How would you know that your two week-old infant has a headache? Probably the same way you would know that he or she is hungry. Or tired. Or has a wet diaper. Or is cold or hot. He or she would cry, the only way your infant has of letting you know that anything, anything at all, is wrong or hurts or is uncomfortable.
Many mothers learn to discriminate among their baby’s cries. They know when they are tired because they have a whiney cry and rub their eyes. They know when they are hungry because they cry the same way at regular intervals and suck on their fingers. They know that they are in pain because they scream and kick their feet or draw their legs up and punch the air with their fists.
But, if your infant is in pain, and your pediatrician can’t pinpoint a cause, a visit to a chiropractor may help soothe whatever ails your precious newborn.
You see, the birth process itself can be very traumatic to your baby’s fragile neck and spine. Imagine your baby forging his or her way down through the birth canal, under a great deal of pressure from the mother’s pushing, and perhaps the addition of delivery aids (i.e., forceps, vacuum extraction), and what do you see? A very compressed neck and spine! Given that visual picture, how could you think otherwise?
A compressed neck or spine can cause spinal misalignments that create all sorts of conditions – headaches, colic, ear infections, asthma and allergies, to name a few. While some of these can be detected during a visit to the pediatrician, others cannot. And… all of these conditions can be addressed by safe and gentle chiropractic care, the same care that helps with whatever ails you, rather than by medications that treat symptoms instead of causes!
Chiropractic care for infants? Yes, of course, and the earlier the better. The force that is exerted on your infant’s spine is as light as the touch you use to test the firmness of a tomato. But, that gentle touch can realign your infant’s spine and free his or her nervous system to function as it should, alleviating any cause of distress, such as headaches, and your concerns as well.