Pediatric Care
Why do I need to bring my baby in?
Birth can be quite the experience and everyone's story is different. Sometimes forceps are used or vacuums, other times the baby is breech and a c-section is scheduled. Babies can get in the canal for some time before making their entrance, and depending on their position, that can cause some tightening and tension in their neck and skull. With that being said, it's never too early to schedule your newborn for their first visit!
Is it just for newborns?
As your baby grows, they begin to roll then crawl then pull up and eventually walk. Through all of those milestones, your baby will more than likely fall a few times and pump their head around a bit. As your baby grows and becomes a toddler, they begin to run around and test new limits. As they become older, children are active and play sports. All of these things can cause misalignment in their spine and our goal is to make sure that their spine biomechanically is moving well!
Pediatric chiropractors are well-trained in the evaluation and treatment of all stages of childhood development through adulthood. Each stage of development has specific commonalities, treatment needs, and delivery style that are more appropriate. Pediatric patients are not just little adults, and should not be treated as such.
Children’s Chiropractic Safety Research:
The ICPA has initiated a ground breaking study on the safety and effectiveness of chiropractic care for children. The preliminary results are outstanding and show that chiropractic care is safe for children. Even more significant is that parents reported three unexpected improvements with their child’s care:
Improved sleeping
Improved behavior and attitude
Improved immune system function
I think my child has tongue tie!
TOTS or tongue lip and cheek ties are becoming more prevalent in our children. TOTS can consist of either a tongue tie (where the frenulum or the piece of skin under a baby tongue restricts movement of the tongue) or where the upper lip or cheek is restricted being anchored to the gum.
What are symptoms associated with lip/tongue tie?
An infant may have a poor latch, poor weight gain, wanting to feed frequently, falling asleep while nursing, colic or reflux. Mothers may also experience pain while breastfeeding, cracked/bruised nipples, and poor/incomplete breast drainage after feeding. In toddlers and older children you may see them having trouble transitioning from puree to solid foods, sensitive gag reflex, picky eater, speech issues, orthodontic problems, mouth breathing causing ear infections and tonsillitis as well as sleep apnea.
Why does my baby need “body work” pre and post frenectomy procedure?
Due to the structural changes associated with TOTS, it is imperative that your child receives chiropractic care pre and post procedure. If the tongue is tied, it is pulling on the cranial bones, the TMJ (jaw) as well as the neck and posture muscles which will cause restrictions in the vertebral joints; or what we call chiropractic “subluxations”. By restoring motion in the joints we allow the body to function and grow optimally, especially after the procedure when the body is adapting to its new way of moving and functioning post release.
What is the treatment like?
Usually the child is laying on a comfortable pillow and light massage will be done to the cervical spine muscles as well as the TMJ. Tongue stretches are performed, very similar to the ones given by a lactation consultant, pediatric dentist or ENT. A very specific and gentle adjustment is given to the restricted spinal segments, by holding light pressure. The amount of pressure used is the same to check the ripeness of a tomato. *Please note there is no twisting, torqueing or popping of the spine in this type of adjustment.
Children Who Can Benefit From Chiropractic Adjustments:
-Babies with complicated births (birth trauma)
-Colicky babies
-Babies with torticollis (head/neck favoring one side)
-Babies with latching issues
-Babies and kids who have tummy issues (not enough bowel movements)
-Babies who haven’t hit their crawling or walking milestone
-Babies with misshaped heads from birth trauma
-Babies who have reflux or spit up more than they should
-Babies and kids who aren’t sleeping well throughout the night
-To improve the overall immune system
-Children who play sports and are active
-Children who play video games and have poor posture
-Children with scoliosis
-Children with growing pains
Types of treatments include but are not limited to:
Craniosacral Therapy
Logan Technique
Activator
Rehab & Corrective Exercises
Myofascial therapy
Dr. Ashtiani has completed 200 hours of training in pediatric chiropractic through the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA). She has completed training in Tongue & Lip Tie issues along with Craniosacral Therapy. She has also completed a 10 month SOT Pediatric Certificate Program.
