Here, birth professionals may discover how the Baby Brain Score and Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy are helping babies enjoy the benefits of having a freely moving brain, spinal cord and fascial web.
The Baby Brain Score and Gillespie Approach Mission
Dr. Barry Gillespie created the Baby Brain Score and Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy. His and his associates’ goal is to have the Baby Brain Score and Gillespie Approach in use worldwide for every birth. We also foresee the mother-to-be receiving Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy before conception to ensure better hormonal function, less strain in pregnancy, an easier birth and better overall health for the newborn. We believe that these two steps will promote happiness and peace to the planet.
The Baby Brain Score Measures Neonatal Neurophysiology
The Baby Brain Score is a screening tool that measures neonatal neurophysiology. It is an effective method of manually checking the brain function of a newborn. If there is neurological compromise, the application of Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy in the first few minutes of life can help improve or correct the structural effects of fetal trauma and birth trauma. Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy can prevent many diseases from appearing later in life and, more importantly, promote optimum cognitive brain function.
The Two Principles Behind the Baby Brain Score and Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy
Craniosacral motion: The brain needs to breathe. It has to expand and contract smoothly to function correctly.
Fascial (connective tissue) restriction: The fascia has to be free for the body to function optimally.
The Benefits of the Baby Brain Score and Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy
When parents naturally add love, good nutrition and exercise to the newborn equation, the Baby Brain Score and Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy possibilities can become endless:
- It can create a happy and content baby. This results in a happy mom, dad, siblings, extended family and friends.
- It can create excellent infant neurological function. The Family Hope Center reports that children in their infant program have reached their neurological developmental milestones 30 percent faster than the standard child.
- It can facilitate the ability to latch on and prevent sucking difficulty and swallowing difficulty, colic, reflux, gas, digestive issues, constipation, poor napping, general distress, stridor, torticollis, pyloric stenosis and clubfoot.
- It can result in parents being sufficiently rested to provide quality care for the infant and other children as well as being able to function well in other aspects of life.
- It can result in structural immunity later as a toddler such that physical trauma has little to no effect on her or his structural health.
- It can prevent childhood diseases such as asthma, headache, ADHD, learning disorders and other conditions.
- It can create a neurological learning environment where focus, concentration, memory, thinking and other cognitive functions can be maximized at school.
- Finally, it can result in a child who can be the best she or he can be for her or his entire life.
“Learning the Gillespie Approach changed me and is going to change how I approach pregnancy, labor/birth and postpartum for moms and babies. It a fabulous tool to add to my toolbox.”
A birth professional
For the Scientific Mind: Putting a Lens on the Baby Brain Score and Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy
A Research Proposal Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Brain Score and Craniosacral Fascial Therapy for Neonates
A medical article, “A Research Proposal Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Brain Score and Craniosacral Fascial Therapy for Neonates,” about the Baby Brain Score was published in The Internet Journal of Pediatrics and Neonatology (2010: Volume 11, Number 2), a peer-reviewed medical journal. It discusses how the effects of a difficult pregnancy, an arduous labor, the use of forceps or vacuum suction, a Caesarian section, the umbilical cord wrapped around the throat and body and other traumas can impair the function of the newborn’s brain and spinal cord.
Fetal and birth trauma can cause diseases from serious brain injury, including autism, cerebral palsy and epilepsy, to less-severe nervous system diseases such as ADHD, strabismus, and reading (dyslexia) and speech disorders. Fetal and birth trauma can also cause the more-common pediatric illnesses of colic, esophageal reflux, constipation, digestive issues, nursing issues, sleeping issues, asthma, earache, headache, rhinitis, neck ache, jaw pain and scoliosis.
Infant Research Article: A Study of 332 Infants
Kristen Myers, Michael Myers, Priscilla Kercher and Dr. Barry Gillespie completed their infant research paper in 2014.
They found that the Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy and Infant-Driven Model was able to correct infants with many conditions that have plagued the human race since the beginning of time.
A Message from Dr. Barry Gillespie on the Background of the Baby Brain Score and Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy
In the mid-1970s, I had headaches. I searched the medical model without any answers. When I stumbled on osteopathic craniosacral therapy, I found my solution. I studied with the best cranial osteopathic physicians of that era, who learned directly under the master, Dr. William G. Sutherland. I eagerly took their teachings to my TMJ practice and, with my oral background, I found it very helpful. But since not every patient responded positively, I knew that an important piece of the puzzle was missing. While working with John Barnes, P.T., in his suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, office for 10 years, I found that the fascia was the missing link.
I discovered that if the patient had an unrestricted fascial system, craniosacral therapy could be very effective. But if the fascial system was severely restricted, craniosacral therapy could not have a corrective effect. In realizing a direct connection between the craniosacral mechanism and fascia, I discovered the existence of the craniosacral fascial system. This system explained why people with a lot of incurable structural conditions improved.
Over the years, I developed a new therapy called Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy (CFT), which would free up this entire system. When I started to work with children in 1980, I found that many pediatric diseases presented as a result of restriction in this craniosacral fascial system. After years of research, in 1999, I wrote Healing Your Child, which described in detail my pediatric work with children with asthma, earaches, headaches, ADHD and other common conditions.
