A Change for the Better

My little Brynlee girl has made a change for the better, but not before she took a turn for the worst. She has always been a fussy baby; a little bit needy and a thrower of tantrums. She was always gassy and just seemed constantly uncomfortable. Normally, it didn't bother me. I could easily get through her little fits and honestly was a little bit peeved when people would always say what a fussy baby she was. I knew she cried some, but she's a baby! For goodness sakes, babies cry! But slowly and surely it started to wear on me. She was inconsolable. Even when I was holding her she wouldn't calm down. She cried constantly and wasn't even very happy after a feeding, diaper change, and a nap. She was not a happy camper and we tried everything that we knew: gas drops, gripe water...you name it! I lost it. I really lost it.

I had been told by a friend of my mom's about her daughter taking her granddaughter to the chiropractor. (I know what you are thinking, a chiropractor for a baby??) I know. I was skeptical too, but honestly, I didn't know what else to try. I called and made an appointment for Brynlee last Tuesday. It was not cheap and that made it even harder for me to agree to it (and to talk my husband into it), but the lady who told me about it told me that she would never have believed it if she didn't see it work in person, and that she swore by it. I took her in and had a chat with the chiropractor. We went to a company called Adjusted 4 Life. The man I saw was awesome. He sat with me for about 45 min talking to me, explaining their philosophies, and kept telling me to trust my gut. He told me that if he ever said anything that made me feel uneasy or uncomfortable to not ignore those feelings. He said, "You are the mother and only you are going to know what is best for your child". This really put me at ease. I didn't want to be sucked into something where I felt like I was a bad mother because of the things they were telling me. Honestly I felt really good about the whole thing. He checked her out and told me that she had one place that was out of place in her neck and that he could definitely feel that something wasn't right in her tummy. He showed me some exercises to do to work her tummy and loosen up her intestines and he did his thing (honestly I don't know what that thing was, it seemed like he barely did anything). He then introduced the bad news to me. He said that he did what he could, but that we needed to work on all of the possibilities at once. He said that since lots of what was going on was tummy related, that I needed to go on a diet of no dairy, sugar, processed food, fast food, white flour, or junk food for 3 weeks to see if anything I was eating was getting in the breast milk and causing her to act up. He then said that I would start adding things back in one at a time after that to see if any of them made her flare up.

WHAT?!?!?! 

Let's be honest...I know I have a terrible diet, but what does that leave me to eat?!?! Yeah. After that he told me that he would love if I could commit to 4 visits. I told him that I really wouldn't be able to swing that. I told him that I already had to convince my husband to even let me come once so I could probably swing the second visit but after that it most likely wasn't going to happen. He didn't even push me. He told me to do her exercises as often as I could, stick to my diet 100%,  and to come see him in a couple of days.

Wednesday was AMAZING. She was like a new baby. She was so happy the entire day and I was shocked. It actually worked. It was hard to deny such a 180* turnaround. Then that night happened. It was the worst night we have EVER had with her. It took Spencer and I almost 2 full hours to get her to sleep and then she was up more than once in the night. She was also really fussy the next morning and just screamed and screamed.

Thursday was her other appointment. I took her in and he did the same thing he did Tuesday. He said that her tummy felt a little better than it did before and said her reaction to it was normal. He said hopefully this time it would last a little bit longer. That day she was very sleepy and she has been really good since then. She is happy when she is awake (even though awake times have been few and far between...she has been so sleepy!! Growth spurt?!), she is much more content, and she is more like the baby I felt like she always was. Even other people who are very against this sort of thing could not deny the difference in my daughter. Tonight at family dinner she was laughing, smiling, and being passed from person to person without making a fuss.

The best part about this? I didn't feel any pressure from the chiropractor. He told me that he wouldn't be worried if he didn't see me again, he wouldn't come hunt me down, that he trusted we would be ok. He said if we could keep coming back it would help her but he understands finances and stuff. He even walked up to the front desk and said the the receptionist, "If I am getting my signals right you are just going to go home and ride it out for a while and if you want to come back you will call us?". I was so happy. He really was so understanding and I felt so comfortable there. PLUS IT HELPED! It was very surprising, but a very amazing experience.