Osteopaths at Oxford Circus Osteopath are happy to help patients with any treatment listed above.

Birth Trauma and accidents whilst a child

Psychiatrists and psychologists are well-known for stressing the importance in understanding what happens before a child is born, during the birth process and what happens in the early years. Cranial osteopaths have long recognised that the birthing process imposes enormous strain on babies, particularly if the birth is difficult or elongated. The baby's skull stretches to accomodate the narrow birth canal, but only gradually recovers its shape. After a difficult birth the process of "unmoulding" may be incomplete, leaving residual stress within the head and impacting on the nervous system. These stresses can give rise to various conditions such as colic, trapped wind, regurgitation, feeding difficulties and sleep problems. In addition childhood is a time of slips, trips, falls and scrapes, each of which can potentially impose a similar burden of stress.

Spitting up

Spitting-up is a fairly common condition for babies during their first 6-12 months. Milk or food is reguritated fairly gently by the child in an involuntary fashion; by contrast vomiting is a more violent expulsion of food or liquid. The medical term is "gastroesophageal reflux". The most common cause of this reflux is the relatively small size of the baby's stomach relative to the amount of milk drunk or food ingested and is exacerbated if the baby takes in too much air whilst feeding. Osteopaths recommend to try to slow feeding and to hold the baby upright whilst drinking and for as long as possible - at least a quarter of an hour - after feeds. Osteopaths frequently treat this condition which can be helped by gentle massage of the stomach and release of tension in the soft tissues around the blood vessels feeding the liver, lungs , diaphragm and the small intestine. In addition the release of tension around the umbilical scar has been found beneficial in treating spitting up.