Our chiropractic team believes in preventative health care and that babies should be able to be flexible, mobile and comfortable from the very start.  The purpose of the baby check is to examine the baby’s spine, cranial bones, hips and pelvis, and to assess the baby’s ability to feed.

We have worked with local midwives and pregnant women for a long time now and feel that this was an excellent opportunity to say 'thank you' to the Maternity Unit for the excellent work that they do.  Babies are incredibly flexible and resilient but sometimes they may lie awkwardly in the womb, i.e. because they are breech or are sharing the space with a twin.  This may cause tension in their postural muscles.

Long strenuous labours can also affect the muscles of the neck, shoulders and back and we feel that babies are just as important as grown-ups when it comes to being assessed.  We now know from research that back pain is very prevalent in schoolchildren and we therefore frequently visit local schools to talk to the children about correct posture and the benefits of exercise.

By checking newborns and giving parents advice on how to hold them, what positions they should lie in and evaluating their car seats, we are hoping we can give them useful tips to help the babies develop their motor functions and coordination.  We feel that babies need to be flexible and in good alignment in order to create the necessary movements for physical development, such as lifting the head, rolling over and crawling.  If the hips are stiff, it could be more of a challenge to use the various muscles to roll over from one side to the other.

One of the best ways to help babies lie better in the womb is for women to concentrate on their posture and their pelvic alignment whilst pregnant.  We therefore spend a lot of time empowering mothers-to-be by discussing how to sit, lie and exercise, as well as giving advice on specific postures to adopt in labour to encourage the baby to descend more easily.

Education is the key, and knowing that you can make a difference yourself is vital for the self confidence of a pregnant woman.  Uncertainty and fear can potentially tighten up the muscles in her back and pelvis, causing back and pelvic pain, which in turn may stop her exercising and moving freely.

It is so vital for pregnant women to feel comfortable and pain free.  We work closely with midwives and GPs in order to give mums, dads and babies the best advice and management possible.  We are a family practice and older siblings are of course welcome too.