Today in the Calgary Osteopathy blog, we are discussing sleep disturbances in babies and how Osteopathy can help.
Usually, we consider babies that have a good sleep pattern to be those that can sleep at least five hours in a row without the need to be fed, starting at three months old. But, sometimes your baby doesn’t want to sleep, is only doing micro naps, seems grumpy, he wakes up every hour, cries, and nothing seems to get him better. 
You feel like you are at the end of your rope, and that with the sleep deprivation your life is becoming very overwhelming.
Maybe you even went to the doctor to check that everything is ok, and the doctors told you everything was fine and that it would get better over time. Does this sound familiar?
A few weeks ago, I met Ian, a beautiful three-week-old baby boy. His mom brought him because he was having such a hard time falling asleep, and he would cry and be inconsolable even with all the tricks that worked with her other children. Ian also hated the car seat and had a tendency to arch his back or throw his head back while breast feeding.
His mother described the delivery as very quick and easy: “one push and he was out!” but this is one of the types of deliveries that can actually be quite hard on babies.
During the Osteopathic treatment, we worked on different chains of connective tissues and on his gut–which had strains. They didn’t have time to unwind properly during the delivery, which was so quick. We also often see these types of symptoms with long deliveries, c-sections, or when a vacuum or forceps are used during the delivery. We also worked quite a bit on his diaphragm, which was pulling on his back and impacting his central nervous system. Sometimes, we will see other symptoms associated with these sleep disturbances in babies, like trouble with digestion and excessive gas.
Last week, Ian was complimented for being such an easy baby, and his mom now feels like a new bond and love has come into their relationship. This is one of the gifts of osteopathy: helping babies from an early age and improving the quality of life of their parents.
If you have any questions about how Osteopathy can help your baby, please contact us. And if the start of this story sounds similar to what you and your baby are going through and you think Osteopathy might be able to help your baby, you can click here to book an appointment with Chloe Sardin, our talented Calgary baby Osteopath!