If this is your first post you’re ever reading or if you need a refresher, you should go back and read the following:
If you don’t feel like reading that many posts…start from Week 7..this post will pick up smoothly from there…
Our chiropractor appointment was finally here. I was so anxious and excited to get this process started.
The chiropractor called us back and proceeded to ask me the basic questions.
I informed her the main reason is she would not take a bottle and I have to go back to work…for a second time.
She was working on her as we were talking and immediately asked if she was gassy. To that I replied, absolutely, yes. She said she could feel how bloated and distended her stomach was. I told her the gassiness was worse at night. She would semi wake up in the middle of the night and just wiggle around and grunt and groan until she would get something out.
The chiropractor recommended that we get her started on a probiotic to get things moving along a little better. The lactation consultant had recommended this as well, but I never did anything about it. She gave me one she had in the office it was in powder form. I was just to dip my finger in the powder and put it in her cheek. We would slowly work up to a small scoop that was included in the medicine. With the probiotics, I was supposed to start slow to make sure she didn’t have any adverse reactions to them.
She then wanted to know about my pregnancy, labor, delivery, anything that was pertinent.
The lactation consultant had asked me about all of these things as well. I told the lactation consultant that everything was fairly normal; 7 hour labor, unmedicated delivery, nothing out of the ordinary.
The chiropractor said she was showing classic signs of coming out with her chin up instead of tucked. This is when it all started to click.
I had honestly already completely forgotten about the fact that she came out facing my leg because she was semi-posterior. A huge reason for babies to be posterior is because their chin is not tucked.
So many people have talked about her head control and how good it is because she holds her head straight up in the air.
It’s because she literally cannot do anything else with her neck and head. Her neck is so tight from coming out in such an unnatural position. Anything that makes her put her chin to her chest; a bouncer, a car seat, she absolutely hate because it literally hurts her.
So, all this time we have thought she had such great head control, it was basically a lie.
All of this was just the beginning of a wealth of MORE information that I was about to get.
She looked in her mouth and essentially found the same things the lactation consultant found, but also told me she was cheek tied.
The chiropractor proceeded to do some more adjustments and we just kinda of made small talk. She was doing very gentle massage on her whole body basically. Well, when Jolee would let her, she would. She said she wasn’t making much progress because Jolee was so stiff and tight from all of the gas built up inside her.
I felt it was the right time to ask the question that I knew couldn’t be answered.
How long until she will take a bottle?
I told her that I was completely aware that every child is different, but, what was the average length of time until we see some progress?
She said we would see some significant progress in just 2 weeks. But she obviously couldn’t give me a time frame as to when she would take the bottle.
Out of curiosity, I asked her how many time she saw babies like this? She said, all the time.
It just blows my mind. I never EVER heard of this with my other two, and now here I am with Jolee and apparently it’s super common.
I’m very thankful this is a normal thing and a hopefully easy and fast fix. But I’m also super intrigued about this.
She put us on the schedule for 4 weeks. For those 4 weeks, we would see a cranialsacral therapist whom is in the chiropractor’s office. The cranialsacral therapist is someone who offers another form of therapy. I’m very unfamiliar with this.
When the cranialsacral therapist is finished, the chiropractor will join us in the same room and complete her adjustment. They will compare notes and make sure that everyone is on the same page.
I thoroughly enjoy that multiple people have their eyes on Jolee. It’s so nice to have multiple opinions to ensure everyone is on the same page.
She left me with some things that I can do at home with her to help:
- Continue doing rainbows on the roof of her mouth.
- Add in rainbows to both cheeks.
- LOTS of tummy time.
- Inversions. Basically this is me slowly taking her from an upright position to hanging upside down. It sounds kind of terrible, but it’s not. It’s easy and gentle. This will help with loosening her neck up.
I am happy that we have found some alternative therapy that will help. But I am also so ready for this shit to be over with.
