What to expect at your infant's first chiropractic visit
Parents may feel nervous when bringing their baby to a chiropractor for the first time. It is understandable to fear the unknown! At Agape Family Chiropractic, we don't want parents to have to wonder what their child's first appointment will look like. Here are the key components for our new patient exam for infants:
1. Detailed History
We start with a detailed history, asking about your child's health as a whole (not just biomechanical complaints). We start with mom's pregnancy and continue through time to your child today. Early- life irritations and/or interferences in the nervous system can have impacts throughout the entire body, so we maintain a holistic approach in our analysis.
2. Postural Assessment
During the postural assessment, we look for tilts and/or rotations in your child's head, shoulders, and hips. For infants, we typically evaluate this while they are laying on their back. If your child has started walking, we will also look at the curvature of their spine from the side while standing.
3. Primitive Reflexes
Everyone remembers having a doctor tap their kneecap with a reflex hammer, but did you know that babies have their own set of unique reflexes? (If you were curious, we don't test knees until later in childhood.) Primitive reflexes appear and integrate (disappear) at different times in order to help your child through different phases of development. We test primitive reflexes in order to gain insight into how your child's neurology is developing. Reflexes that fail to integrate within a few months from the average may be a sign of stress in your child's nervous system.
4. Dural Tension
The dura is a sac that surrounds the spinal cord and attaches to the top and bottom of the spine (the upper neck and the tailbone). We evaluate dural tension by gently curling your baby's head forwards towards their legs. If there is excess dural tension, your baby may be prone to arching backwards, both while awake and asleep. Correcting misalignments in the spine can help relieve this tension and make your baby more comfortable.
5. Palpation of the Spine
In order to look for misalignments in the spine, we gently feel how the bones in the neck and back are moving. This can be done from a variety of different positions, which allows us to work wherever your child is most comfortable - laying face up or down in our infant pillow, laying face up or down on your lap, or even held in your arms.
6. Adjustment
If we find misalignments in your baby's spine, we will recommend an adjustment. Chiropractic adjustments for infants look very different from adjustments for adults! We adjust infants in a neutral position, using a sustained pressure that is similar to the pressure you would use to test the ripeness of an avocado. At the first visit, I typically demonstrate this pressure on the parent's wrist to give them an idea of what the adjustment would feel like for their baby.
There are many reasons why a parent would take their baby to a chiropractor. We hope this information helps give you a sense of what to expect at your child's first visit with us. If your baby has symptoms, or if you're looking to promote your baby's overall wellness, you can schedule an appointment for a chiropractic check up here.