Chiropractic for Infant Reflux

Olivia was 9 pounds 1 ounce when she was born! Despite the fact that she was a big girl, she immediately had problems gaining weight. When we were leaving the hospital they told us that she had lost more than 10% of her birth weight, so we would have to drop into her pediatrician's office in 2 days for a weight check.

At that appointment, she had gained a little weight but not enough for them to feel comfortable. They scheduled us to come back in the next week for another weight check. Thus began a cycle of going to the doctor's office once a week for weight checks.


Every time we would go in hoping that she had gained enough to graduate from these appointments, and every time it would be just enough to slide by the bare minimums but not enough to free us from the cycle. We tried supplementing with formula, giving her reflux medications and eliminating dairy from my diet. At her 2 month check up, we finally managed to weigh in high enough!

I waited two weeks to bring her in for a check with high hopes, but it was another disappointing weigh in. Her 3 month check up was no better. The reflux was really bad at that point. Every time I would feed her, I would need 2 or 3 receiving blankets to use as burp cloths because she would spit up so much. It was heartbreaking to feed and feed her, only to have such a large amount come back up.

Then I had a light bulb moment! I worked for an amazing chiropractor for 5 years and had seen him adjust babies to help with reflux. It was shocking that I hadn't thought about it before that point. Dr. Clark Scott is an experienced chiropractor who practices on the north side of Indianapolis at Summit Spine & Therapy.

I texted him and explained what had been going on with Olivia and he arranged for me to bring her in that week. The first time she saw him was August 26th and she was about 3 1/2 months old. Here is a picture we took of her not long before that appointment.

Dr. Scott sat her down on his lap and gently palpated her neck and upper back. Using a finger on each side of her head, he did some stretches with her. Next he held her against his chest while he stretched backwards, letting her torso go with him. Some of the areas felt restricted to him, but he said she adjusted well. The last thing he did with her was to lay her on her belly and press a release point. I think the entire appointment (aside from us chatting) only took about 5 minutes.

We noticed an immediate difference. It only lasted a couple days, but she spit up significantly less. I started taking her to see him every week. Each time she would see him, the results would last for longer. We started to notice that she was filling out a little bit more. Here is a picture of her about a month after we started taking her to Dr. Scott.

When we took her to her 4 month check up at her pediatrician's office, we were overjoyed to find out that she had gone from the 17th percentile up to the 35th percentile in weight. It was the first time that we had gotten a genuinely positive reaction to her weight gain. Dr. Scott was thrilled when I told him about her increase. We were even able to start spacing out her appointments more, going every 2 weeks for awhile, then transitioning to her going every 3 weeks.

At her 6 month check up we were even more excited to find out that she had jumped up to the 62nd percentile. She rarely spit up anymore and seemed to have pretty much overcome all of her reflux symptoms. Here is a picture of her when she was 7 months old.

Now she is almost 9 months old and I barely ever even need a burp cloth for her. I cannot explain how relieved I am that Dr. Scott was able to get us past such a challenging issue with Olivia's health. I would highly recommend getting your baby's reflux treated with chiropractic, especially if you live close enough to see Dr. Scott :)

See you soon,