worth going to the chiropracter???

Hi all

My daughter has colic and silent reflux, and i was wondering if going to the chiropracter can help this?
She had a difficult birth, she was posterior and didnt turn- and then she got stuck and needed vacuum extraction after 2 hours of pushing.Im willing to try anything now i guess as im so sleep deprived its not funny!
Im not sure if this has anything to do with the silent reflux, but she wont let me put her down even for a few minutes- which makes it impossible to do anything during the day.Im trying to enjoy being a new mum. but its really hard

I went to a Cranial Osteopath who specialises in dealing with newborn babies and children.
She has had a lot of luck with dealing with colic and reflux.
If you live in Sydney then I can give you her details. I live in the Sutherland Shire.
It isn't cheap, but it saved our sanity.

Hello our son had exactly the same problem. I was advised by a few people to take him to a chiropractor and in the end I was so desperate I would have been willing to try anything. Within a few visits our son was like a whole new baby. You can also take them to a osteopath.
The reason your daughter does not want to be put down is she is in pain and to lie straight makes the pain worse. She likes to be on you as she can get into a position that does ease the pain. The reflux causes a burning feeling like heart burn. A dummy also helps as the sucking eases the pain. My son would scream and scream so we thought he was hungry as everytime I tried to feed him he took the whole lot!!! But I later found out that the sucking and the milk really eases their pain. The only way our son would sleep was on his stomach, although the chiropractor helped this. I know when my son needs another visit to the chiropractor as he starts to sleep on his stomach again.
I can really relate to the sleep deprivation. My husband and I use to sleep in shifts taking it in turns to sit up with a screaming baby. We use to sleep sitting up with our knees bent and our son asleep on his stomach on our chest. We also found a heat pack on his stomach helped (not too sure why) and of course a warm bath. You can also learn a massage for the colix which does help. They teach you how to massage the stomach and legs to get the wind moving. We also found Infants Friend from the chemist was great and Brauer also has a colix relief tonic which also helps.
My son was on Zantac for nearly 9 months for his reflux and had monthly visits to his paediatrician. He was still vomiting at 12 months months but didnt have the pain with it. The colic does ease off around 3 months, it sort of just happens.
It is very hard to enjoy being a mother when all this is going on. At the time I didnt know anyone who was going through the same thing and I felt so alone. It does get better.............

Hi Ganet

Thanks for your advice, its good to know other people have had such good results with this.I live in WA, but will have a good shop around first!

Hi Lara

I will ask my chiro who is an absolute godsend if she knows of anyone good in WA

Shes been treating me fortnightly since the 3rd trimester (plus I've been seeing her monthly for the past 2 years) and she is able to get rid of lots of my aches and pains (thankgod)

hopefully I'll have some good news for you next week

Love Steph

Hi calebs mum,thanks for your reply.
Im definately taking Tayla to the chiropracter now!
It has gotten to the point where i will try just about anything.Tayla is on losec for the silent reflux,but im not sure if it has started to work yet.Are these drugs meant to work straight away?I have tried nearly all the colic relief medicines from the chemist, and infants friend is definately the best one.It seems to help her poo too!
Will let you know how the chiro went!

Hello lovely lara. When Caleb was put on the zantac it didnt seem to do anything for a while. It was really sad as we were thinking once we get this script filled it will be the miracle cure!!!............but no. I would say it did slowly settle him and within a month there was a definite difference. He still vomited like a trouper and continued to do this. He still had bad reflux days though. I use to sit up crying with him thinking I didnt bring him into this world to be in pain. He is now 20 months old and hasnt vomited in months. When our physio suggested a chiropractor I had visions of some huge person doing some bone cracking on my 4 week old baby!! Then a man at my husbands work suggested it as his son had the some problem and their chiroprator had helped. So when Caleb was around 6 weeks and we were really at the end of our teather we decided to give it a go. We found our chiropractor very gentle with Caleb. Some days she would just push her fingers in his chest and would adjust from the roof of his mouth. All very strange but it did seem to work. I remember the first night Caleb slept through. He always slept with us as we couldnt sleep any other way as we were up all night with him. He was 10 weeks old and it was wonderful.
I forget to mention we also had some bowen therapy once for Calebs colic. It too seemed to give him relief. I must warn you though Caleb has NEVER been a day sleep baby. He would have the odd nap but nothing like my friends babies. You would visit them and they all had time to bake and clean their house and would even take the phone off the hook and have a few hours sleep while the baby slept. It use to make me feel like such a bad mother as my house just looked like a bomb hit it with 3 extremely cranking people living in it. Its very hard to ask someone to watch a reflux baby as it is a really big ask. But on the upside Caleb started to have a day sleep when he was around 9 months of age, not always but most days. If we went out he wouldnt sleep unless he was in the car strapped into his seat. He now loves his day naps (so do I) and some days has 2.
Please let me know how you go I really know how you feel and its very very hard.

