During delivery, the baby and mother go through quite an experience. Many mothers who give birth at home naturally have smooth, easy births. Many mothers also view their experience as an empowering, beautiful experience and would not characterize it as traumatic. Sometimes, the mother has a harder time, and chiropractic can help in both situations. During delivery, for all the mother did, the baby did with its head. So, even in mild births, the baby may need to be checked because the cranial bones in the baby’s skull shift over/under each other to make the baby’s head fit through the pelvis and birth canal. Often, these cranial bones will not fully shift back, and they can get “stuck,” causing a misshapen head, plagiocephaly, feeding issues, colic, etc. It’s important to regularly check the cranial bones through infancy to ensure they’re free-moving and the head is shaping nicely.
During labor and delivery, the baby passes through the mother’s pelvic bones and into the birth canal, getting in position. The baby is upside down, facing the mother’s back, with its head tucked down. This position allows the baby to pass through such a tight passage. The position is called occiput anterior and is what should happen. Sometimes, the baby can get stuck in the pelvis or have other positioning issues, so it’s essential to ensure the mother’s pelvis is well aligned to avoid these issues during labor and delivery.
NORMAL LABOR MOVEMENTS
The baby’s head changing positions is only the beginning. However, it is the main focus of this article because it illustrates the spinal contortions and possible subluxations that can happen during childbirth, which can be problematic if not corrected.
Engagement
- The widest part of the baby’s head enters the pelvis.
Descent
- The baby’s head moves down (descends) into the pelvis.
- Usually, descent occurs during labor.
Flexion
- During descent, the baby’s head is forced down so that the chin touches the chest.
Internal Rotation
- As the baby’s head descends, the head rotates so the back of the head is just below the mother’s pubic bone, helping the head fit the pelvic shape.
- As the baby’s head rotates, extends, and flexes during labor, the body stays in position with one shoulder down towards the mother’s spine and one shoulder up towards the belly.
Extension
- As your baby reaches the vaginal opening, the baby’s head is in contact with the mother’s pubic bone.
- This is where the birth canal curves upward, and the baby’s head is extended back, rotating under and around the pubic bone.
External Rotation
- As the baby’s head is delivered, it rotates about a quarter turn to align with the mother’s body.
Expulsion
- After the head is delivered, the top shoulder is delivered under the pubic bone.
- After the shoulder, the rest of the body is usually delivered without a problem.
In this process, you can understand how much can happen to a baby, and mother’s, body. Subluxation, or Vertebral Subluxation Complex, can happen for a variety of reasons:
- The head, neck, rest of the spine, and pelvis pull and twist during childbirth.
- The birth process can be difficult or stressful.
- Extraction aids can add to the trauma (forceps, vacuum, etc.).
- The baby is born Caesarian (bypassing the natural birth process)
It’s not just what happens during labor and delivery that creates the need for chiropractic care. Often, the lack of normal vaginal birth can mean that normal squeezing and purging didn’t happen. This can cause its own set of issues from early development into adulthood.
Breastfeeding and Colic/Fussiness
During delivery, problems caused by birth trauma often go unnoticed, and symptoms may not present themselves for a long time. However, sometimes you’ll a difficulty feeding, latching issues, colic, gas, constipation, plagiocephaly, frequent sickness, poor sleep, or failure to thrive. Parents can have Dr. Bronson check their baby to see if any misalignment has occurred. If so, a newborn adjustment is extremely gentle. Dr. Bronson uses about the same pressure as one would feel the ripeness of a tomato to adjust newborns. After the newborn phase, Dr. Bronson uses the Activator Technique which is also very gentle. Dr. Bronson believes in using only the amount of force needed to achieve proper alignment.
The importance of checking newborns is to mitigate issues caused by the birth process so that they do not fester and grow into problems, such as:
- Delayed motor milestones
- Delayed speech development
- Behavioral issues
- Frequent illness
- Anxiety and/or depression
- ADD/ADHD
- General poor health
With so much at stake, the mother and baby deserve to be checked. Schedule an appointment today!
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