Newborns
Chiropractic Care For Newborns in Wellington
From their very first breath, newborns are meant to experience life with ease, connection, and calm. But the journey into the world isn't always gentle. Many babies experience significant physical and neurological stress during pregnancy and birth, especially with interventions like inductions, forceps, vacuum, or cesarean delivery. Even what may seem like a "normal" birth can place a great deal of pressure on a baby’s delicate nervous system.
At Healthy Families Chiropractic, we take a neurologically focused approach to care, specifically looking at how stress and tension may be affecting a newborn’s central nervous system. This system, made up of the brain and spinal cord, governs all development, growth, digestion, immune function, and sleep.
When stress patterns remain stuck in the nervous system, babies may struggle to settle or feed well, experience colic or reflux, have disrupted sleep, or show signs of discomfort and distress. This is often a sign that their nervous system is stuck in "fight or flight" mode rather than the calm, connected "rest and digest" state that promotes growth and healing.
Our gentle, specific chiropractic adjustments are designed to help release these stored stress patterns and support your baby’s nervous system in returning to balance, so they can grow and thrive the way they were designed to.
Why should I take my newborn to a pediatric chiropractor?
The care we provide for newborns and young children is carefully adapted to suit their age, size, and stage of development. Pediatric chiropractic adjustments are gentle, specific, and completely different from those performed on adults- there’s no “popping” or “cracking” involved.
Our team always takes the time to explain each step of the process, ensuring that you feel informed, confident, and comfortable throughout your child’s care.
We strongly recommend chiropractic care for newborns who have experienced a difficult or traumatic birth, especially in cases involving forceps, vacuum assistance, or c-section. These interventions, while sometimes necessary, can place significant stress on a baby’s nervous system, often pushing them into a state of sympathetic dominance, an overactive "fight or flight" response that suppresses the calming "rest and recovery" functions of the nervous system.
This imbalance in the autonomic nervous system may contribute to a range of early-life challenges, including:
Reflux
Torticollis (tilted or restricted neck movement)
Latch and Feeding Difficulties
Tongue Ties
Infantile Spasms
Difficulty With Tummy Time
Plagiocephaly (flat spots or misshaped head)
Through neurologically focused chiropractic adjustments and advanced INSiGHT Scans, we’re able to detect and correct these imbalances, addressing the root causes of your baby’s struggles. By restoring optimal function to the autonomic and central nervous systems and activating the vagus nerve, we help shift the body back into a state of healing, growth, and regulation.
Birth is inherently stressful, even under ideal conditions. Our top priority is to give every child the best possible start to life. That’s why, regardless of how your pregnancy, labour, or delivery unfolded, we recommend that all newborns receive our advanced neurological scans. These state of the art assessments help us identify whether any stress or tension has been placed on your baby’s nervous system from the very beginning.