Smooch - 16 months - Annnnd One More "Plug" for Chiropractic Care

It's been awhile since I've had a smooch update. In fact, I haven't even recorded all of the benefits of her chiropractic care.  Here is a testimonial I wrote for our chiropractor, Dr. E. (w/ names omitted):

My daughter N’s first birthday came and went, and still she was not even close to crawling. She also wasn’t scooting, rolling, or going from laying to sitting without assistance. She was “stuck” and growing increasingly upset about it. Additionally - seemingly unrelated - N constantly struggled with constipation.

We sought physical therapy for our daughter, who showed no signs of delay in any other area besides gross motor skills. She began therapy around 14 months of age. N did well, and began to make steady progress, sitting up from the floor on her own, and getting extremely close to crawling. However, she seemed to strongly dislike being in the crawling position, and she had “hit a wall” in her progress. With incessant coaxing, N would move her arms and her right leg, but she would not move her left leg.

As I began to observe her movements more closely, I became suspicious about that left leg. I took her to see Dr. E at S Chiropractic, and she was able to observe that N’s pelvis was out of alignment to the point that it was limiting the movement of her left hip and leg. After her first adjustment, N moved her left leg in the crawling position on her own for the first time that day. She never again fussed about being in that previously uncomfortable position. N began to crawl independently three days later, and has been happily into everything ever since.

Also, she no longer struggles with constipation. At all. Looking back, I suspect that she may have been out of alignment since birth as she experienced an unusually quick descent down the birth canal, and had always been somewhat constipated (even when exclusively breastfed) something that never concerned her pediatrician. Bottom line: I just can’t believe we didn’t take her to the chiropractor sooner!

And I thought of one thing that I forgot to mention in my testimonial:  Smooch, who had been under close watch by her pediatrician because of her lower-than-average weight gain, is now officially back on the charts.  She had a well-check today and weighed in at 20 lbs. 6.5 oz. which puts her in the 5th-10th percentile for weight, and makes her growth curve spike.  I can't remember if she was 17 or 18 lbs at 14 months, but either way, that is excellent weight-gain for this age, especially for being newly mobile (when  many babies level-off for a time).   For my record, she's 30.5 inches, in the 25th - 50th percentile for height.  And by the way, I don't put a lot of weight in percentiles, but it is interesting information nonetheless.

Smooch noticeably put on weight the week following her first chiropractic adjustment.  A friend of mine even commented on her increased chub-a-chub.  It seems that the digestive issues that were tied her to constipation may have also been the cause of her mediocre weight gain to some extent.  Part of it could be genetic - I was a tiny little thing myself until I reached toddlerhood.  However, the timing and rapid increase of her weight leads me to believe that it was an issue that, once again, her chiropractic care has solved.

I'm pretty sure the pediatrician thought I was a crazy hippie mom when I explained the whole story of her success with chiropractic care to him.  Someone please remind me why I even bother with traditional "well child" visits in the first place.  I guess I figure it doesn't hurt a thing since it is 100% covered by our insurance without even a co-pay required from us.  However, I find it annoying that all they have really done for us is make note of Smooch's challenges without offering a solution.  For example, Smoochie's constipation was terrible for her, but her doctor didn't find it concerning (and didn't do anything for it  - which was better than shoving some med at us for sure). 

I, however, am a firm believer that the "small" things are all too often indications of a possible greater issue.  In our case, it was that her pelvis was out of alignment.  In my niece's case it was food allergies.  It seems that traditional medicine does not care to discover the root of an issue and truly solve it, rather just alleviate symptoms.  I think doctors mean well, but they are just trained that way.  In many cases, it is all the patient really wants - immediate relief from an uncomfortable symptom.  Well not me.  I'm glad that the Lord has given me the ability to analyze and persist in discovering root causes because it has paid off with our children time and time again. 

Okay.  End of rant.

I'll end this little Smooch update post by saying that the girl is getting mighty close to walking accept that she's too chicken.  She's pulling up on everything now (whereas last week she was very picky about what she was willing to allow to support her weight).  And if she doesn't realize she's doing it, she will let go of whatever she is holding onto and stand independently for a few seconds.  I wouldn't be surprised if she held out another month or even two, but if our Smooch-a-roo would put on her brave face, I bet she could do it next week.