Foundation for Paediatric Osteopathy

Hello,

I have a question concerning my 9 month old baby boy. He was born with facial palsy on the left side. My delivery was not normal. I endured pains and was in labour for nearly 12 hours when my baby went into distress and so an emergency C-section was performed. The doctors say that no forceps were used. Throughout the labour, the midwife and doctors tried to fix my babies head since he was apparently still floating above. I don't know what the cause of my baby's paralysis is. The paedtrician present at birth told my husband immediately after birth that he our son has facial palsy. He can't blink his left eye, or move his left side of the forehead or upper lip. My husband and i have been to many neurologists and paeditricians, but they have all advised us to wait as nothing can be done for him now. Some say that it takes nerves a long time to grow back, but its been 9 months now with no improvement. My question to you is, can cranial osteopathy help my child in anyway? Would it do him any harm? Any suggestions would be helpful. If you have any queries plz dont hesitate to contact me.

regards,
zeinu

Hi Zeinu

Without assessing your son, it will be difficult to give an opinion. Paediatric osteopaths working within our clinics have experience treating different types of nerve injuries in children. The response to treatment is very dependent on the cause of injury and the extent of the initial injury as well as other factors which may be preventing fast re-growth. Nerves do regrow and in most cases osteopathic treatment can help to promote regrowth. From my experience of treating nerve damage, the best results come with early treatment so I recommend that you consider bringing your child in for a consultation as soon as you can.

You asked if osteopathic treatment could to your child any harm. The techniques used by osteopaths who work for the Foundation are very gentle. If you would like to discuss this further before you book an appointment, please telephone the clinic in Clerkenwell (020 7490 5510) and ask to speak to the Consultant in Charge.

best wishes
Nancy