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Craniosacral Therapy

in Pregnancy

Upledger Craniosacral Therapy is very safe with very few contra indications, for this reason it can be used at all stages of pregnancy. 

Upledger Craniosacral Therapy has been found by many mothers and babies to be highly effective at helping them through the birth process and beyond. Many women have found Upledger Craniosacral Therapy helps their body adjust to the changes created by pregnancy and prepare them for labour in a fully resourced condition.


The weight of the growing baby can put strain on the spine. Lower back pain and symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD) are common problems due to changes in posture and ligament laxity. Often the pelvis is poorly aligned and the sacrum stuck. Upledger Craniosacral Therapy encourages symmetry and free movement to the sacrum, hence allowing delivery to be much easier and less traumatic; therefore benefiting both mother and baby.

Treatment may also help with hormonal balance improve energy levels, ease stress and tension, helping prepare the mother for an easier birth.

At the time of birth, the mother’s pelvis responds to the emerging baby by expanding and in turn the shape of the baby’s head changes so that it can negotiate its way into the world. Certain physiological changes need to occur. At birth, the baby gets more compressed in order to pass down the birth canal. In the majority of deliveries, the distortions correct within a few hours to days, through breathing, yawning, sucking and crying. When the baby suckles the palate and tongue work to mobilize all the tissues as far as the sacrum and coccyx at the base of the spine


After birth the mother may also benefit from a short course of treatment to aid postnatal recovery and help realign the body. Often Mother and child both receive treatments together, which is beneficial as they are energetically so closely connected and involved in attachment and bonding.

Upledger Craniosacral Therapy

Many mothers and babies have found Craniosacral Therapy helps them to recover from the rigors of labour and childbirth. The sooner the treatment is given the better, especially if it has been a difficult and complex labour. Most babies experience some degree of shock, whether mild or severe, at some stage during the birth process. Some newborn babies have clenched muscles as if to protect themselves, the physical birth process may have had a direct contrast to its nurturing time in the womb. Some babies may enter a state of panic, for example if they become stuck for a time in the birth canal, their capacity to cope can be overwhelmed. They can be frightened, frustrated or even angry following their birth (hyper arousal).

Another effect of shock imprinting during the birth process is for the baby to withdraw and appear to sleep a lot (hypo arousal). Despite parents thinking their babies are doing so well because they are sleeping all the time, actually they are suffering the effects of shock. If it has been a difficult birth, the newborn can be in a state of shock, and then it can be as if they haven’t been able to fully arrive. Shock is a major cause of incomplete unfolding. The tissues can often feel frozen, the newborn is often subdued or irritable, will not settle, wakeful and over stimulated. Once released, the tissues can expand and open more freely.


If the mother and infant are not able to make deep eye contact with each other, it may be an indicator of shock. They are metabolically linked emotionally. Mothers and babies can find the process of birth overwhelming and it is recommended that both come for treatment as soon as the mother feels able to after the birth, dealing with symptoms at their onset and resolving before becoming established.

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