Infants

You may also be interested in...

Birth is not an easy process, vaginal or caesarean. As mammals, we produce an infant with a larger head relative to the size of the mother than any other mammal. In order for the baby to come out smoothly, the plates of the head have to fold in on each other. When the baby comes out, they begin to expand especially with crying. Sometimes the baby’s position in the womb or upon delivery can make it more difficult for these bones to find their best position. In a caesarean, especially if it is an emergency C-section, the internal pressures are released so quickly that the infant can have little tears inside the head, similar to getting the “bends.” In other difficult c-sections, the child may already be in the birth canal. It is common to have to use forceps to get the baby out in the situation. When the baby is born, it is really working at the level of the brainstem. So what you have to judge by how well the baby is doing is breathing, heart rate, sleeping, eating and digestion, color and crying. By the time is out of the hospital, what parents are aware of is, are they sleeping too much or too little, are they having difficulty nursing (latching on or feeding), are they crying too much or too little, eating too much or too little, do they seem to be in pain after eating, do they have a long fussy time during certain times of the day or night (colic). Colic looks like a digestive problem, but those of us who work with children feel that there is a compression around the cranial base which affects tensions around the vagus nerve. This vagus nerve is responsible for our breathing, heart rate and digestion. By releasing any pressures in the cranial base we find that children tend to have more ease in their sleeping, eating, and waking periods. Having an infant treated after birth by a craniosacral therapist is as important as seeing a pediatrician.