You have your children’s teeth checked, and most schools do an eye and hearing exam yearly, so why don’t you have regular health check ups? Children’s bodies are physically weaker than adults, so they have a better chance of experiencing spinal subluxations (a vertebrae out of place that is pinching a nerve and causing problems) while doing every day activities.

Why wait till your child is sick to bring them into the chiropractor? Subluxations can exist for a long time without causing any pain, but deficiencies in other areas, while they may not be noticeable, may be present the entire time.

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Starting in Pregnancy

Let’s start from the beginning. The very beginning, before your child is even born. You should be receiving spinal checkups as often as weight check ups during your pregnancy. Subluxations cause uneven blood flow to parts of your body, including the uterus. If your baby isn’t getting enough blood, they may not be getting enough oxygen, which is more important during the development process than you think. Lack of oxygen to the uterus can cause several complications early in infancy, which could lead to such tragic events as SIDS. Next we’ll look at when the baby is born.

The Birth Process

A newborn’s spine can be twisted and turned from birth. As hard as labor is on the mother, think of how hard it is on the baby! Abraham Towbin, MD states: “The birth process…is potentially a traumatic, crippling event… mechanical stress imposed on obstetrical manipulation—even the application of standard orthodox procedures may prove intolerable to the fetus…most signs of neonatal injury observed in the delivery room are neurological…” Now, we’ll look at the infants first week.

The Research on Pediatric Chiropractic

Research is ongoing, and with each study done, more and more credit is being given to chiropractic health care in the importance of the health of children. In a study done on 1,250 infants who were examined five days after birth, 211 of them were experiencing vomiting, hyperactivity, and sleeplessness, and subluxations were found in 95% of them. The researchers in this study were all Medical Doctors (MD’s) and they all recognized the power of chiropractic. The babies were given the spinal care they needed, and it worked. The researchers (remember, these are MD’s we’re talking about) noted that the spinal adjustment resulted in “immediate quieting, cessation of crying, and muscular relaxation and sleepiness.” Now, the first few years.

The study also discussed and 18-month-old boy suffering from tonsillitis, recurrent enteritis (pain of the small intestine), pink eye, recurrent colds, and increasing problems sleeping. After a chiropractic adjustment, the child demanded to be put to sleep and slept peacefully until morning. When he awoke, his health had returned to normal. The parents of this child could have opted to go the medical route, giving the child pain medicine for the tonsillitis, cold medicine to get rid of the cold, and sleeping medicine to help him sleep. Instead of drugging their child up to suppress the symptoms, they brought him to get chiropractic care, naturally taking care of the cause of the problems.

The First Year of Life

The late chiropractic pediatric specialist Larry Webster, D.C., said there are six times in a baby’s first year of life when spinal examinations are especially important: After the birth process, when the baby starts to hold his/her head up, when the baby sits up, when the baby starts to crawl, when the baby starts to stand, and when the baby starts to walk. Each of these milestones bring about new physical stress on the child’s body, and each milestone can bring about spinal subluxations that can cause problems in the child’s immune function, muscular function, and neurological function. We’ve helped children with:

 ADHD and ADD

 Bedwetting

 Ear Infections

 Colic