Pediatric Chiropractic
Infants and children need a healthy brain-body connection to help them reach their full potential.
Dr. Alyssa has extensive training in pediatric chiropractic care and is able to assess if your child is functioning at their best. Getting your child checked by a chiropractor regularly from birth ensures their neuro-spinal system is clear and connected so they can better adapt to life stressors and develop optimally.
A difficult birth can cause trauma and underlying injury to your newborn's spine and central nervous system.
If the underlying trauma is not resolved after birth it can manifest in other regions of their body throughout their lives. As your child continues to grow and develop, their spine and nervous system undergoes various levels of stress as they approach major milestones (such as crawling, walking, and etc). Nowadays, kids are facing more physical, chemical, and emotional stresses than ever before. This can result to interferences in their nervous system.
Pediatric chiropractic involves gentle, specialized adjusting techniques that are safe for newborns and all stages of childhood. Dr Alyssa uses very gentle adjusting techniques that allow your baby or child to feel comfortable, safe and to help encourage higher levels of health expression. Babies and children are much more connected to how they feel physically and emotionally and more parents notice that their child seems happier, less stressed and sleeps better after an adjustment. Adjusting children helps keep them connected to their body’s innate intelligence.
Craniosacral Therapy (CST) is another technique that Dr Alyssa practices. It is a very gentle and calming technique that can help minimize the repercussions of a difficult birth or development to better promote good health for your baby.
Here are some of the common conditions that respond very well with Chiropractic and Craniosacral for babies:
Sleep issues
Nursing difficulties
Colic and r
eflux
Plagiocephaly (cranial flat spot)
Digestive or elimination difficulties
Frequent ear infections
Delayed motor skills
Torticolis
Tongue tie and other oral related restrictions
I love working with midwives, pediatricians and lactation consultants. Here is a review from a lactation consultant I have worked with in Oregon.
Skilled bodywork can be a critical step in resolving infant feeding issues and Dr. Alyssa is an amazing resource. She is patient and friendly and she gets results! We worked in the same community for over a year and I always received positive feedback from our shared clients. I absolutely recommend her for infant craniosacral therapy.
Jorhdyn White, IBCLC
Frequently Asked Questions: Pediatric
Is Chiropractic safe for babies?
Chiropractic for babies is very safe, gentle and effective!
During the first few years of life a baby's brain and nervous system is rapidly growing and developing. Chiropractic care helps to remove neurological interferences to a baby's nervous system so that they can better adapt to life stressors and develop optimally.
Dr Alyssa has extensive training in pediatric chiropractor. She uses a very gentle pressure applied to specific regions to adjust there spine and improve the function of their nervous system. Babies are usually much more relaxed and happy after an adjustment.
Will the Chiropractic treatment hurt my baby?
The amount of pressure being used to adjust a baby's spine is the same amount of pressure you would use to check for the ripeness of a tomato. So the forces used are very safe and gentle. Babies often love the feeling of getting adjusted and parents will instantly notice baby is more calm and relaxed. Some babies will even sleep through there adjustments.
There are some cases though where a baby might have an injury or an increased tender region along the spine that may be sensitive to the touch. But with a very gentle approach, a chiropractic adjustment can actually restore function and remove nerve interference so that the baby can grow and develop optimally.
What does a normal adjustment visit look like?
- It depends on the baby and how they are feeling in that particular moment. Sometimes the baby will sleep through the whole visit, other times they will need to be held by a parent or nursed. Working with babies requires flexibility and creativity. But it is alway a very gentle, supportive and calming environment.
Will Chiropractic help with nursing my baby?
Yes! Dr Alyssa sees many baby's with nursing dificulties.
There are many reasons why a baby may be having difficulties with nursing. But by improving the baby's nervous system and spinal function many nursing issues will resolve. If there is a potential tongue tie Dr Alyssa will make sure to make an appropriate reterral.
How can Chiropractic help if my baby has a tongue tie or another oral restriction?
- Oral restrictions can cause feeding compensation patterns which leads to certain muscles working too much and other muscles not working enough.
- Just because your baby has an oral restriction it doesn’t mean that once it is released they will be able to nurse without issues. This is because of the muscle imbalances and the compensations patterns that have developed.
- Working with me before and/or after a revision will ensure that baby's spinal alignment and nervous system are working optimally so that baby can use their tongue to it's fullest potental and latch correctly. This will allow baby to transfer milk adequately and elimate nursing pain for mother.
- I work with lactation consultants and pediatricians as a team to get baby feeding correctly and to help improve nursing difficulties.
