Digestive Problems in Babies

Osteopathy may help with some early digestive disorders:

Constipation
Constipation can be defined as prolonged time between bowel movements, or abnormally hard stools, causing strain & discomfort. Some forms of constipation have serious causes, and these infants will suffer from a failure to thrive from early life. Most constipation is non-serious, with a healthy child, but nevertheless concerning for parents.

In babies, the mode of feeding - breast or bottle, determines the frequency and consistency of bowel movements. Breast fed babies have more frequent movements, passing soft yellow stools up to 7 times a day.They may also, however, go days without passing a stool. After weaning the stools become firmer in consistency.
Although infants vary in their bowel habits, generally speaking, less than 1 stool a day before 6 months in age, and less than 3 times a week after 6 months of age may be abnormal.

During the first few months of life, difficulty and distress in passing stools is fairly common. Defecation itself is a complex process which involves co-ordinated activity of both pelvic and abdominal musculature. From an Osteopathic perspective, any bony or muscular stresses in the pelvic, abdominal or low back areas, may contribute to constipation.