HI Janeen

Well, my boyfriend has Tayla for the day and its absolute bliss to have some time for myself(quite weird as well).Its funny how you say Caleb has never been a day sleeper,Tayla is exactly the same.The poor little thing must be so sleep deprived, i think at her age she should be sleeping twice as much as she does. Its just so hard to stay positive lately.I dont know how i expected parenthood to be, but i didnt think it would be this hard.Sometimes i feel like a bad mother because i cant help her.My sisters baby never cried unless he was tired,but maybe i shouldnt compare myself to other people. People think i over react sometimes but they dont see her at the worst of times.
I guess you realize that somethings wrong when you've been wearing the same clothes for 3 days and havent left the house except to check the mail!
Sometimes i feel guilty for complaining though. I never thought i would fall pregnant, as i had a ectopic pregnancy and had a fallopian tube removed.After that ordeal i had really irregular periods, and i thought i was going thru menopause!
But, anyway i have a baby now so i should stop whining and just get on with it. Ill let you know how the chiro went (next tuesday)

I know exactly how you feel. It is hard not to compare babies when all the other babies around you are doing things on a daily basis you wished yours would do once a week!! I stayed in touch with all the girls from my anti natal classes. We all had our babies around the same time so it was a great play group and sounding board. Problem was no one else had a reflux baby and therefore could not relate to how my life was SO much different to there's. Dont get me wrong they had bad days too but it seemed to me I had really bad minutes!!! I use to say to people all he does is scream and cry and he wont sleep and all I heard back was yes, yes that is what babies do. It wasnt until he was diagnosed by a midwife and sent off to a paediatrician that people then understood what I was really saying. I had one person say oh reflux no one wants a reflux baby!!! Then months later when people would ring I would say he was diagnosed with reflux and they would all say why didnt you call us. As you know on no sleep at 3 oclock in the morning you are not sitting there with your trusty phone book thinking which one can I call! I was more like this mess on the floor pulling my hair out asking myself what on earth had I done. Nothing can prepare you for having a child but man o man nothing can prepare you for having a reflux baby. I saw one Dr once who said he could see a mother who had 7 children all with no reflux who even he would consider an experienced mother and then put one reflux baby in the equation and she too would be pulling her hair out. He said you have not had a baby until you have a reflux baby and then man you really know you are alive!! I didnt know if I should laugh or cry when he said that. My husband is a shift worker for over 13 years even he though he know what sleep deprivation was all about..............NUH.
I remember I would be with Caleb and he would just scream and scream. I used to put him in his pouch and tie him to onto me to try to settle him but all that did was make the noise louder. I remember even taking him to the toilet with me as he would not be put down. One day I remember it was 1.30pm and I had not had any breakfast or lunch so out of starvation I put a piece of bread in the toaster while Caleb was in his pouch (on me)screaming. When it was cooked I didnt even wait for it to be buttered I just bite right into it. I can relate to not getting dressed. I also had the visitors from hell that would come for hours and expect you to wait on them hand and foot. I use to worry what the neighbours were thinking as well.
It only got worse for me as I had a caesarean as Caleb was breech so I was trying to recover from surgery and then I got 3 lots of mastitis..........I was so sick I remember saying to my husband I think I need to go back to the hospital as I need someone to look after me. So if it wasnt Caleb going to the Drs it was me on top of everything else. I remember the washing I had, everything was covered in vomit including the bed linen. It seemed all I did was remake beds, wash nappies and clean up vomit. We found the best thing for cleaning up the vomit was a cloth nappy. Then if you wanted to go out you had to plan on a few different outfits for both of you or if your partner is going the 3 of you. I remember leaving the chiropractor to go to the Drs and Caleb did the biggest vomit known to man. It was everywhere including my pockets, shoes, in side the car, his car seat & the car door. I had vomit running down my neck and arms and didnt know where to start. Not to mention Caleb was covered as well. But the worse thing was I hadnt packed another outfit for me only Caleb so I just stunk. I remember before he was diagnosed with reflux I called up a support line and was speaking to a midwife. I didnt know how to respond when she said I know it looks like a lot of vomit but it is only a few teaspoons!!!! Lady my son has just completed a projectile vomit which not only covered him and his bassinet but it is running down the wall. He even had it in his ears and the hood of his little jacket he was wearing. It was like a scene out of the exorist and I was waiting for his head to start spinning!. A few teaspoons .........yer right .I promise you this was all before the chiropractor. I am glad you are getting some time to yourself as being a mum is such a demanding role without any medical problems. I know what you mean by missing them though, although it is hard to imagine when they are screaming. I think the biggest mistake people make is offering to come and take your baby when in actual fact that would be better off coming over and watching the baby while you get some sleep or even a shower. I dont think I blow dried my hair for 6 months.
Anyway you whine as much as you like. I know exactly how you feel even if no one else does and it is SO VERY HARD. It is so trying and demanding and I use to pray for the strength to just keep going. Take care of yourself and try to do something for you even if just once a week.

Hi Steph
Hope your pregnancy is going well.Make sure you take your new bub to your chiropracter to avoid all these problems!

Hi Janeen
How is Caleb and yourself?
Well, i took Tayla to the chiropracter today and all went well. The chiropracter said her back is out
and also her neck, so he did adjustments.We're going back on Friday for a checkup. Is it normal to go back so soon? I really hope this does the trick as im just so tired and i know she is too.It will be great when she starts having a decent sleep during the day- even if its just for an hour!
My sister is taking her baby for chiro as soon as its born(she is halfway into her first pregnancy), as she thinks that all babies should go regardless of whether they had a natural birth or assisted delivery.Im just so excited after 9 really hard weeks of parenting!!

Hello, when you first start going to a chiro it is normal to visit 2 or even 3 times a week to start off and as you start to progress you have less visits. Caleb also had neck and back problems which needed to be corrected. I had a lot of difficulties breast feeding Caleb which the chiro said would of had a lot to do with his neck problems. He would feed off one breast but not the other which the chiro said was due to Caleb not being able to turn his neck properly and therefore being unable to feed from the other breast. They also said it would have hurt him. I do agree with your sister regardless of what birth you had the baby should visit a chiro asap, but that is a personal thing. If or when we have another one I would not hesitate in taking them to see a chiro for a checkup, even if they dont seem to have any problems.
I hope things start to pick up for you all soon. I know you are busy but when you get a chance I would love to know how you are going.