Welcoming your new baby into your home can be a wonderful, scary and helpless situation. If this is your first baby, you know what I mean. There are some things you can do to help your child be healthy. These are some of the things I have seen over the years and want to share them with you.
First of all, have your infant’s spine checked immediately! Not only can birth be traumatic to the spine, while they were in utero, there could have been some constraint that may have caused some imbalances in their spine. If your labor was induced, had a posterior baby, forceps, vacuum, c-section or breech baby…then definitely have their spines checked. The nervous system is protected by the spine and cranium, if there is any interference from the spine on these nerves, then there could be potential health problems. Babies don’t tell you they are in pain, and they may not be in pain…but there could be interference affecting their function. We see it in our office as ear infections, spitting up, colic, sleeplessness and just irritability.
Secondly, breast feed as long as possible. It is very important to their growth and nourishment. There is so much research out there to support breastfeeding and how it affects the baby. I just read today, that the children that are breastfed longer have a higher IQ. If you are not able to breast feed, contact a leleche club and get some help. If you are breastfeeding and you notice your child spitting up, becoming colicky, crying alot, then take dairy out of your diet and see what happens.
The third thing, don’t be too quick to get your little one up on their feet walking. We have all heard how important it is for a child to crawl, there is alot of truth to it! There is a natural succession of how the nervous system develops and crawling is very important. Crawling should be done for at least three months, ideally six months!
These are just three things I think every new mom should know. I will add more in another post! Have a happy and healthy day!