So many parents envision a very different experience than the one they get with their newborns. Instead of the relaxed, cuddly baby who just eats, sleeps, and poops, did you get a baby who arches, scream, and struggle to feed? Does your baby's head or neck look asymmetrical? Is it difficult to emotionally connect, to get enough rest, or do you feel like all your energy is going to just getting another ounce or two of weight gain onto your baby?

Craniosacral therapy is a wonderful tool for promoting ease, balance, and relaxation in babies. We imagine the baby's brain and spinal cord like a jellyfish.  Fluid called cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF, hydrates the whole system.  Releasing the restrictions in the fascia (which surrounds both individual muscles and groups of muscles) along the hips and spine so the motion in head and sacrum can be full is the goal of CST. So this jellyfish in fluid of course is encased in small skull and spinal bones which are not fully fused yet. (Babies' heads and brains don't come out fully developed - that would be creepy! So the birthing process can put pressure on certain parts of the skull, while other parts don't get much molding)  With craniosacral, putting just a few ounces of pressure on these small bones (especially where there are ridges or gaps which are not the typically soft spots) with the intention of taking pressure off the jellyfish allows the parts of the skull to move more easily. 

Babies absolutely LOVE receiving craniosacral therapy. They often sleep right through their sessions, and are known to have a big blowout and a long nap right after their session. Once we identify the baby's major patterns, we show parents or caregivers stretches or exercises to help balance baby out even more at home. This helps baby's brain to have room to grow and develop to its full potential.

Reach out for more information or to schedule a session!

Will my baby’s misshapen head cause her more problems? How did it get that way? What can I do to fix it? Does he really need a helmet? Is the human head evolving? These questions and many more are ones I often hear while working on babies.

An infant’s head consists of 8 cranial bones and 14 facial skeleton bones. They are not fused like we perceive an adult’s to be. We may know about our baby’s soft spots, but if you carefully feel your baby’s head, you may notice some ridging of bones, as well as some small gaps in between bones, and in some cases even flat spots. In an ideal world, these would all be even with room for the brain to grow evenly, and room to exit for each cranial nerve, which control important functions such as vision and latching, sucking, and swallowing.

When I started working on babies in 2005, the babies’ heads and upper necks usually just took a few gentle touches in a few visits to even out. I’m grateful to have all the experience, because the heads of infants have gotten much more complicated! Plagiocephaly, the medical name for asymmetry in the growing head of an infant, was found in 46.6% of 205 babies in one study done in 2013. Compare that to the 1990’s, when it was estimated that only 1/60 babies had plagiocephaly. Certainly in 2022 that number keeps growing. 

Why are babies born with such a higher incidence of plagiocephaly? First of all, traumatic birth is increasing. An increase in the number of emergency C-sections, forceps and vacuum extractions, and difficult labor in general can cause asymmetrical molding, or even pulling of the certain parts of the cranium in the birth canal. Sometimes even before the birth, a baby’s malposition (such as breech, posterior, or asynclitic/tilted) in the birth canal or uterus is what makes the birth process more difficult.  After such a birth and/or pregnancy, baby may have misaligned neck, tight neck and shoulder muscles.  This usually looks like a preference to turn their head all the way in one direction, tilt to the side, or arch their back. As baby stays in their favored position over time, flat spots emerge on his or her head. Lastly, tongue and lip ties, which pull on the tissues within the head, can cause an increase in asymmetry.

All that to say... in most cases with an uneven head, baby often has trouble with feeding, latch. He or she may swallow lots of air and have uncomfortable digestion, gas, or reflux. Colicky babies often cry lots, and sleep may be difficult to come by.  So it's not just a cosmetic issue, it can feel like having an infant this fussy and picky is making family life exhausting!

Correction today can be a bit more work than the average baby 15-20 years ago, but most cases are able to be solved in a few weeks to a few months with gentle craniosacral, chiropractic adjustments, and an at-home stretching protocol taught to caregivers. Babies love this work, and the side effects usually include more sound sleeping, bigger and more frequent bowel movements, and a more peaceful demeanor.  To find out more, fill out the contact us form below!

Part 2 coming next week: more about craniosacral, how it works, and why it can help so much

Babies are born with an increasing prevalence of lip and/or tongue tie (aka tethered oral tissues or TOTS). While it would seem that this would affect only matters of feeding, these ties create pulling in the soft tissues to which they attach. This tugging can affect almost every aspect of a small infant’s life: tightness in their jaw and cheek muscles means baby sucks in extra air which can look like reflux, digestive issues, and excessive crying or colic.  The tethering of the tissues can affect the shape of the inner or outer parts of her head and can cause restrictions in the airway (this can look like mouth breathing, sinus/adenoid issues, and baby snoring). Your baby may prefer to turn their head only one way (torticollis) which can create imbalances in the head (plagiocephaly) if he or she is constantly lying in the same position. 

How do I know if my baby has tongue or lip ties? TOTS can look like this :

Baby's lip may tuck under while at the breast or sucking on a bottle.The other big telltale signs (other than the fussiness, latch problems, and asymmetries in infants) look like a hyper gag reflex, and LOTS of hiccuping. 

