East Grinstead Courier and Observer - 22 Jan 2009
Many adults suffer from crippling back pain and seek the help of professionals. But would you take your baby to a chiropractor? Reporter Emily Bridges meets one mother who believes young children should have regular chiropractic treatment.
Since baby Jasmine was only days old, she has been visiting a chiropractor.
Mum Kirsteen Benson nervously took her daughter to a clinic after hearing babies can suffer trauma during birth. The Cantelupe Road-mother said, “My husband told me that birth can be as traumatic as a car crash can be for an adult. I was scared about doing it. When you hear the word chiropractor, you think about back cracking. I held on a couple of days until I had spoken to the midwife, but she said it was fine.”
Kirsteen took Jasmine to see Dr Teresa White at just nine days old.
The mother said, “I was really nervous. I lay on the bed and Jasmine lay on my belly. Tersa White just touched her with two fingers. I was relaxed and Jasmine was not crying. She was just lapping it up and was totally fine. She picked Jasmine up from her heels and rolled her off my belly. You could see that she was hanging in a hooked position.
“I had noticed that she only slept on her side, but you are recommended to leave babies on their back when they sleep. Teresa White then lowered her and made an adjustment. She was then hanging straight with her arm across her chest so she made some more adjustments. When I went home, she slept in a starfish position for four hours straight and she did that again in the night. She is now eight months and she will sleep through the night if there is nothing wrong."
Jasmine had three appointments initially and now has regular check ups with Teresa every two months.
Teresa said, “Her father, Mark, told me that she never looked completely relaxed. She was never screaming. The spinal cord from the brain has lots of nerves coming off at different points. If there is pressure on those nerves, it is going to make babies feel similar to adults with pain.”
Teresa became a chiropractor after receiving beneficial treatment herself as a child. She believes treatments can also help with bed wetting, ear infections, growing pains, baby colic and children's sports injuries.
She said, “During the last few months of pregnancy, the baby is stuck in a small position and has to fit around the internal organs. I have treated one baby who was so sore it could not be held, could not be cuddled and was screaming almost all day. The mother and father were at their wits end. The general practitioner said there was nothing wrong. After treatment she just relaxed and the mother could not believe she could hold her in her arms. I can treat babies from just one day old.”
Kirsteen said, “I would definitely recommend it and if I had another child I would get treatment all the way through the pregnancy and then for the baby afterwards.”
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