I treated my first infant in 1980. My secretary had a fussy baby and asked me to work on him. Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy was effective, and a new world opened to me. I found, over the years, that after I worked with any infant, I virtually never saw her or him again. Their mother would always say that, other than a few colds, she or he was very healthy throughout childhood and did well in school. I discovered clinically that fetal and birth trauma created the craniosacral fascial strain patterns that caused many mental and physical illnesses in childhood. I logically reasoned that if Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy could be completed directly at birth, then many of these illnesses could be prevented. How does it get any better than that?
The opportunity to work with hundreds of infants came in 2006 from the Mennonite and Amish communities in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I knew that for every child to have Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy at birth, a score had to be created to necessitate therapy. After two years of formulating and field-testing, my associates and I unveiled the Baby Brain Score (BBS). It purposely had high standards that mandated Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy for almost every newborn. We spent the next two years developing the most effective therapeutic techniques for newborns. We found that this approach worked like a charm in Pennsylvania. But the real test for a scientific proof is whether it can work in another culture elsewhere in the world.
We had that chance in March 2010. When my associates and I went to Culiacan, Mexico, to teach the work to 16 medical doctors, the results were astounding. Every one of the 64 babies the student doctors evaluated and treated responded beautifully to the Baby Brain Score and Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy approach. It was a winner internationally. We also took the work to Canada and the Midwest, where it also worked like a charm.
My students and colleagues at The Family Hope Center, a clinic for brain-injured children in suburban Philadelphia, discovered with a group of 250 children that if infants received Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy, they reached their neurological developmental milestones about 30 percent sooner than the average child. Not only would it prevent disease, but also it would greatly enhance brain function. This combination seemed too good to be true. How does life get any better than that?
Our goal is for every newborn on the planet to have the Baby Brain Score and Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy. To reach this pinnacle, our mission is to teach the world’s birth professionals how to do it. We hope that when you practice this approach, you will become as excited with the results as we are. You are pioneering what we believe will be a great achievement for humanity.
Dr. Barry Gillespie
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Lactation Providers Can Take Their Work to the Next Level With Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy
To lactation providers: I believe that our work is an incredible tool to help take your practice to the next level. I say this because all of the oral structures, like the hard and soft palates, the tongue, the floor of the mouth, the gums, the cheeks, and the TMJs, are controlled by the fascial web.
The root of many lactation issues are due to fetal, labor, and delivery soft tissue traumas. Almost all newborns live with untreated fascial strain from these traumas. When the strained oral tissues are not functioning 100%, nursing issues can arise. Here are some clinical examples:
- Tongue tie and lip tie: These ties are part of the full-body fascial web. If the newborn fascial web is freed of strain directly at birth, some ties may resolve without revision. For a true tie, a revision may not be the complete answer because of undiagnosed and untreated fascial strain in the other oral structures.
- A deep latch: I often see latching issues with bilateral TMJ strain where the newborn cannot open wide enough for the nipple to approach the soft palate. Corrective therapy helps release the strain in the muscles of mastication and TMJ areas.
- Failure to thrive: Every newborn has the innate capability to suck, swallow, and breathe. We have found that our work can be corrective as the fascial strain is released in the head and neck tissues.
In a perfect world therapy would be done as close to birth as possible. As a lactation professional, you can help newborns to breathe well, nurse well, digest well, poop well, and nap well.
The Gillespie Approach is a massage modality that helps the body release its tight connective or fascial tissue from its physical and emotional traumas. We have a special interest working with newborns, whose untreated fascial strains from birth trauma can result in a lifetime of health issues.
Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy and Pregnancy Guidelines
Every Gillespie Approach therapist needs to decide whether s(he) will treat pregnant patients. This is an individual choice that I cannot make for anyone. Please consider the points below in your decision. My primary concern is always for the safety of the baby and mother.
- Prenatal training is important by adhering to all guidelines, precautions and contraindications. This includes areas of the body to avoid and proper positioning of the patient at different stages of pregnancy. Currently, no Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy course addresses the application of this therapy for pregnant women.
- Consistent with massage therapy laws in many U.S. states, Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy for pregnant women may begin only after week 13. Natural, spontaneous miscarriages during the first trimester need not be connected to a Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy session.
- Once a pregnancy progresses safely past the 13th week, it is recommended that the patient’s OB/GYN or midwife clear the mother-to-be for bodywork before every CFT session.
- The Gillespie Approach is not a technique to turn a breech baby or initiate an overdue delivery. A skilled Gillespie Approach therapist always listens to the fascial web and never uses force.
Additional Information for Birthing Professionals
Discover Why Babies Are Fussy
Read This Showcased Story Dedicated to the Pediatric Audience
Discover The Many Diverse Infant Conditions of the Gillespie Approach
Sign up for Gillespie Approach Training Opportunities
2024 Foundation Trainings
Gillespie Approach Foundation Training is designed for students to work with children and adults.
- February 1–3 | Austin, TX
- March 14–16 | Gilbert, AZ
- April 11–13 | Melbourne, FL
- June 6–8 | Colorado Springs, CO
- July 18–20 | Bozeman, MT
- September 5–7 | Surrey, UK
- October 17–19 | New Hampshire
- November 14–16 | Greenville, SC
2024 Infant Trainings
Gillespie Approach Infant Training is designed for students to work with infants.
- February 4–6 | Austin, TX
- March 17–19 | Gilbert, AZ
- April 14–16 | Melbourne, FL
- June 9–11 | Colorado Springs, CO
- July 21–23 | Bozeman, MT
- September 8–10 | Surrey, UK
- October 20–22 | New Hampshire
- November 17–19 | Greenville, SC
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