Osteopathy is a safe method of treatment for babies and children. During the general examination, the osteopath performs specific safety tests as needed to rule out issues and techniques.
The osteopath treats with gentle techniques. Double folding your baby or cracking vertebrae in your baby and children is absolutely not part of the osteopathic way of working.
Research in 2006 by Hayes and all. on the safety of osteopathy in treatment in infants and children shows that osteopathy is a safe method of treatment.
Reference: Hayes NM, Bezilla TA. Incidence of iatrogenesis associated with osteopathic manipulative treatment of pediatric patients. J Am Osteopath Assoc. 2006 Oct;106(10):605-8.
Children are in full movement and development, each child in his/her own way. Each stage of a child's development therefore requires a specific approach and each child has its own unique approach and treatment within osteopathy.
Babies and toddlers
The birth of a baby is a special event. At the same time, it is a stressful time for both mother and child. During childbirth, enormous forces act on the baby. The mobility of the body and the skull generally ensure that these forces can be absorbed well.
Sometimes childbirth does not go smoothly due to, for example, the absence of contractions, a non-optimal position of the head in the birth canal, a breech presentation, too fast delivery, a vacuum pump, a forceps delivery or cesarean section . These additional forces naturally also act on the baby. If these forces cannot be processed by the small baby's body, it can lead to various complaints or possibly interfere with the child's development in the future.
The osteopath will take the anamnesis (questioning) through the parents/caregivers: after all, an infant cannot verbalize his symptoms himself, but he will express it by crying a lot, restlessness, a lot of sucking, cramping and/or overstretching. By asking specific questions, the osteopath can explore this further.
Babies who cry for long periods of time, are easily stimulated, have sleep problems, have problems sucking or swallowing, suffer from intestinal cramps, spit excessively, have throat-nose and ear problems, babies who frequently overstretch, have a preferred posture or babies with a flattened skull are complaints for which an osteopath can often provide a solution.
The osteopath uses his hands to examine your baby's skull and body for possible tensions and blockages. Then these will be treated with gentle and safe techniques. The treatments are not painful for your baby.
The goal of treatment is to restore natural mobility in the body and optimize your baby's overall development.
The osteopath is specially trained to assess and treat complaints in young patients (from 2 weeks to young adult). In particular, it is examined whether all structures of the body are moving properly. This includes checking the mobility of the spine, pelvis, skull, muscles, joints and organs. When treating babies, gentle techniques are always used.
During treatment, children react differently. Some children cry during the treatment, while others fall asleep. As the tissues begin to relax, the stimuli to the brain start to change, to which the child responds.
Indications babies and toddlers
- Children with deformed skulls, flattening of the skull (phagiocephaly/brachycephaly).
- Asthma
- Allergies
- stomach / intestinal cramps
- Eczema
- behavioral problems
- Throat, nose and ear problems
- artificial delivery
- Prolonged crying, crying babies
- problems with sucking or swallowing
- reflux complaints, difficulty burping
- obstipation (constipation) or diarrhea
- unrest
- overstretch
- sleep problems
- preferred posture, skewed posture
- KISS syndrome
- sucking problems
- flatulence
I also have good contacts with baby consultant Amstelveen. Her name is Mariëtte Bosman and she is a specialized nurse. She has a lot of experience with babies and is trained to answer a variety of questions about babies. She can be reached at www.babyconsulentamstelveen.nl. She also works in hospital Amstelland and this also ensures that the lines are short to consult with, for example, a pediatrician.
I also work with lactation expert Nienke van den Ende. She works as a specialized nurse in OLVG West. You can reach her at www.nienkelactatiedeskundige.nl.