Willow is a 6-month-old baby girl who was born by C-section. As she was born 3 months early, her corrected age would be 3 months. She has had a lot of medical issues and was in the NICU till February, coming home at 4 months. She still only weighed 3.4 kilos on her first visit to Pamela Leader. Among her early difficulties were chronic lung disease, persistent hole in the heart, long courses of antibiotics and bowel disease, which left her with a shortened bowel after needing a large part to be removed.

When she came to Pamela, her mother was worried as Willow was not drinking her milk easily, struggling and uncomfortable, with a lot of crying and poor sleep. Her mother was struggling to give her enough milk to thrive. She could not be laid down hardly at all, even though her cot had been propped up at an angle.

Baby Willow receiving treatment by Pamela Leader

The baby’s upper neck bone was very close to the skull and when touched she cried. Also her lower thoracic spine was very stiff and she cried when the left side muscles were touched and gently massaged. Her treatment was very gentle using the pressure it might take to bruise a ripe peach. Her upper neck and mid back were the main areas of treatment and mother was taught a gentle tummy massage.

Pamela was unable to say how many treatments it would take for her to respond (usually most babies respond well within 4-5 treatments), but in fact she was eating much better, attaining the liquid goal given by the paediatrician daily, right from the start of treatment. She was settling down better and sleeping soundly. After 4 treatments she had a gap of 1 week to see if that was sufficient, but her mother said she had become fussy again and was not feeding so adequately.

Her parents and Pamela decided that she needed this help from chiropractic for the time being and since we started giving her maintenance treatment, she is again feeding well and settled.

Willow’s mother was happy to share her story in case other mothers may benefit from having their baby treated by a chiropractor, who has experience treating babies like Pamela.