Milly was brought to the clinic by her mother Sally when she was just three weeks old. She reported that the Milly was generally fretful, unsettled and was distressed during feeding for up to one hour afterwards. She occasionally vomited and only passed a motion every couple of days. Despite being very vocal when she was distressed, Milly’s cry was very quiet and she sounded like a kitten mewing. Sally’s Health Visitor had suggested that osteopathic treatment might help Milly.

Birth history
Little Milly had experienced a very traumatic birth. Sally’s labour was difficult and long, but Milly didn’t descend properly for a long time. When she did, everything happened extremely quickly and Milly was born in the wrong presentation - facing the wrong way (back to back) and she was blue due to a loop of umbilical cord wrapped tightly round her neck.

Examining Milly
When osteopathically examining Milly, it was obvious that she had some very noticeable imbalances and torsion (twists) through her body. She also favoured turning her head to the right, with a lot of muscle tension in her shoulders and neck. All through her frontal bones (forehead) there was compression and congestion from her position during labour, which was quite likely to be giving her headaches. Poor Milly had great tension throughout her abdomen too.

The cord around her neck appeared to have caused massive compression to the structures in her neck and throat resulting in damage to the tissues (muscles, ligaments, nerves, etc) as well as compressing her throat causing her little kitten-like cry. Additionally the cord had pulled hard on its attachment at her umbilicus (tummy button), which had set up tensions and strain throughout her abdominal muscles and her digestive system. Also the nerves that control the digestive system and others were irritated & compressed in the neck during delivery too, giving Milly all sorts of discomfort and irritation.

Treatment aims
The aim of treatment for little Milly was to support her recovery from her traumatic birth, both with a short series of osteopathic treatment and some advice for her parents to use at home.

Treatment at the clinic was to very gently reduce the unhealthy tension and twists in her tissues around her neck, shoulders and back; to reduce the irritation to the nerves of digestion, and to relieve the compression through the bones at the front of her head. The techniques used were gentle, safe, non-invasive paediatric and cranial osteopathy techniques.

Sally was shown some special massage techniques for Milly’s abdomen, and given advice to encourage Milly to change from her favoured head position.

Milly’s response to treatment
I am pleased to say that Milly responded fantastically to treatment, improving week by week. By the time she was discharged after five weekly sessions, she had a much louder cry (much to Sally’s delight at night time feeds!); she could feed comfortably and was generally a more settled and happy baby. The tension around her neck and shoulders had resolved, and her digestive system was functioning normally. Sally was delighted with Milly’s improvement and felt that osteopathy really helped her daughter to return to good health quickly.

For more information on osteopathy for children please click the link below:

Traumatic Birth

Written by Zena Hewett, Registered Osteopath. To contact Zena, please click here