Craniosacral Therapy is very helpful for newborns and infants. It is an assessment tool plus corrective and preventive treatment. A newborn CST session can minimize or eliminate the repercussions of difficult births and help ensure good health for well babies. It is highly beneficial for babies when they receive newborn Craniosacral evaluations and treatments soon after birth.
Relaxed and content.
During the birth process, the baby's head molds to fit through the mother's pelvis. It is normal for the cranial bones to override each other. After birth, these overrides and other accommodations in the baby's skull should resolve fairly quickly. If they do not correct themselves, they can interfere with proper cranial nerve function leading to colic, nursing, or digestive impairments and more. Sometimes babies are injured in the birth process. The injuries may be both physical and emotional. CST can address these injuries as well as the effects of precipitous or prolonged labor, vacuum extraction, forceps or cesarean birth.
Cesarean birth can be harder on babies than we may imagine. Cesarean-born babies tend to have lower Apgar scores, more respiratory distress, and more abnormal Craniosacral evaluations. They also tend to have more chronic middle ear infections and other problems throughout childhood. The birth process is more abrupt than vaginal birth. Surgically born infants have fewer quiet alert periods right after birth and potentially have less opportunity to share bonding time with their mothers who may be unconscious or recovering in another room.
A typical infant CST treatment consists of baby lying on the provider's or parent's lap. Sometimes babies like to nurse during a session, which is quite feasible for the provider to treat baby. The provider monitors the Craniosacral Rhythm with her hands. She conducts other gentle assessments and corrects the sources of pain and dysfunction using gentle manipulative techniques. Sometimes babies release emotions or cry during treatments, but the techniques do not hurt the babies. Seldom does the pressure exceed five grams (the weight of a nickel). The work is gentle.
CST treatment sets the stage for the body to most efficiently use its own power to heal. Most babies find the sessions to be deeply relaxing. Babies will often sleep for a longer stretch than usual after a session, which is completely normal.
Babies bodies are quite pliable. They can correct easily because they have spent less time rearranging themselves around their physical and emotional restrictions. Left untreated, these restrictions can take more time and effort to correct in adulthood, causing pain and dysfunction in the meantime.
CST can help address many issues a baby might be experiencing. The most common reason why parents seek out CST for their baby is due to breastfeeding issues such as:
*Poor latch and/or sucking
* Inability to open mouth wide enough
* Refusal to nurse or only willing to nurse on one side
However, CST has the ability to possibly help other issues as well. Some of those issues are:
* Colic
* Trauma
* Issues due to birth process, such as difficult, fast, or prolonged labor and births
* Sleeping issues (distinguished and different from normal newborn sleeping patterns)
* Reflux issues
* Digestive or elimination difficulties
* Fussy, hard to soothe babies
* Babies who seem to be uncomfortable in their bodies
* Babies who favor turning their heads to one side (torticollis)
* Babies who seem overly sensitive
* Teething babies
I only treat newborns and precrawlers, which is up to about 4 months age. If you need help with your older baby or toddler, I know of several wonderful CST providers that I’d happy to refer you to that are excellent at treating little ones of this age range.
Cesarean birth can be harder on babies than we may imagine. Cesarean-born babies tend to have lower Apgar scores, more respiratory distress, and more abnormal Craniosacral evaluations. They also tend to have more chronic middle ear infections and other problems throughout childhood. The birth process is more abrupt than vaginal birth. Surgically born infants have fewer quiet alert periods right after birth and potentially have less opportunity to share bonding time with their mothers who may be unconscious or recovering in another room.
A typical infant CST treatment consists of baby lying on the provider's or parent's lap. Sometimes babies like to nurse during a session, which is quite feasible for the provider to treat baby. The provider monitors the Craniosacral Rhythm with her hands. She conducts other gentle assessments and corrects the sources of pain and dysfunction using gentle manipulative techniques. Sometimes babies release emotions or cry during treatments, but the techniques do not hurt the babies. Seldom does the pressure exceed five grams (the weight of a nickel). The work is gentle.
CST treatment sets the stage for the body to most efficiently use its own power to heal. Most babies find the sessions to be deeply relaxing. Babies will often sleep for a longer stretch than usual after a session, which is completely normal.
Babies bodies are quite pliable. They can correct easily because they have spent less time rearranging themselves around their physical and emotional restrictions. Left untreated, these restrictions can take more time and effort to correct in adulthood, causing pain and dysfunction in the meantime.
CST can help address many issues a baby might be experiencing. The most common reason why parents seek out CST for their baby is due to breastfeeding issues such as:
*Poor latch and/or sucking
* Inability to open mouth wide enough
* Refusal to nurse or only willing to nurse on one side
However, CST has the ability to possibly help other issues as well. Some of those issues are:
* Colic
* Trauma
* Issues due to birth process, such as difficult, fast, or prolonged labor and births
* Sleeping issues (distinguished and different from normal newborn sleeping patterns)
* Reflux issues
* Digestive or elimination difficulties
* Fussy, hard to soothe babies
* Babies who seem to be uncomfortable in their bodies
* Babies who favor turning their heads to one side (torticollis)
* Babies who seem overly sensitive
* Teething babies
I only treat newborns and precrawlers, which is up to about 4 months age. If you need help with your older baby or toddler, I know of several wonderful CST providers that I’d happy to refer you to that are excellent at treating little ones of this age range.
