development

How many pounds of pressure did your newborn withstand at birth?

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How many pounds of pressure did your newborn withstand at birth?

Congratulations! You’ve just given birth and now you have a beautiful baby to cherish.

Let’s think for a moment about your personal birth story and how your baby arrived in the world.

  • how many hours were you in labour?
  • was your baby born at home, in the hospital, or at a birthing centre?
  • were there interventions involved?
  • was your baby in some way pulled or suctioned from you?

In many birth situations, the baby is often forced out of the mother. This puts an immense amount of pressure on the head and neck of your baby.

Imagine your 8 pound baby potentially experiencing anywhere from 60 to 120 pounds of pressure (tractional force) to its head and spine.

If we use 100 pounds of pressure for the ease of math, 100 pounds divided by an 8lb baby is 12.5 times his/her weight.

Now, what would happen if you pulled a 180 pound man across the floor by his neck at 12.5 times his weight? That is 2250 pounds of tractional force, by which he would most likely be killed instantly.

It takes only 120 pounds of pressure (or less) to sever a baby’s spinal cord, and doctors often apply nearly that amount pulling the baby free in delivery.

The spinal cord is the most important part of every body, without its function, you could not survive even one second.

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The spinal cord houses the central nervous system, which controls every single aspect of the function, development and healing of the body.

And when we realize the amount of trauma that your baby (and you!) have just gone through to have him/her arrive in the world, we can see the connections with lasting side effects of a potentially now-misaligned spine, called subluxations.

There are many symptoms that can indicate that your baby has a misaligned spine, but sometimes there are no symptoms. A partial list of symptoms can include:

  • strained breastfeeding (baby can’t turn his/her head one way or the other)
  • unable to latch on
  • colic
  • sleeping problems
  • reflux
  • vomiting

Now that we understand the lasting side effects associated with birth, we must take a moment to consider how we can help your baby to grow and develop.

The first step is to identify if your baby has subluxations present in his/her spine. The only way to do this is have him/her examined by a doctor of chiropractic.

Chiropractors are trained to identify and correct subluxations to allow your baby’s spine to return to the correct alignment and allow optimal health to be expressed.

To correct a subluxation, the chiropractor performs an adjustment – with very light touch – to shift the bones back into the correct alignment. Don’t worry, it’s nothing like you imagine from the movies. The amount of pressure that a chiropractor uses to adjust a newborn is the amount of pressure that you would use to touch your eye with your pinky finger.

Having a spine in the correct alignment sets your baby up for optimal development and a great start to their health.

Just in time to become a toddler – where he/she will fall 2000 times learning how to walk. So keeping up with baby’s adjustment schedule through childhood will maintain a healthy spine for his/her growth and development.

You can see where I’m going with this. Life-long chiropractic care is essential at every stage of life to maximize your family’s health.

So be sure that you also have your spine checked by your chiropractor to be sure that your spine is in the correct alignment after the trauma of giving birth as well.

With Sources From: The Effect of Subluxation at Birth

Why Do We Make Young Children Sleep Alone?

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Sleep

Let’s think about this for a moment. Announcing to your children, “Go to sleep and stay there by yourself all night.” (while Mom and Dad get to share the night together)

This is simply an outdated model of children’s sleep habits, as research is now coming to light that there is an incredible amount of value that is added to the health of the child and the family by co-sleeping.

Putting a baby into a separate bedroom at night causes parents to wake for much greater periods of time and creates added exhaustion in early parenthood. It is much easier to have the baby or toddler right beside the bed with you, or depending on your level of safety comfort, sharing the bed with you. This makes it much easier to be able to comfort and nurse or feed your baby when he/she is unsettled in the night.

Babies are born very immature neurologically, and require close connection to their parents – not just during the daylight hours, but also at night! Being separated for too long elicits a stress response in the young child (ie. abandonment, fear, separation anxiety) and can cause issues with healthy development.

Additionally, when each child has her/her own separate room, it forces the size of the home to grow significantly, as the family is spread out across much more space (which requires more resources to build the home, energy to heat it, light it and maintain it). Sleep has become a detriment to our environmental that adds a huge carbon footprint.

Why did we stop co-sleeping?

