Crater Chiropractic Newsletter |
March 2008 www.craterclinic.com |
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Adjusting the Newborn Adjusting a newborn infant may be one of the most significant and rewarding events that we get to perform in our offices. It is a shame that so many chiropractors take this event so lightly that they never convey the specialness to the parents or even to themselves. The new parent has given you the ultimate compliment, in allowing you to adjust their newborn. Remember that parents of newborns (especially first time parents) have a tremendous amount of fear involving the care for their child. Many good chiropractic patients will still hesitate to get their newborn adjusted because of the fear of hurting them. Do not blame the parent. This is a normal parental instinct. After all, wouldn't you do anything to protect your child? Many times this fear is justified. Start thinking like a patient. If I went to a chiropractor who used high velocity osseous techniques on me, and I never got to witness first hand an adjustment on a child, I would be frightened that the adjustment could hurt the child. But, if the chiropractor took the time to give me a demonstration of how the child is adjusted, I would feel more at ease. Use a doll or use pinkie pressure on the arm of the adult to show the amount of force used on an infant. They'll them that the adjustment is so gentle that a sleeping child may not even wake up during the adjustment. If you are a parent, indicate to the patient that you adjust your own children and would not do something to their child that you have not already done to your own. Perform the adjustment on the newborn with care, respect and love. move your hands slowly and only take the baby from the parent with permission and reverence. We will talk more about techniques in a future article. If the child is awake, look into the eyes of the child and contact the soul of the baby. Communicate on an innate to innate level. many a time I'll literally start to cry as I observe the beauty of this precious soul. Take a picture of this first adjustment. After all it is a major event in the life of this family. Sending a thank-u-gram to the baby that evening is a way of acknowledging it as a real person. Something like, "Thank you for allowing me the honor of giving you your first chiropractic adjustment. you are special and have very special parents." This is usually one of the first items in the baby book. Be especially careful to not frighten the child. Things that can frighten a child are: speaking too loudly, walking toward them too fast, moving your hands too quickly, speaking with too deep of a voice, having the parent's reflect their fear on the child, and of course, adjusting too roughly. Once you frighten a child it will take months to regain their trust. I have observed many chiropractors ruin the relationship with the family by doing exactly what we preach not to do. Their actions tell the parents that we do not consider the baby a real person. We treat the infant cavalierly and with no more compassion than that of holding an inanimate object instead of a tiny piece of God. When the patients know that you care for their child as if it is your own, then you will not only have their loyalty and commitment, but the universe will send you countless numbers of babies. After all, God always protects and loves his children. And he always wants the best for them. Armand Rossi is a former pediatric instructor at Life University and an instructor in the ICPA Pediatric Chiropractic Certification program. He is in private practice in Margate Florida and has been a member since 1994. |
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