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import Article from "@/components/Article";
import { Metadata } from "next";
export const metadata: Metadata = {
title: "Article - Treatment for the Newborn | Dr. Feely",
authors: [{ name: "Richard A. Feely, D.O., FAAO, FCA, FAAMA" }],
description: `For centuries, in many parts of the world, highly trained birth
attendants have seen it as part of their job to correct the stresses that
birth has placed in the body of the newborn. This constitutes an
acknowledgment that birth is a difficult process and that measures can be
taken after birth to assist the baby in its recovery.`,
};
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const ArticlePediatricTreatmentForNewborns = () => {
return (
<Article
title="Treatment for the Newborn"
author="Richard A. Feely, D.O., FAAO, FCA, FAAMA"
>
<p>
For centuries, in many parts of the world, highly trained birth
attendants have seen it as part of their job to correct the stresses
that birth has placed in the body of the newborn. This constitutes an
acknowledgment that birth is a difficult process and that measures can
be taken after birth to assist the baby in its recovery.
</p>
<p>
In industrialized nations of Northern Europe and North America, birth
has been seen as an event that either leaves no negative impact upon the
baby or one whose complications, whatever they may be, must be accepted
and endured by both child and family.
</p>
<p>
Since the late 1800s, when osteopathy became a medical discipline in the
United States, osteopathic physicians have assisted babies in their
recovery from the birth experience, thereby helping to promote the best
possible health and development of the child.
</p>
<p>
Osteopathy is a medical discipline focusing on re-establishing and
maintaining the natural relationships of bones, muscles, membranes,
tissues and fluids within the body. Osteopathic manipulative treatment
promotes the body's ability to function, develop and heal itself by
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addressing problems found in these structural components.
</p>
<p>
Many older children experiencing learning or behavioral difficulties
have a history of a traumatic birth or early childhood head blows which
went uncorrected. Children who suffer from recurrent ear or sinus
infections frequently have a similar medical history. Although it is
most useful to address the structural problems originating in the birth
process shortly after birth, much improvement in the child's condition
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can be seen if treatment is initiated later.
</p>
<h2>The Birth Process</h2>
<p>
Birth often results in harmful structural changes. The likelihood of
trouble increases when the labor and delivery is prolonged or augmented
by pitocin or when forceps or vacuum extractions are necessary. In
vaginal delivery, the infant skull is asked to make its passage through
too small a space. In response, the bones of the skull overlap to
decrease the size of the head, and often do not return to their natural
positions after delivery. In order to travel through the birth canal,
the infant's head must bend markedly backwards. This puts pressure on
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two nerves (vagal and hypoglossal) which can result in the colic and
sucking disturbances often seen in newborns.
</p>
<p>
Although C-section babies are spared some of the complications of
vaginal deliveries, they are also robbed of some of the benefits. The
transit down the birth canal applies a variety of pressures on the
infant's head which help to free it from the shape it was molded to in
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utero. The transit through the birth canal also compresses and
re-expands the chest wall preparing the baby to breathe and to clear
fluid from the lungs.
</p>
<p>
Once the baby is born, osteopathic physicians hope to hear a fairly
immediate and powerful birth cry. Fetal life would be fraught with low
oxygen levels if it were not for the mother's higher blood hemoglobin
levels and the baby's faster heart rate. The transition from life
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outside is a critical time in which the baby loses its maternal support
and must provide for its own oxygen.
</p>
<p>
A strong birth cry probably serves two crucial functions. It opens the
alveolar air sacs throughout the lungs, thereby ensuring adequate levels
of oxygen so essential to brain development. It may also increase the
internal pressure within the skull helping to re-expand those bones and
membranes which were compressed in the birth process.
</p>
<h2>Seeking Treatment</h2>
<p>
The infant will often communicate the presence of a problem by being
irritable or difficult to calm. In addition, excessive wakefulness at
night or reluctance to fall asleep, spitting up or vomiting can have
their origins in structural disturbances. A parent or health care
professional may notice visual signs of a structural problem such as
overlapping of joint lines on the infant's skull which do not level out
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in the first week of life. Visual asymmetries, such as one side of the
forehead further forward than the other, the two ears positioned
differently or the neck held to one side, can and should be corrected.
</p>
<p>
As the baby gets a little older, a parent may notice developmental
delays. Although there are many reasons that children fall behind a
normal developmental timetable, some can be successfully addressed
through osteopathic treatment.
</p>
<p>
The brain does rapid and critical development in the first year of life.
The nerve pathways are designed to lay themselves down in precise
geometric relationships. Even slight distortions in the structure of the
skull can impair the development of the nervous system. These can
manifest in developmental delays early in childhood and potentially more
serious learning difficulties later.
</p>
<p>
Some children suffer from medical conditions for which conventional
medical care has little to offer, conditions such as Down Syndrome or
cerebral palsy. Osteopathic treatment does not alter the underlying
genetic defect or birth injury factors, but it can be very effective in
enhancing the child's functional capabilities as well as improving
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general health and quality of life for the child and family.
</p>
</Article>
);
};
export default ArticlePediatricTreatmentForNewborns;