Pregnancy, Newborns and Chiropractic
What changes, for both of them, along the path of birth?
Pregnancy and a newborn's first months of life are two phases of one physical journey shared by mother and baby. During the nine months, the future mother's body transforms rapidly: weight increases, the center of gravity shifts forward, and the pelvis prepares mechanically for birth through a hormonal release (relaxin) that increases its mobility.
Birth itself, even when it happens without complications, is an intense mechanical event for both: for the mother, it is the culmination of months of postural adaptation; for the newborn, it is the first great physical stress of life, with head and neck subjected to pressure and twisting to pass through the birth canal.
Why might mother and baby need attention during and after pregnancy?
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In the mother, weight gain and increased joint mobility due to hormones can leave the pelvis in a mechanical imbalance even after birth, often the cause of the persistent postpartum back pain that many women suffer in the following months.
In the newborn, the same event, passage through the birth canal, can sometimes leave residual muscle tension in the neck, which parents notice as a marked preference for turning the head to one side only (positional plagiocephaly), difficulty breastfeeding on one side, or persistent crying with no apparent cause.
In both cases, the cause has the same mechanical origin: a body that has adapted to a major physical event, and that can benefit from help in regaining its balance.
So what causes these problems in mother and baby?
In the mother, low back and pelvic pain after pregnancy arises from the combination of accumulated load, a pelvis not yet realigned and weakened abdominal muscles.
In the baby, residual cervical muscle tension from birth can limit the head's freedom of movement in one direction, a phenomenon that a newborn's body, still extremely plastic, tends to compensate for, but which benefits from being identified early, in the first months of life.
What can you do for me?
At Studio Chiropratico Belig in Florence, we accompany families along this whole journey, with a different but consistent approach for each phase.
During pregnancy, we use gentle techniques specifically adapted to each trimester to maintain pelvic balance and reduce the load on the lumbar spine. Many mothers continue treatment throughout pregnancy, not only when pain appears.
After birth, pediatric chiropractic assessment has nothing to do with the manipulations used on adults. On newborns, extremely gentle pressure is used, comparable to that used to check the ripeness of a fruit.
The aim is to promote symmetrical, free movement of the head, also supporting parents with practical guidance on positioning and breastfeeding.
