I saw a young child recently who had anxiety, depression, ADHD, and sleep issues. At birth his head was engaged in the pelvis for much of the 48-hour labor….wow. Delivered as a C-section baby, this child could not latch on and had colic, reflux, gas, and sleep issues throughout infancy. As I mentioned in a May 2016 post, infants can grow out of one set of issues into another set.
A recent head engagement post calls for repeating. Please be aware of this scenario in your practice. These children are out there and need to be helped:
“Fetal engagement can have lasting difficulties. A six-year-old child presented yesterday with a zero-second brain cycle. I felt that her parietal bones were internally rotated; the top of her head was narrower from ear to ear than it should have been. A thirty-two hour labor may have contributed to this problem. Years ago I remember the osteopaths talked about the head being “stuck” in the pelvis. As the cranial structures pass through the pelvis, the bones normally overlap and open again at the first breath or when breastfeeding. If this does not happen, engagement issues can occur.
You may also see internally rotated parietal bones in an emergency C-section birth. The larger head, hoping for a vaginal delivery, may be “stuck” for hours in a smaller pelvis. Even later in childhood the shape of the head can tell the provider a story like for this child about unresolved birth trauma.
This was a major reason why I wanted the head shape as one of the four components of the BBS (Baby Brain Score). Identification of a problem at birth with the BBS is so critical since CFT/IDM can immediately help to mitigate the effects of birth trauma. The golden hour takes precedence. If it had been done at her birth, this child may have had a different life experience.”
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