What To Do When Your Baby Cries In His Carseat
If your baby cries in pain during any of the following activities:
Sleeping flat on his back
During diaper changes
In the carseat
Chances are that his is experiencing pain in his body. Many babies who experience this pain want to be held all the time and fuss when they are put down.
In this scenario, there are two likely reasons for a baby to feel discomfort:
Fixed midback vertebrae
The joints of the midback between your baby’s shoulder blades are fixed and irritated. I often find that many newborns have irritated joints in their midbacks (the thoracic spine) just between the shoulder blades. The babies who do experience discomfort in this area of the spine cannot get comfortable when they lie flat on their back. They fuss when they are put on their back to sleep. Many of these babies do not like sitting in their car seats because the straps pull them tight to their seat, and puts pressure on their irritated midback joints.
Painful collarbone
One of your baby’s collar bones has been injured or even fractured. An injured or fractured collar bone can happen during birth, especially if one or both of your baby’s shoulders were stuck in the birth canal, and he was forcibly pulled out. These babies do not like it when one arm is lifted, and they don’t tend to move the affected arm as much as the other one. Sitting in the car seat can cause extreme pain because the shoulder harnesses put pressure against the collar bone itself.
Solution
If one of your baby’s arms is not moving as easily as the other, start with a thorough assessment by your pediatrician to rule out a collar bone fracture. If there is no indication of collar bone pain, and your baby’s arms move in all directions freely and easily, an assessment and adjustment of your baby’s midback by a pediatric focused chiropractor can get the fixed joints moving and provide relief.
How Do You Find a Pediatric Focused Chiropractor near you?
Start with Chiropractors in your area listed on the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association. This is the organization that teaches chiropractors how to treat pregnant women, infants and children.
Do a Web Search
Post on your local mom’s Facebook page
Ask your family and friends which chiropractors in your area treat children
Do You Have a Fussy Baby in Your Life?
Oftentimes, fussy breastfeeding babies are either experiencing physical pain from birth, they are reacting negatively to the foods that their breastfeeding mom is eating, OR BOTH!
Birth is a very difficult process for babies to experience. If you suspect that your baby is in physical pain when you feed or diaper him or her, take your baby to see a pediatric focussed chiropractor in your area. We are trained to gently relieve irritations to muscles and joints.
If your baby is fussy after breastfeeding, or cries inconsolably in the evenings and won’t settle easily, chances are that your baby is reacting to foods in your diet.
If this is the case, please consider purchasing the Calm Baby Cookbook – it outlines the foods that commonly cause problems for babies to digest and offers 100+ delicious breastfeeding recipes to get started! It has helped to calm many babies in my practice and I sincerely hope that it will calm your fussy baby as well.
Yours truly,
Dr. Melanie Beingessner
Dr. Melanie Beingessner is a pregnancy and pediatric-focussed chiropractor, a breastfeeding counselor, an infant massage instructor and a mom of three awesome kids.