Story of Hope for Lyla

Challenge: Maternal Stress During Birth

We get the question a lot, “How old do you need to be to start getting adjusted?” Well, our youngest adjustment was given when the baby was 45 minutes old!

Dr. Kent was given the honor of adjusting his little girl after Dr. Jocelyn had a marathon of a labor process lasting 31 hours. Dr. Jocelyn received chiropractic care throughout her entire pregnancy which she attributes to only needing to push 5 times for her daughter, Lyla, to come earth side.

Lyla’s first adjustment at 45 minutes old

We’ve had the question before, “What symptoms was Lyla experiencing that you knew she needed to be adjusted?” Our answer is simple - None! Lyla was born with a healthy APGAR score, latched well, and was a completely healthy baby from her first breath. However, we know that even the most natural home birth, can cause stress on the baby’s head and neck. This alone is a great reason to get a baby checked as early as possible.

On top of labor and delivery stress, we also know that the stress mom experiences during pregnancy can impact the baby as well. The more stress a mom is under during pregnancy, the more adrenaline and cortisol that is in her system. When there is more adrenaline and cortisol in the system, it teaches the baby’s nervous system to be running in “fight-or-flight” mode because they perceive the world around them as unsafe.

During Dr. Jocelyn’s pregnancy she had stress of becoming a mom for the first time, being on her feet adjusting up until 39 weeks, and being a business owner. On top of those “typical” stresses, at 18 weeks she stepped where she shouldn’t have in the attic and put her foot through the attic floor/bathroom ceiling. She ended up in the ER with a compound dislocation of her big toe, received 11 stitches, and needed to be in a walking boot for 6 weeks. Not to mention the stresses of having to organize house repairs after the accident. All of these stresses further contributed to the importance of getting Lyla checked on day 1.

At the time of writing this article, Lyla is currently two years old. She has continued to have regular chiropractic adjustments her entire life. The goal of our office is to help healthy kids grow up into healthy adults. To this day Lyla has never had an ear infection, has not needed a doctor’s visit outside of a regular wellness check-up, and has never been on an antibiotic/medication.