What can I do if my baby has ties? First of all, it is best to see a pediatric dentist specializing in TOTS or a gentle ENT for a diagnosis, and release of the tethered oral tissues.

How do I help my baby prepare for the revision and reorganize sucking after? Baby needs body work to help integrate the changes after the tie has been released. The sudden release of a very restricted area creates more open space and potentially some instability in that area.  This area benefits greatly from passive reorganization, particularly in the case of latch problems, torticollis, or lots of spinal arching. We specialize in very gentle but specific adjustments to the upper neck that can help restore normal motion. Parents are amazed at how gentle this is, similar to checking for the ripeness of a tomato! In addition to these crucial adjustments, Dr. Erin is skilled in craniosacral therapy, which she uses to help your baby’s head and soft tissues surrounding it to open up. Dr. Erin loves to empower parents to help their babies.  She will teach you stretches and exercises that you can do at home to balance your baby’s asymmetry.

What if I choose not to or my provider doesn’t want to release my baby’s lip or tongue ties? Each mom knows her child best. Weight gain for infants, and the comfort of mom and baby with feeding are most crucial when weighing whether or not to release. If baby and mom are both comfortable, other factors to consider include future dental work, the degree to which baby’s airway is open, and baby’s baseline level of tension.

We would love to see if we can help you acclimate to your growing family by helping baby find more comfort!

When the vast majority of adults start chiropractic care with me (and I say adults because yes, a significant portion of my practice is children!), they find their way to my office because they have tried a number of remedies for their pain. But that pesky pain just won't go away. It's there when they are trying to sleep at night. It keeps them from picking up their grandbaby, or joining their friends for the round of golf, or from being able to stay on task at work.

It is very natural that we blame our pain for the problems it creates. We all want to do ALL THE THINGS we want to do. 

But what of instead of our pain being the problem, we can learn to see pain as a red flag. That pain is there to tell us something. Pain lets us know that something needs to change in our lives. Whether that is a simple fix, like changing position if your leg falls asleep, or something more complex like running to the ER with severe abdominal pain, your pain is always a signal. 

If your oil light came on the car, would you cover it up rather than go get your oil changed? Of course not! But many of us try to go on with our regular lives by covering up our aches and pains with medications, heat, or some other rememdy without addressing the cause of that pain. 

In my practice, your pain is information for us to help you achieve wellness and healing, but getting rid of it is never my goal. Instead, I use many indicators within your spine and your body to tell me where the pain might be coming from. When I can take the pressure off the spine and spinal cord (that pressure is often what causes the tight muscles, the pain, the restrictions), your body comes out of defense mode and can begin to heal. This doesn't always mean that the biggest symptom goes away first! We never know how quickly, or in what order symptoms will leave the body.  But if we focus on our attention on allowing healing to flow, on taking the body out of fight or flight, we know you will ultimately heal and feel better.

Our techniques are very gentle and relaxing to the body and muscles! We focus on creating peaceful connections within your brain and body and releasing tension from your spinal cord. For more information, contact us! 

Hey Arlington, what’s up Viridian?! With 15 years of experience specializing in gentle care of children and expecting mamas, my family and I excitedly arrived into our community a few months ago with intention and hope to help families experience great health during what is stressful time for many.

While we adjust to our big move from Minnesota to Texas, I will be operating in a small home practice here in Viridian. Clients can come right to our front door and will be led into a private cozy office space.

A bit about me: I am married to Andrew, a Plano native, and we have two elementary aged girls (Go Vipers!). Our family loves rock climbing, music, swimming, and good food. You've probably seen me walking all around Viridian by myself or with my family and our two dogs.

I am unabashedly a lover of babies and kids! My practice interests include working with women who are expecting and hoping to experience a comfortable pregnancy and have the best delivery possible, helping families build up their immune systems, helping people who want to find more ease in their brain and body, working with kids who have challenges with brain development/neurodevelopmental disorders, and delivering gentle adjusments and craniosacral therapy to infants, babies with tongue and lip tie (and the torticollis, colic, reflux, etc. that develops with it). 

To find out more about us, fill out the contact us form below, or you can book our website at www.coherencechiropractic.janeapp.com

Which is true when dealing with illness or disease, "mind over matter" -or- do every tissue, cell and organ need to be healed/detoxed/balanced/fixed? Can both be right, or even connected?

We've all heard how our gut is our second brain, right?  How the bacteria in our gut, the foods we eat, etc. can make a huge difference in our clarity, energy, and connectedness? Candace Pert, a PhD and researcher of neuroscience and pharmacology who studied the mind-body connection and wrote hundreds of articles, took it even further in her book 'Your Body is your Subconscious Mind'  with this powerful phrase..."Your mind is in every cell of your body."

The body uses your spinal cord to communicate information constantly to your brain about your environment, through all of our sensory systems. Your spinal cord and its tension and tone tell your brain whether you're safe and can explore/play/work, or whether you need to be on guard for danger. The brain listens to these signals subconsciously and makes appropriate decisions based on the information it gets. As we are learning, and even the CDC says, 90% of illness is stress related.  Could it be that old thought patterns, or old tension patterns in the spine from something that happened years ago are creating our present reality of illness, pain, or stress?

