths often work on new babies just to get everything realligned that’s been disturbed perhaps in the womb or during the birthing process.

Dr Maryellen was so welcoming and friendly and was wonderful with Ayla.  She explained everything in detail and I’m hoping I’m recounting it correctly…

She pointed out that Ayla’s head was quite uneven.. the dent in the one side of her head was bigger than the other.  Perhaps from how she was lying in the womb, perhaps against my ribs or hip or something. How I understand it is that this restricted movement in her skull which is still quite flexible and the crying and lots of sucking is natures way of increasing pressure to try and get everything to move into it’s correct place.

She also screamed whenever we got her dressed and couldn’t lift one of her arms all the way up (which I also hadn’t noticed until she pointed it out). The chiro said that her sacrum(which is not fused at this age) was not quite doing what it was supposed to and between this and her head her spine was tethered, limiting her movement and affecting digestion, latching onto the breast, etc etc.

I had just presumed she probably had colic and I was going to have to live with a few hours of really distressing crying everyday until she grew out of it, but am so glad I gave the chiro a go.  She did a bit of very gentle work on her sacrum which immediately released her arm and leg so they could move as they were supposed to (no more crying when getting dressed!!!) and her head is almost even on both sides now.

From the first treatment Ayla’s crying reduced from an hour or two a day to an hour or two once a week or every two weeks.  Ayla is a completely different baby now…happy and content and only cries when she’s tired or hungry and her nappy is full. We haven’t had a crying session like we had before in about a month. She also feeds much better and is less gassy (her head would have affected her jaw and therefore her latch on my boob, etc).

So I am a totally blown away and a 100% convert to something I was originally slightly skeptical of.  I really want any parent who is desperate with a crying or colicky baby to at least know that Chiropractic is an option. No one really knows what colic is, and apparently chiropractic work nearly always at least reduces the crying.

I feel I owe our sanity to Dr Maryellen Stephens of  Westcountry Family Chiropractic!  http://www.family-chiro.co.uk/

Dr Maryellen Stephens is also available to answer questions on the Nature’s Mother forum, under “Ask the Chiropractor”. www.naturesmother.co.uk (Wonderful natural pregnancy products available here too!)

Other interesting articles about chiropractic and colic

http://www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/pediatrics/colic/babycry.html

http://icpa4kids.org/Chiropractic-Research/infantile-colic-treated-by-chiropractors-a-prospective-study-of-316-cases.html

My poor, tiny baby has thrush (Candida)… July 2, 2010

I realised about a week ago that our now 2 week old girl had thrush. Thrush is an overgrowth of the candida bacteria which lives in our gut and is very common in babies. Ayla had a white coating on her tongue, palate and the inside of her cheeks, which didn’t rub off when I tried to rub it (with a clean finger), and latching on for breastfeeding seemed to be painful for her.  She also got a couple of raised red spots down there on her bits and bum, which multiplied and got really red and angry looking within a day or two .  I mentioned it to the midwife who I saw on Monday who immediately recommended Canesten cream for the rash and nystatin drops to put in her mouth. When I asked if there was anything natural I could do she said no.  Being a nature mama, I really don’t want to put real life drugs into and onto my teeny baby unless there is absolutely no other option. I also, obviously, don’t want my beautiful Ayla to suffer…

So I popped into two different health food stores, spoke to friends and called my Naturopath to ask advice.  The consensus was that I should take loads of Acidophillus(friendly bacteria), as it would go through my milk, and also cut out yeast, sugar, mushrooms and anything that feeds thrush. I also got a pro-biotic(friendly bacteria) in powder form which I am putting on my nipples before each feed for Ayla to suck off and mixing with Calendula cream for Ayla’s bottom rash.  I must tell you that in the 2 days I’ve been doing this the signs of thrush have completely vanished from Ayla’s tongue and palate and there is just a bit left on the inside of her cheeks and her gums.  Her bum is still looking red and sore (although it doesn’t seem to be bothering her) but the sores seem to be drying out and I am just hoping that the acidophillus is working it’s way through her gut and that this will be over soon.  I am glad I didn’t just reach for the drugs though, as I am amazed at how fast the acidophillus and me cutting out sugar, yeast, etc has worked.  We’re also all sticking to our own towels and I’m making sure I’m washing my nipples after each feed and washing my bras in a hot wash.

Ayla is very lovely, and quite different to how I remember Erin to be, both in looks and in nature…though you can’t tell a lot about her nature yet.  She also seems to smile a lot as Erin did  (just wind, they say, but she does look us in the eyes and smile).  She seems to be more fragile than Erin was, although maybe I’ve just forgotten how completely dependent  and helpless newborns are.  She also cries a lot more which I find quite upsetting although I’m sure it’d be much more distressing if she was my firstborn! She also doesn’t latch on and feed quite as easily as Erin did, but I am hoping that this and the crying is due to the thrush and will pass soon. (she also seems to prefer my right boob to my left…) She is an absolute little miracle and we are so enjoying falling more and more in love with her everyday.

I will say that life with two children is busy, but exciting. I have to remind myself that it’s ok to just veg in the garden and hold baby while Erin runs around, and not try to do a million other things too.  I am very thankful that we share the cooking of meals with Andrew and Julie. That means I only have to think of and make one meal per week, and I make loads so there’s leftovers for other meals.  Quick meals are a must for other times – beans on toast, veggie burgers and salad, leftovers!

Next blog will be about how it’s going with breastfeeding my toddler and baby at the same time…watch this space…

Don’t forget to enter the Nature’s Mother Competition with your bump photos!!!