Working with mothers and babies John Wilks

Working with Mothers and Babies

Seminar for Bowen, Craniosacral and manual therapists

WORKING WITH Mums and Babies

28th & 29th November 2024 (Thursday and Friday) Please note change of date

Book your place here

For a therapist, treating babies and their mothers is undoubtedly one of the most rewarding experiences.

Just as a seedling can be nurtured with the smallest amount of physical guidance to grow into a healthy plant, so a baby, by the gentlest of encouragement, can be helped to release the stresses and trauma of the birth process and so avoid possible physical and psychological trauma later in life.

The compressive forces experienced during birth as a result of the passage through the pelvis and the tight fit in the birth canal can cause imbalance in a baby's system, even in natural and apparently problem-free births.

Many babies experience difficulties through the use of Ventouse extraction, forceps or Caesarean deliveries. Every type of birth has its own compressive patterns on a baby's body, especially its head, and therapy can go a long way to easing these patterns through the therapist's light touch and receptive listening.

Common newborn's problems like colic, sucking problems and respiratory difficulties may be due to compression arising from birth trauma. These can sometimes develop into problems later in life such as depression, migraine, sinusitis, spinal and pelvic pain.

Recent studies involving patients with severe psychological problems have shown that the vast majority had difficult or traumatic births.

For sites of related interest, please click here: www.craniosacral-therapy-information.org.uk Please note that we cannot be held responsible for the content of external sites.

This two day workshop will concentrate on looking at the dynamics and health implications for babies and mums of different kinds of birth and how these might be addressed using various procedures.

Many practitioners have a reluctance to work on babies, partly through unfamiliarity but also through lack of knowledge of how to treat them. The workshop aims to increase confidence in treating babies and to help the practitioner understand the appropriate manual therapy approaches to babies and to mums during pregnancy.

The workshop will include a discussion and practical application of the following:

  • Ways to assist a good pregnancy

  • Addressing the psoas in mothers and babies

  • The ramifications of pelvic floor issues for the mother

  • The importance of family dynamics and treating parents and grandparents

  • Seated work during preganancy

  • Optimal Fetal Positioning and how to encourage best position for baby

  • The dynamics of a ‘normal’ vaginal delivery from the baby’s perspective and an exploration of the possible compressive forces introduced at this time

  • Treating babies who have been born ‘normally’ but are exhibiting symptoms such as colic, restlessness etc

  • A review of manual work for the baby and practical exercises

  • How to treat babies who have been born using forceps

  • Practical ways to address the neck and jaw with babies

  • Looking at suction, vacuum extraction and ventouse and how to treat appropriately

  • A look at the baby’s cranium – its differences to an adult and how you might treat them

  • Blood supply to the head

  • Key cranial nerves and their role in later development – how they are affected by compressive forces and what symptoms the baby might exhibit

  • Caesarian births and their implications

  • How to observe when primitive reflexes are operating and how to encourage them to inhibit using certain appraoches

  • The Psoas and its role in the colicky baby

  • The role of the umbilicus and how it is cut in delivery – how to address

  • Looking at fast and induced deliveries and how to work with them

  • Looking at posterior, ‘back to back’ and breech positions

  • Practical review and practice

Book your place here