The Osteopathic Treatment Of Babies And Children

The treatment of babies and children is central to the ethos of my practice. I was first treated myself by an Osteopath when I was about 12 years old - it made a huge impact on my health and well being helping me to recover from a longstanding (M.E. like) illness. It was at that point that I decided that Osteopathy and "body work" generally were to be my life's work. It was all ways entirely natural therefore to me that children and babies need Osteopathic Treatment and will benefit from it just as much as adults. I love to treat babies and children - they are such fun for a start! But it is so nice to see them getting better - and it is usually a three for one sort of deal as the baby / child feels better and the parents feel better because of that. Cranial Osteopathy is incredibly gentle which makes it ideal for the treatment of babies and children. I treat babies and children where I find them - on parents laps on the floor, sitting up or lying down - you have to be flexible both in technique and in body to treat children. And that's half the fun for me! I'm not one for standing on ceremony and being "too dignified" to get on the floor with a toddler and their toy train to treat them - if the child is comfy and happy the treatment is going to be better.

I'm all ways aware as I write these sections for the website that the treatment of an individual is the important thing - not the "type" of person or the name of a "disease" or a "condition" - that is the essential aspect of Holistic Medicine that makes it so different from the so called Conventional Medicine (I say so called because Conventional Medicine is really quite a new concept - only a couple of hundred years really - and is limited to the West. It is not the only way to understand and treat health and ill-health!) that we mostly come across. So when I list the kinds of conditions and diseases I may be able to help your baby or child to recover from or deal with don't think I'll be treating the problem - I'll all ways be helping your individual, unique baby / child to recover and achieve their potential in their own best way.

Many babies unfortunately have quite a traumatic time being born. They get stuck, they get squished and squashed, they get pulled out with forceps and ventouse delivery methods. It just shows how resilient babies are that they can go through all that and often be non the worse for wear. On the other hand sometimes the traumas of their births can affect babies in a myriad of ways. Our skulls are quite different as adults from how they were when we were born. We are born with spaces between the bones of the skull which allow the skull and head to be really squeezed, compressed and moulded in a most remarkable way during birth. Usually as soon as we are born we take our first, really huge, massively inflating breath and the pressure this generates in the chest helps to "inflate" the head - pushing out all the compression and squashedness that has accumulated in the head during the birth. Sometimes though the head has been compressed very unevenly and needs more than that first breath to help it on it's way - that is an area where Cranial Osteopathy can be very useful in helping babies to overcome injuries from their births. When the compression of the skull is left untreated it can sometimes cause a wide range of problems including poor drainage of the sinuses and ears (often leading to recurrent ear infections "glue ear" in children), sleep disturbance, irritability, poor feeding, colic and later some learning problems, speech and language issues and coordination problems (dyspraxia). All of these problems respond well to Cranial Osteopathic treatment in my experience.

The reason that compressions of the skull can have such far reaching consequence in an individual's health is that the skull houses the brain, the cranial nerves and the special sensory organs (eyes, nose, ears (hearing and balance) and mouth). The brain controls many of the basic processes of the body through the cranial nerves (especially the vagus). If the signals in the nerves get interfered with then the body will not work at optimum. It is one of the ways that a problem say in the base of the skull can upset your breathing or digestion - through the nerves. Other nerves work the tongue and mouth - so interference with those nerves can cause problems with feeding or later on with speaking. Purely mechanically if the bones of the skull are not free to move - the drainage of the spaces within them (sinuses and inner ear) will not be optimum leading to sinus problems and ear problems such as glue ear. Releasing the compression and stuckness in the cranial bones with Cranial Osteopathy can really help the baby or child to recover from the injury and achieve their potential.

I mentioned the role of a baby's very first breath in helping the infant skull to shuck off any compressions arising from the birth that it can. Often though we do not take our first breath in a very relaxed or ideal environment. We are often born into bright lights, noise and busy people milling through the room or can even be born by caesarean section which is a huge shock to the baby in itself. In these less than ideal circumstances the baby's first breath is often hurried, tight and shallow. the tension of that first panicked breath is often held in the abdomen and diaphragm muscle from that point on. There are many nerves coming out of the spine around the lower ribs and where the diaphragm muscle attaches into the front of the spine - these nerves can be interfered with if the diaphragm holds undue tension. The nerves in this area have a huge role in the proper, smooth functioning of digestion and other internal processes in our bodies. Cases of colic and other digestive upset can often be traced to this area. Allowing the baby to get that "first breath" experience is often all you need to do to help the baby's body to start to unravel its tensions into better health - and Cranial Osteopathy can really facilitate finding that "first breath" - even in adults.

I treat babies, children and young people at both of the clinics - in Hitchin, Hertfordshire and in Northwood, Middlesex. Generally at any one time about a quarter to a third of my patients will be babies and children. If a baby or child can be helped to optimum health now then they can hopefully enjoy better life long health.

Osteopathic sessions take place at the two clinics where David Kellett sees patients - 118 Whinbush Road, Hitchin, Hertfordshire SG5 1PN 01462 438622 and 28 Hallowell Road, Northwood, Middlesex HA6 1DA, 01923 827833. Workshops are held in David's studio at 33 High Street, Graveley, Hertfordshire SG4 7LA. David also offers individual or small group Franklin Method or other movement work sessions which are tailored to the clients needs. These individual sessions are great for children as well as adults. There are stairs to the studio so we are  sorry that there is not full disabled access. Please telephone David on 01462 438622 or email him at David Kellett DO, Franklin Method Teacher to book or for further information. People come a long way to see me sometimes (Hong Kong and Bombay have been the longest journeys so far!! - long story..........) but mostly people travel fairly locally. The Hitchin practice is easy to get to from anywhere in Herts like Letchworth Stevenage, Baldock, Royston, Welwyn, Hatfield, Hertford, Bedfordshire - like Luton, Dunstable and Bedford. and even further afield like Cambridge. The Northwood practice is easily accessible via the underground from London (Metropolitan Line), Harrow, Stanmore, Ruislip, Pinner, Watford and Hemel Hempstead.

If you would like to discuss something before making an appointment - you can leave a message with the receptionists at the telephone numbers above or you can email me David Kellett DO, Franklin Method Teacher . For appointments it is best to contact the receptionists by phone.