What we check
- Range of motion through the upper neck, including whether your baby turns and tilts equally to both sides
- Tension at the base of the skull and through the jaw, and how it affects latch and swallow
- Mid-back and rib mobility, and whether the diaphragm is moving freely
- Pelvic and hip symmetry, and any consistent curl or coil to one side
- Autonomic nervous-system tension measured with an INSiGHT scan
- Feeding history, birth history, and what position finally calms your baby
- Whether anything you describe belongs with your pediatrician first
What to expect
Your first visit runs as a consultation, a nervous-system scan, and a chiropractic exam with a first adjustment. We start by listening. How the birth went, when the crying spikes, which side your baby prefers, how feeds are going, and what you have already tried. Then we examine your baby's neck, ribcage, and pelvis by hand and run the scan. If we find restriction, we address it that same visit with light fingertip pressure. You will leave knowing what we found and what we recommend, and at a second visit we review the scans together and lay out a specific plan rather than an open-ended one. Bring a feed, a burp cloth, and low expectations for your own composure. We have seen the tears. The initial visit is $200.
Book a first visitWhat Colic and Reflux Look Like at Home
Colic is a description, not a diagnosis — the old rule of thumb is three hours of crying, three days a week, for three weeks. Most parents who call us do not care about the rule; they care that their baby seems uncomfortable in her own body.
- Crying with a strained, effortful sound rather than a hungry one
- Legs pulled up tight, then kicked straight
- A back that arches hard, sometimes mid-feed
- Spit-up long after the milk should have moved on
- A baby who fights being laid flat and only relaxes upright against your shoulder
- Some of this is normal newborn digestion. A lot of spitting up is simply a full stomach and a soft valve at the top of it. But when feeds have become something your baby braces for, it is fair to ask whether something mechanical is making it harder than it needs to be
Where We Look: Neck, Jaw, Ribcage, Pelvis
We are not looking at your baby’s stomach. We are looking at the structures around it and above it.
- Upper neck — first stop. Birth asks a great deal of a newborn’s head and neck, whether that birth was fast, long, assisted with a vacuum or forceps, or surgical. Tightness at the top of the neck can leave a baby who turns easily one way and resists the other, cannot settle her chin down comfortably, and works harder to coordinate sucking and swallowing.
- Jaw and base of the skull. A tight jaw changes how a baby seals at the breast or bottle, and a baby who cannot seal well swallows more air.
- Mid-back and ribcage, where the diaphragm attaches. The diaphragm is the floor of the chest and the ceiling of the belly, and the nerve that drives it comes from the neck. When the ribcage stays braced, breathing stays shallow and the digestive tract sits under constant pressure.
- Pelvis and hips, because a baby coiled to one side is rarely relaxed anywhere.
- What that means. We assess whether these areas move the way they should for your baby’s age and gently address the ones that do not. That may support comfort and easier positioning, and many parents report calmer evenings. We do not promise it, and we never claim to treat or resolve colic or reflux, because chiropractic care is not a treatment for either one.
Measuring Tension Instead of Guessing at It
Fussiness is hard to talk about because it is invisible, so our exam uses INSiGHT scanning technology.
- It measures activity along the spine and gives us a picture of how much stress and tension is sitting in your baby’s autonomic nervous system
- The scan is painless — a sensor passes down either side of the spine while your baby lies against you or on the table, and plenty of babies sleep through it
- The reason we bother is honesty: it gives us a starting point on paper, so when we say something has changed we can show you what we are looking at
- Dr. Tori Hartline is Webster Certified through the ICPA and proficient in the MC2 Tonal Technique, and the scan is part of how she decides what a specific baby needs and how often
How Gentle an Infant Adjustment Is
This is the question every parent asks, usually before they finish sitting down.
- Sustained light pressure from a single fingertip — roughly the force you would use to check whether a tomato at the grocery store is ripe
- It is held, not pushed
- No twisting of your baby’s neck, no popping, no cracking, no quick thrust — those belong to adult care, not to a newborn
- Most contacts last a few seconds, and babies frequently fall asleep partway through, which is its own kind of information
- Your baby stays with you the whole time — hold her, feed her, or keep her in the carrier if that is what keeps her calm
- Nobody is going to hand you a screaming baby and call it progress
Where Chiropractic Fits, and Where It Does Not
Your pediatrician owns your baby’s medical care.
- Weight checks, growth curves, feeding volumes, and any decision about medication belong there
- We will say plainly when a symptom needs that conversation instead of ours
- We work alongside your pediatrician, not in place of one
- If a lactation consultant is already helping you, we want to know what she has found — babies with feeding trouble do best when the adults around them are talking to each other
- Our lane: a careful look at spinal, cranial, and pelvic mechanics and at nervous-system tension, plus gentle care where we find restriction
See a medical provider right away if you notice
- Any fever of 100.4°F or higher in a baby under 3 months old — go to the emergency room or call your pediatrician immediately, do not wait
- Forceful projectile vomiting, especially if it is getting worse feed after feed — this needs same-day medical evaluation
- Vomit that is green, yellow-green, or bloody, or spit-up that looks like coffee grounds — seek emergency care
- Poor weight gain, dropping off the growth curve, or fewer than expected wet diapers — call your pediatrician
- Blood in the stool, or a swollen, hard, tender belly
- Unusual sleepiness, floppiness, difficulty waking, or a weak cry — this is an emergency
- Choking, gagging, color change, or pauses in breathing during feeds — call 911 or go to the ER
- Crying that is high-pitched and inconsolable and unlike your baby's normal cry, with no soothing at all
Common questions
Is chiropractic care safe for a two-week-old?
We see newborns regularly, including babies just a few days old. The care is scaled all the way down to them: sustained fingertip pressure, no twisting, no popping. Your baby is examined first, and if we find something that should be looked at medically instead, we say so and send you to your pediatrician.
Will this stop my baby's colic?
We cannot say that, and we would be misleading you if we did. Chiropractic care is not a treatment for colic or reflux. What we do is check whether your baby's spinal, cranial, and pelvic mechanics are restricted and whether her nervous system is stuck in a stress state, then gently address what we find. Many parents report calmer evenings and easier feeds after that. Some do not, and we will tell you honestly if we are not seeing change.
How many visits before we know if it is helping?
We would rather set a checkpoint than a promise. After the first handful of visits we look at your baby's scan again and ask you specific questions about crying, feeding, and sleep. If nothing has budged, that is useful information and we will say so instead of extending care indefinitely. Restoration plans, when a baby needs one, typically start at two to three visits per week and taper from there.
Do I have to stop the medication my pediatrician prescribed?
No, and please do not change anything based on a conversation with us. Medication decisions belong entirely to your pediatrician. Tell them you are adding chiropractic care so everyone is working from the same page.
My baby screams the second she is laid down. Will the visit be a disaster?
Probably not, but it does not need to be perfect either. You can hold her, feed her, or keep her in the carrier for part of the exam. We work around a fussy baby every single day, and a crying baby does not fluster us.
This page is educational and is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Chiropractic care does not treat or cure disease; it supports the function of the nervous system and spine. Please speak with your pediatrician or a licensed clinician about your family's specific situation, and seek immediate care for any urgent symptom.