When a baby is born in the western world, there are a few commonly used metrics that are looked at to determine if the baby is “healthy”. We can measure and observe vital signs like heartbeat, breathing, and movement. We can look for any obvious signs of physical injury that could have occurred, such as a collar bone fracture or hip alignment, for example. Perhaps you’ve heard of the APGAR score which is measured in the first minutes after delivery and assesses heart rate, respiratory effort, reflexes, muscle tone and colour.
But what if we’re missing something altogether?
Every single week we meet parents of children who were pronounced “perfectly healthy” at birth. Their vital signs were steady, and their APGAR score was acceptable. But shortly thereafter, seemingly inexplicable challenges popped up.
From latching, sucking, swallowing and feeding issues, to persistent irritability and unsettledness in newborns. Or slightly further down the developmental track it could be recurrent ear infections, tonsilitis or significant sleep disturbances. From about six months of age, it can show up as delays in important milestones such as sitting, crawling or walking, or successfully integrating solid foods.
When concerned parents take these struggling infants and toddlers to their trusted healthcare providers to seek advice and help, they’re often met with the opinion that it’s “very common” and they’ll “grow out of it” and there is rarely any discussion as to what the root cause of these ongoing challenges really is. After all, the child was totally fine at birth!
For some parents, especially after several attempts to get better answers and guidance, this process can become frustrating and isolating, not to mention repetitive! As a parent, your gut is telling you that something is missing, there’s got to be some other piece to the puzzle.
This story and these situations are commonplace in the conversations we’re having with parents inside Being Chiropractic Studio. And while we respect, appreciate and acknowledge the value and importance of the standard tests used at childbirth to assess the health of a newborn, we have our own set of additional tests that can often uncover the missing link that parents intuitively know is waiting to be found.
In particular, one of the most insightful tests we can use with newborns (and children of any age) is called Heart Rate Variability or HRV. Measuring HRV is not necessarily new or alternative, in fact it’s a scientifically validated method for assessing the overall function of the autonomic nervous system. For years, HRV has been used in certain populations as a key health metric.
One example is the athletic community, where HRV is used by elite athletes through to weekend warriors to understand how fatigued an individual might be and therefore their readiness to train and perform on a given day. Most smart watches these days offer HRV measurement, including Apple and Garmin, marketing it as a way to track the effects of stress, adaptability and recovery.
A key component of the autonomic nervous system, as measured using HRV, is the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is arguably the most important nerve in the human body, playing a vital role in facilitating rest, recovery, healing, growth and development. You can think of the vagus nerve as your child’s “brake pedal”, and because it is such a powerful facilitator of the physiology required for growth and development, if the vagus nerve is compromised it can drastically disrupt the most basic yet significant functions that a growing baby’s body is attempting to develop.
From coordinating sucking, swallowing and pooping, to immune function and emotional regulation, the vagus nerve has a hand in it all. And so that is why we measure Heart Rate Variability in all newborns and children we assess, using a clinical grade pulse wave profile scanner. While it is just one of a curated selection of scans and tests that we do, it offers powerful insights that have often been overlooked or never considered previously.
If you’re intrigued by this information, stay tuned for our next article detailing the most common root causes for vagus nerve dysfunction and low HRV scores in newborns and children. If you would like to have your child’s autonomic nervous system assessed, go ahead and schedule an initial consultation with one of our neurologically-focused chiropractors.
At Being Chiropractic Studio we have a special interest in helping children and families to overcome all sorts of health challenges so that they can heal and thrive naturally!
If you’ve got any questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you. Give us a call and one of our friendly front desk team will be able to assist.
