after two home births, cesarean baby is restless and jittery -- chiropractic?

[velveeta]

Ugh. I love my little girl. She is a dream come true. But, it is like her central nervous system is not at all where my boys' were. All of my children were born right at 40 weeks. Her suck is not as good as the boys' was, and nursing is not a great go-to technique for her. With my boys, I could pretty much just nurse them when I was in doubt of what to do. Lucie seems to have a little bit of reflux, too. Not much spitting up, but I can tell she's uncomfortable in certain positions. She'll even start randomly (to me) crying in the sling.

She also fusses a lot; it is difficult to interpret. And she's pretty good with other signals -- we are doing EC and nursing is fine, but not super duper easy (maybe b/c my breasts are on the large side and not incredibly easy to manage with one hand).

I am taking her to be adjusted by chiro tomorrow.

She was breech for many weeks before birth. We didn't know prior to birth, so she had the benefit of a full, unmedicated labor (I got to 10 cm) before she was born by cesarean.

Ideas?

[wombatclay]

Congrats on the new babe!

I have three kiddos as well and in my case it's my first vbac/middle child who is the "odd one out" (she was eventually diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder. More than the cesarean, I'd be surprised if being breech might not have caused some imbalances. Chiropractic or cranio-sacral adjustment (a practitioner of cst spoke to our ICAN group and felt that adjustment was especially helpful after long labor or c/s) might be a good option for that!

Longer term, you may want to explore the Cesarean Voices site... it explores the impact c/s can have on a child's personality or psychological development. It can be a bit "fringe", but it's an interesting read none-the-less.

Hope your little one settles comfortably soon, and congrats again.

[AustinMom]

I know what you mean by all this. And I can't express enough, how REAL it all is, especially to you and baby.

I would suggest a "rebirthing" for you and baby. It's really good to redo the birth mentally, physically, spiritually, and mentally, etc. Some women can do it on their own, others find it helpful for a therapist's assistance. Basically what it is, is when holding you baby, "redo" the birth in your mind. Imagine everything going as planned, and smooth, etc. It usually calms babies down, and helps the mom heal also.

I also know of ways to do this with a turtle neck sweater or something of that same sort. Have the baby, be "reborn", and come through the neck hole like it is the vagina. There are lots of ways to do this, I'm sure Google knows more

Good call on the Chiro though, I hear that is really helpful to a lot of babies, especially for the cranial sacral stuff that the baby doesn't get to experience.

[Deir]

Hi! I think chiro is a great idea and also cranial sacral therapy. I don't think my Nora has the same issue as your little girl but I find it interesting that nursing is not the go to thing for her either. She nurses less frequently and in the early evening which is her fussy period, she seems to be so frustrated by nursing. I have to do really loud shhhhhhing to get her to focus and latch on. If I can get her half asleep she'll nurse fine so i don't think it is an overactive letdown issue or reflux or anything. With my boys, it always seemed like when all else failed- nurse again!
Anyway- you are probably already trying the usual calming techniques- swaddling, shhhing or white noise, etc but that is what helps Nora.
Good luck!

[Aufilia]

Originally Posted by velveeta

nursing is not a great go-to technique for her. With my boys, I could pretty much just nurse them when I was in doubt of what to do. Lucie seems to have a little bit of reflux, too. Not much spitting up, but I can tell she's uncomfortable in certain positions. She'll even start randomly (to me) crying in the sling.

My DS is slightly refluxy and also not much of a comfort nurser. With my DD, I could always just nurse her if she was upset and that usually cured whatever her problem was. If she was hurt, nurse. If she was tired, nurse. If she was happy to see me, nurse. But DS only wants to nurse when he's hungry, or really tired (and still hungry). If he's hurt, he'll totally lay there and scream right at my nipple and refuse to nurse! I really have no idea why (he was a totally natural and fairly precipitous birth).

Have you tried treating the reflux? No idea if that'll help, but at least it would help determine if she has reflux or if her discomfort is something else.

Also, instead of a sling, have you tried a Moby or some other carrier that would hold your DD in a more upright position? DS hated the sling, but really liked being cuddled upright in the Moby.

As for the chiro, I have no idea. I haven't had all that good luck with chiropractors, myself.