Cure for Baby’s Reflux | Scottsdale Chiropractor

It’s archives week here at SMB.  Here’s one from our early days:

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I told you about how the chiropractor helped me with having a baby.  But, let me tell you how he helped my baby once she got here.

Seriously, I still wonder if it wasn’t a fluke.  Did bringing Reagan to Dr. Jones really make her reflux better?  All signs point to yes.  But, hey, you tell me.

Reagan’s Day #1 was so wonderful.  Full of all the highs of welcoming a new baby.  Only, she was projectile vomiting.  (Oh, sorry.  I should have warned you that this post isn’t about lace and flowers.) 

Of course, I asked the pediatrician, the nurse and the lactation consultant at Scottsdale Shea Hospital what was going on.  Is this normal?  What is the matter?  It seems painful and annoying and messy!  My husband worried that she would drown herself in her own spit-up.  (Apparently this is not a rational concern:-)

We brought her home.  More spit-up and more puddles of gooey baby ooze all over me, my furniture and baby.  After just a few days of parenthood, we were masters of the burp-cloth-draw.

I went in to two more pediatrician appointments they suggested drugs and gas drops.  Well, my friend, she couldn’t keep anything down long enough for those meds to help at all.  We went to a gastrointestinal doctor.  More drugs.  Nothing is working.  This kid is two weeks old and he’s talking about the potential of surgery, drugs and I wanted to scream because the drugs don’t help because… did I mention she’s throwing up just about everything she’s taking in?

Sigh.

So, I headed over to Dr. Jones.  Seriously, it was an afterthought.  It was a “well, it’s worth a shot” attempt.  The only reason I knew that he might be able to help her was a brief conversation I had with him during my prenatal adjustments.  He told me stories of toddlers with ear infections, colds and babies with reflux that he had helped and sent on their way.  Almost in a race to beat the doubting pediatricians.

I brought her in the first time.  He said that her spine, just between her shoulder blades were misaligned just so that all he needed to do was touch it softly and the rubbery spine would line back up.  Once her back is strong enough to support her head, he told me, that would help her reflux from coming back.

Weird.

He said that the nerve that controls the muscle that hold food down (esophageal sphincter) runs near the vertebrae between the shoulder blades (the cervical vertebrae).  So, if the spine is misaligned, then it can cause reflux.  It took about two months for her to be completely “over it.”  We went in a couple of times per week, but it was well worth it.

You may want to know what did he DO to her?

She just sat in her car seat and he took his fingers and gently touched her back.  He said correcting the vertebrae is like pushing your tongue against your cheek and pushing it down with your finger.

I’m just as surprised at the story as you are.  

P.S. I have a friend who’s newborn had the same problem with reflux and also got better quickly with Dr. Jones touch.

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Joy is the Co-founder of Scottsdale Moms Blog and absolutely loves living in Scottsdale with her hubby Kevin, their daughter Reagan (born August 2009) and their son Elliot (born May 2011).  She is a lover of nature, a research analyst on all things related to life, a home manager, a crafty art-eest, Chief Marketing Officer for Cactus CrossFit, mommy, daughter and friend.