The brain can make very powerful and instantaneous shifts that create spontaneous healing. Also, changing the state of your body (improving your posture, doing breath work, shaking meditations, etc.) have huge effects on both your brain and your body. So what's better, working from the body up to the brain, or focusing your conscious brain on healing your body?

In my opinion, BOTH! However, since less than 10% of our brain is under conscious control, we will have much more effective ways of processing either a trauma or an illness when involving your body, especially the spinal cord. 

The work we do focuses on the connection between your body and your mind, very gently removing interference to help your brain AND your body be at their best. If you are interested in optimizing your bodymind, fill out the Contact Us form to the side!

Who else has had moments where bright lights, loud noises, a terrible smell, or even stress has made you want to curl up in the closet or under the bed?  That is the perfect example of sensory information - a touch, smell, sound, sight, or taste - that is TOO much for your brain to handle at any given moment. This reminds me of a fully blown fuse box - information/power can't get to and from your brain, just like the power source.  Everything needs to shut down.

Last week we spoke about the behavior of children as a window to their developing brain. We asked... what happens that  might cause the brain to develop with gaps, or get stuck in a stage of development?

We know that if a child is not touched, never sees light or hears sounds, or doesn't receive proper food, he or she will not develop normally. Proper sensory information builds a healthy brain. So what carries that information from all of our bodies (to tell the brain what's happening in the environment)?  The back part of the brain and top of the spinal cord. As a chiropractor, we detect and correct neurostructural shifts, or subluxations, in this upper part of the spine. 

A neurostructural shift occurs as a result of stress to the body. Stressors can come in many forms: emotional stress (like friend struggles or a yelling parent or teacher), physical stress (slips, carrying heavy back packs, sitting too much, being on screens), and chemical stress (air pollution, poor nutrition, polluted water) etc.  When the stress is too much, the fuse blows. Altered movement in the upper spine, which often happens due to a difficult pregnancy or delivery, as well as from head injuries, keeps information from getting to the brain, or alters the sensory information that the brain receives.

If the fuse has been blown, there will be clues. Some of these are what happened along your child's development: perhaps they crawled on three limbs and dragged a leg behind. Did they respond to their name before age 1? Did she skip gesturing and take several years to speak in sentence? Maybe their pencil grip is on the thumb and fourth finger instead of the thumb and pointer.

More clues show up in our chiropractic exam: the way the child holds their head, moves their body, and changes in their structure and muscles. If we find these clues and the upper spine has a blown fuse, we can help by very specifically and gently (with the force of checking ripeness of tomato) correcting the neurostructural shift. If the input to your child's brain is not appropriate and proper, we HAVE to deal with this piece first. This tills the soil to the developing brain so it can learn and grow. Any other treatment is likely to overwhelm or create more imbalances in the brain.

Are you seeing clues that your child might have a blown fuse box? Would you like a complimentary consult to discuss the gaps in your child's development or some behaviors that concern you? Please fill out our contact us form

Does your kid climb constantly? Hum loudly in coffee shops? Have a hard time sitting still in church, school, plays, etc? Touch strangers?  As parents we often see these behaviors as problems that require discipline. However, the more I study brain development, the more I realize these are the best clues our kids give us as to where their brain is at and needs more stimulation.

What we know about brain development is that human babies are born before much of their brain development occurs. As the brain matures, it opens up like a flower: from the bottom up, from the back to the front, from the inside to out, from right to left, like a flower. 

The brain comes with primitive tools to help each baby survive in its environment: a rooting reflex to help it find food, the urge to hold on to the hands of it's loving family members, and dad's favorite: a strong startle reflex. As your child's brain develops like a flower, it will develop more sophisticated tools to engage with the world. Baby can begin to creep, crawl, walk, talk, develop fine motor skills, more advanced eye movements and will eventually use visual cues for cognition about the best way to be in his or her environment. The visualization eventually helps kids be able to decode abstract symbols (READ!), predict the future, "see" future outcomes, and create order. 

Very often, when children are having trouble with higher executive function, or we see "unwanted" behaviors, this is giving us a clue to where their brain is at in its development. Next week, we will discuss  the next logical question - what does this have to do with chiropractic? What affects brain development?  What could have impacted brain development or kept it from moving through all the stages?

If you are interested in a complimentary phone consult to discuss your child's development, please contact us using the form!

Anyone else feeling those winter blues? We made it through the stressful holidays! But if you're like me, you did it probably eating not the healthiest foods, and getting enough sleep. On top of stress, we've had only a little light for the last few months, which might lead many of us to feel like we need to move more slowly (or less), sleep more, or may be getting into a Netflix rut.

Did you know that chiropractic is a great way to create more energy and efficiency in your body?! A misalignment near the top or bottom of your spine can essentially "blow the fuse" of information going to your brain. Getting that corrected can help increase your ability to deal with stress. It also getes your body out of fight or flight, so you may sleep better or more deeply. Also, with less muscle tension and pain post-adjustment, this leaves more energy for you to live your best life in 2020!