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"Babies"  May 2022  Student Cohort

We've had a couple of great questions come through about the homework material, so we thought it might be useful to share those questions here, plus do a little reminder of the power of your hands. Also please remember to complete the following before we meet later this week in Zoom 2.

  • Getting Started Treating Babies - Module 1 - The History
  • Baby Health Check & Stretch Course - All Modules

If you have access to a baby please also complete the practical which is to use the skills from the above courses to complete an assesment and a treatment on a baby.

When you are working with baby remember there is no 'failing', so don't think you cant do this or someone else would do a  better job, that is negative thinking which wont help you or baby. 

As Yoda would say "Do or do not. There is no try"

There is no 'trying' to work with babies, no trying and definitely no failing  - if you have hands on a baby you are being of benefit to baby. Even if you dont think so and even if you cant feel anything in your hands!

Remember "The hands know" even if the brain can sometimes take a long long time to catch up and register whats going on.  Acknowledge the power that is in your hands, (it may help to visualise the hands as massively powerful antennas that can be used for receiving information and as a channel for sending. 

 In life Understanding rarely precedes the Experience, there are theories that the mind thinks about, but that's not the same as True Understanding, usually it's Experience first True Understanding Later. This is especially true when working with babies.

So get out there and 'do your thing" and in the next couple of zooms we can cover some of the experiences that you will have. Please do make a record of what happening with your treatments  and your progress, this will help accelarate your skill level and can become a  journal for you and for anything you want clarification on.

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Questions

The following question was asked about Module 2 - Communication and Safety in The Baby Stretch Course

Question

As I watch you rock the baby’s hips to the right, trying to stretch the muscles gently on the side of the neck my question arises.  I gather on adults to stretch a muscle it’s helpful to hold consistently and gently give the muscle the chance to stretch at a comfortable level.  Why, on a baby, do you rock back and forth a bit?  Can you stretch subtly and hold it for a baby remaining shy of the spot that is too much for them?

Answer

"Can you stretch subtly and hold it for a baby remaining shy of the spot that is too much for them" - yes but babies will often move around so with an adult you can rely on them to usually hold pretty still especially if you are working with the breath eg breathe in, breathe out and stretch on the out breath, we cant use that breathe technique with babies and they may when you get close to the 'limit spot' move either because they just want to or because close to the limit starts to worry them. So you need to further off the limit to do that sort of hold.

 
So instead if you use the rocking or shuttling or vibration type stutter you are introducing movement that allows baby to be more comfortable with what you are doing as the movement is a constant feedback to the body so they are aware of whats happening its also repetitive and consistent which gives more of that safety - a bit like a fast rock when we want to settle baby - also what it does is feedback proprioception to the body and the brain learns that oh look i can move out here and it is ok, whereas before they werent aware of that being within their remit of movement - so we are helping the brain remap - this is  especially important if a baby has been 'set a little' due to in utero position.
 
 
Question
 
In module 4, set 2-stretching arms/shoulder & lower spine, at 0:57 seconds in when baby is getting fussy, you put your hands under baby’s rib and then you lift baby like that with hands around ribs with no support to the head. Is there a reason you lift baby this way with no head support? 
I noticed a few other times where there was no head support. Is there a reason for that? 
 
Answer
The answer is twofold
 
1) baby is able to handle what I'm doing and it doesnt cause any physical or emotional problem for them, you can see that the head moves a little into extension but it's not flopping or dropping back. If it causes a problem for baby I wouldnt do this, but when I lift I lift slowly and this gives baby the cue to what I'm doing and their muscles can engage after that initial small lag of the head but if the baby has a head lag issue I wouldnt lift them like this. You'd know this from the history or previous exam, but even if you didnt then that little slow initial lift allows you to see whats happening, and if the head is starting to flop then you'd move your one hand in to support their head
 
2) its easier for me to lift them like this I hold at the ribcage to give a tiny bit of compression to see if they will settle, they dont so i can then go straight into lifting them, the alternative  of one hand under tailbone one under head to control it- thats fine as well it just in this case would be slower and i have to move my hands and in that small delay baby is getting more distressed. Additionally I'd need to handle the head. For this baby that is fine but for one with sensitivity in that area that wouldnt be so good. 
 
To follow up on head lag as the above might prompt a question about what's typical and what's not this is a great website resource https://www.youtube.com/user/PathwaysAwareness and in particular this video below showing typical and aptypical head lag.  
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