06 November 2013

(chiro)practically speaking

Shared on Simple Lives Thursday

Look, I made a pun! It will never happen again.

If you are expecting a baby, I highly recommend finding a good chiro practice. I've been going to the same chiropractor for 14 years, and I took Ellie as a matter of course once she arrived. Not only did he adjust me all through pregnancy, which I'm convinced was the cause of Ellie's perfect positioning during delivery, but he also saw Ellie when she was only a month old and will continue to have her as a patient as long as she wants.

She has actually been there four times as often as she has been to the pediatrician. (Which was exactly once. They said that I should have given Ellie the Hep B vaccine immediately after she was born, tsk tsk, and that I would never forgive myself for letting her sleep on her stomach. I said goodbye.)

Here's why you need to find a chiropractor you trust: it will look like he is hurting your baby. He isn't, but you need to be confident about that, because she will probably holler like the dickens and get redder than a pickled beet.

To listen to Little Mouse during her adjustment, you'd think she was in the worst pain of her life. I know that my chiro is very skilled and careful, though, and that she is crying out of confusion rather than pain. Who is this strange person and why is he touching my leg? This feels weird! Get me out of here! As soon as he gives her back to me, she buries her sniffles into my shoulder and stops wailing.

not Ellie, but this sums up her opinion of the chiropractor

I don't like it when my daughter cries, but the benefits of chiropractic care are worth five minutes of screeching. I was dumbfounded by the difference made by Ellie's first adjustment. She was so much more relaxed! Before, she had been either scrunching up like a pillbug or hyperextending her back. After, she could lie completely straight, without any tension in her muscles. Her collarbone and hips had been locked up from birth.

In conclusion, do think about looking into a good chiropractor for your bebe. Birth is physically traumatic, even if it goes "smoothly." And a baby's sleep and digestion can be helped tremendously by proper alignment-- not to mention an array of health issues like congestion, allergies, and ear infections. I am grateful for the excellent care we've received from our chiropractor and think that more people should know about this alternative, even for the tiniest ones in the family.

(OBVIOUSLY I am not a doctor . . . these are my experiences for you to consider. I feel that I must put in a disclaimer, lest anyone sue me and my empty piggy bank. And yes, there are shady chiropractors out there. Google "chiropractic baby health" and you'll get some horror stories; suspicious characters taint every medical profession, even if they are an extreme rarity. So as always, please please do your research and don't be scared by the bad apples.)


  1. This has come up so many times in conversations recently, I'm thinking I should find one soon. Especially for the immune support, we need all the help we can get!

  2. I've taken all four of my kids to the chiropractor - then my husband studied it, so now he adjusts them at home. It's been a huge blessing. :)