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CranioSacral Therapy – Babies, Toddlers and Beyond

CranioSacral Therapy – Babies, Toddlers and Beyond

A healing pathway in babies and children: CranioSacral Therapy 

At Evolve Manual Therapy, our light touch, hands on therapy helps your body to heal itself by removing restrictions. We understand and are experienced in treating the common, and less frequent problems which your children might experience.

Anyone who has experienced parenthood or who has cared for a baby or child will understand the endless list of issues which can and often do occur. From day dot, when your new-born comes home, it’s the challenges of reflux, breastfeeding and sleep issues as well as tongue-tie which may move to a completely different set of challenges in toddlerhood like behavioural, sensory or delayed development issues. 

Even the calmest, most natural of births can irritate your baby’s nervous system. The baby leaves their soft, warm and secure environment in utero to be born into the world – placing pressure on their nervous system, which can be further complicated by births which require intervention like forceps or ventouse delivery. The baby’s CranioSacral system made up of brain and spinal cord fluid, has its own rhythm which differs to their heart rate and breathing rate. 

CranioSacral Therapists (CST Therapists) at Evolve gently place their hands on your child’s body to feel for this rhythm, to detect the tensions and find the root cause of your child’s issue. We all know how challenging it can be to work out why a baby is crying – CST is a safe and effective way to help navigate this communication between you and your baby, especially when there is a tension pattern which is causing a domino effect on other bodily systems like their immune, respiratory or musculoskeletal systems. If your child is displaying symptoms, this is indicative of their body compensating for the tension patterns, sometimes in a seemingly unconnected way to the true cause. The longer these tension patterns are left to develop, the more challenging it can be to identify the root cause, with many of our patients coming to Evolve having exhausted all other medical avenues.

CST can be a brilliant treatment modality for so many differing ailments and symptoms. Working on a ‘treat whole of body’ principle, the benefits of CST are well researched and supported. We’ve found a few common ailments from our consultations with the youngest members of our community. How many do you identify your child with?

Reflux/Colic– The human body has a nerve which travels to all our organs called the vagus nerve. It originates from just behind the ear and when we get tight in this area, the vagus nerve can become compressed and create issues with other bodily organs causing symptoms like colic or reflux. The trauma of birth for a baby, entering through a tight birth canal or via caesarean section, can irritate the vagus explaining why so many babies suffer from this painful ailment.

Feeding issues – Tension patterns in a baby’s head can change basic reflexes such as their sense of smell or their rooting reflex and contribute to feeding issues. Tension in the membranes can change the shape of a baby’s palate which affects their ability to suck.

Head shape Issues– Misshapen heads or ‘flat spots’ are fairly common in new-borns. With a variety of reasons for their existence, CST can help relieve torticollis (tightening in one side of the neck) or relieve tensions in the pelvis or rib cage from assisted delivery. Ridding a baby of these tensions stops the baby from always favouring one side to sleep on and helps resolve head shape issues. Evolve’s loyal client Kerstin says “My son Jamie had a traumatic birth and to top it off, he was left with a lump the size of a small egg on his head. After treatments, the lump was almost completely gone and four years on, his head is a perfect shape.”

Sleep– One of the most widely talked about baby issues. Quite rightly too! A healthy baby will generally mean that the parents enjoy better quality sleep and aren’t simply ‘surviving’ on minimal rest. CST can help the babies find equilibrium with their sleep cycles by calming the nervous system. At Evolve, we love helping parents to resolve this common issue, leaving them to enjoy their baby so much more.

Behaviour – The cranial bones in our heads can become restricted or tight. This may feel like a tight headband around our skull, but often younger children or babies simply can’t express this, instead become restless or irritable. 

General Development/Gross Motor Skills – Many of our clients are surprised to learn that our nervous systems are integral to our ability to develop new skills. A tight nervous system can mean that all the child’s energy goes into maintaining the restrictions and pattern rather than on developing new pathways to learn new skills. Not meeting milestones in new skills such as learning to sit, crawl or walk is worthy of consultation – CST can assist in these developmental processes. 

We love CST for its non-invasive and really gentle treatment system. Absolutely safe for even the youngest member of your family, the beauty of it is the ability to move away from looking at the site of the symptoms to treating the whole system. 

Children and babies are one of life’s great joys and at Evolve, we love working with you to ensure your child has the best start in life, and the happiest, healthiest journey. Our expert therapists look forward to welcoming you into our calm clinic. Call +61 406 249 221 today or book an appointment online.