Our ancestors used to co-sleep for much of their growing-up years, as well as many families across poorer nations where they simply do not have the real estate to have separate sleeping rooms.

In the 20th century, there were several prominent physicians, such as Dr. William Whitty Hall, who insisted that it was uncivilized to sleep as a family, and that it was associated with poverty and social ills. In 1928, behavioural psychologist John Watson argued that children should occupy their own rooms or risk stunting the child’s development. And in 1985, Dr. Richard Ferber wrote that solitary sleep was meant allowing the child to become independent and reminded readers that co-sleeping was a primitive practice.

What are the benefits of co-sleeping?

• improved infant emotional health
• promotes more convenient breast feeding• it is natural and healthy
• creates closer-knit families
• can help to prevent SIDS
• helps your baby feel safe and protected
• less intergenerational conflict
• deeper sleep as individuals learn to be unaffected by snoring, a trip to the bathroom or tossing and turning
• kids grow up to be more tolerant of each other and fight less
• have better capacity to share
• more caring attitudes toward each other

What are the risks of co-sleeping?

• loose bedding
• waterbeds
• if parents are under the influence of drugs or alcohol – won’t have same level of alertness and responsiveness as usual
• parents who smoke should not co-sleep – some studies indicate a higher risk of SIDS
• if parents are incredibly deep sleepers

If you are worried about the safety of co-sleeping with your little one, talk to your natural health care provider. There are also many options for having them sleep very close to you, but with a little added protection, such as this bassinet: https://www.thebump.com/a/best-bassinet-halo-bassinest-swivel-sleeper-luxe-plus

With Sources From:

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-reiss-sleep-alone-20170324-story.html

Baby Wearing…A Fashion Trend or a Benefit to Your Newborn?

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baby wearing

Baby wearing has long been used by our ancestors and many cultures around the world as a means to care for an infant while maintaining existing responsibilities.

After your baby is born, we need to think of the first 6 to 9 months after birth as the fourth trimester. This fourth trimester is a crucially important time for your baby’s growth and development.

The first nine months were spent in the womb, where the baby is warm, comfortable and is feeling and listening to the rhythms of the mother’s heart, breathing, voice and movement. Once the baby is born, their environment changes drastically, so baby wearing is a means to help the baby adapt to their new reality.

Research shows that skin to skin contact between a baby and its mother promotes brain development, helps the baby adapt to the outside world, promotes milk production in the mother and can help promote healthy weight gain for the infant.

Some of the benefits of baby wearing for the baby are:

  • Close contact with mom or dad promotes development
  • Provides baby with contentment and calmness
  • Creates baby attentiveness and allow for faster learning
  • The sensations and sounds the baby hears and feels while being worn reminds them of the womb experience and balances their environment (Sound of heart beat, sound of breathing, the rhythm of the mother’s walking patterns and voice)

Some of the benefits of baby wearing for mom or dad are:

  • Convenience
  • Baby bonding
  • Allows you to perform tasks while you carry your baby or to care for other children
  • Picks up on needs of baby more easily
  • Easier errands – no need for stroller
  • Easier access for breastfeeding

How to choose the right baby wearing attire

This will likely come down to the preference and comfort for the parent using the attire. Some people will prefer a sling style and others will prefer a more structured support. The style of carrier is less important than following the safety protocols of each individual carrier style.

Baby Wearing Safety Tips

  1. Ensure clear airway. Think of your baby’s airway as a straw that when pinched either slows or restricts completely its effectiveness. When your baby’s chin drops to their chest the airway is being pinched off. Ensure that the baby’s head is positioned in a slightly upward direction to allow for a clear passageway. Also, be sure to provide support to your baby’s neck and back.
  2. Check your baby carrier regularly for wear and tear and to ensure that the it will securely hold the weight of your baby.
  3. Test the baby wearing device using a weight similar to that of your baby before using with your baby. The first time you use the device with your child, use a spotter or do it over a bed or couch to ensure safety.
  4. If you have questions or concerns about baby wearing, speak to your chiropractor, midwife, or other natural health practitioner who is familiar with your family.

With Sources from:

http://www.becomingmamas.com/babywearing/