Many parents end up at Advanced Health of Naperville with their 5-week old infant at a loss of what to do. They say that they are scared of being at a chiropractor’s office but that eight other people (or even an online mom’s group) have told them that chiropractic has helped their child. They are at their wit’s end and willing to try anything. Their spouse or mother or mother-in-law or doctor are very hesitant or completely against it.

Their baby is struggling with one, or a number of these issues:
• Not nursing well, or at all. Aversion to taking a bottle for mom to get a break
• Spitting up or reflux, gagging
• Constipation or severe gassiness
• Screaming all day or parts of the day (colic)
• Not turning their head one way or a significant preference to one side (torticollis)
• Very uncomfortable during tummy time
• Clogged ears, sinuses or tear ducts, sometimes becoming infected
• Not napping, difficulty sleeping at night even for a few hours at a time

The first thing we say to a parent is that we understand that they are concerned about chiropractic and that we will answer any questions that they have. Here are the answers to the most common concerns:

1. Chiropractic is extremely safe for babies. The pressure we use is less than the pressure that would take to bruise a ripe tomato or peach. Less than 10% of the pressure a doctor might need to use during the birth process. The pressure is more of a vibrational pressure. We then show the pressure on the parent’s hand to put their mind at ease.

2. There is no “cracking” noise during a baby’s adjustment. Pediatric chiropractic is very different than adult chiropractic.

3. At our practice, we do not force a parent to sign up for tons of adjustments. Usually we try 2x per week for 2 weeks and then 1x a week for a few weeks after that and follow how the symptoms are improving.

4. We offer options for co-treatment with recommendations for other therapists or doctors they may need to see at the same time. This may include a lactation specialist, a pediatric physical therapist, a pediatric dentist for a lip/tongue tie evaluation. If we ever feel as if chiropractic is not the correct treatment for your baby, that we can’t help or that you need to see a different doctor before we start treatment, we will refer you out of our office.

5. If there is no improvement within the first 6 – 8 visits, we brainstorm to help the parent with a next step. Fortunately, this rarely happens.

6. This is your baby/child, not ours. You are always in control and if, at any point, during the adjustment you want us to stop, we will immediately. We will never do something to your child that you don’t understand or don’t want us to do. It is possible your baby will fuss or cry while we do the adjustment, but it doesn’t take a lot of time and we know we are doing something to help, so it doesn’t bother us or our other patients in the office to hear that. Even if your baby doesn’t “love” our treatment, we do our best to help soothe them and hand them back to you as soon as we are done.

We are here to be a resource to you. Being a new parent is hard, sometimes even overwhelming. We know you are tired, frustrated and maybe scared. We support you taking care of you and are not opposed to a good cry session, which is why we always have Kleenex in the room. We care about you and your baby and will do whatever we can do to help.