Reprinted by from June, 2013 Bowen Hands, by permission of Bowtech Party, Ltd
“Out of the 67 babies, only 16 needed the procedure to be repeated the second time and that was the end of their problems.”
I am Marcela Campian from Cluj-Napoca (Romania) – Bowen practitioner since June 2011. I decided to open up a practice right after graduation. The dramatic switch I had to make, from an executive manager within a national company, working 12 hours per day 7 days per week, to a hands on therapist, seemed like the most natural choice, as I was right away and genuinely attracted by the Bowen Technique.
Starting a practice on Bowen Therapy was a challenge for me though. I was encouraged by the excellent results I had, but the number of patients was below my expectations. I realized I needed some promotion work. The internet did not help too much at first, although I was listed on the official Romanian website, had my own Facebook page and subscribed to different therapists directories.
Everything changed when I subscribed to a Facebook group of mothers, discussing babies and small children life and challenges.
When I saw how many medicines they were recommending to each other, I started talking about Bowen Therapy. No one from this group seemed to know what that was.
Being a mom myself (I have a daughter of 6 years old), using the appropriate language and being able to talk from a personal perspective, helped me having the first client from this group.
That was all it took! 65% of the clients I’m having now are a result of that first child I treated and the permanent contact I kept with this group. After treating dozens of children (from 1 to 5 years old) and gaining the mothers trust, when I saw how much trouble the baby’s colic brings for the entire family, I proposed free treatments to “test” the Baby Bowen procedure, as I never had the chance to apply it, only knowing it from the book and from my teacher.
When Andrew Zoppos introduced this procedure to us, I believed him, as I did for any other procedure (“if applied correctly, it will work for 95% of the clients…”), but I haven’t been too much in a hurry to start using it.
It’s not easy to bring many newborns in the practice, nor it is to convince the parents letting you touch their newborns.
This group was the perfect opportunity for me to test this procedure, by my own and I was having the right contacts (6300 mums from all over the country, many with babies under 1 year old).
Number of babies
So it “happened” that it is now over 7 months since I keep giving the Baby Bowen procedure to 67 babies, aged between 5 hours and 5 months.
The results are absolutely amazing!
Out of the 67 babies, only 16 needed the procedure to be repeated the second time and that was the end of their problems.
Nine babies were colic free for more than 4 days after the treatment, but when the problem started again it was mild and their mothers didn’t choose to bring them back for another treatment. Four moms said that the technique did not help their babies (they only had 1 or maximum 2 treatments).
Thank you Andrew Zoppos for making me the facilitator for this babies health and wellbeing! IT IS THE MOST AMAZING FEELING EVER! Now I continue treating about 4 or 5 babies / week for colic and since I learned Masters procedures, I started treating babies for tear duct blockage and it also
works fantastic! Thank you Tom Bowen for such a wonderful technique, Ossie and Elaine for the hard work to make it known to the world and Andrew Zoppos for the passion he is passing on to all of us!
Marcela Campian
Cluj-Napoca (Romania)
A NEW APPROACH TO BABY COLIC TREATMENT
– THE BOWEN TECHNIQUE
Author: Georgi Ilchev; Physiotherapist – Bulgaria
Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to present a new method for a non-symptomatic treatment of baby colics. 44 babies have been included in the research during the period February 2011 – September 2012. Bowen sessions have been applied to all monitored babies. The procedures have been done once every 4-7 days. The average amount of sessions per baby is 2.8.
The following results have been achieved: 62% responded with complete recovery, 23% achieved significant improvement with mild, incidental colics and 15% responded with no improvement.
The conclusion is that the Bowen technique can provide salutary and relatively fast effect for baby colic treatment and can be used in addition to the standard medication or naturopathic treatments.
INTRODUCTION
The aim of this article is the effective application of the Bowen technique for baby colics. The infamous baby colics usually are the first serious challenge the baby and its parents meet. Nowadays, the treatment is mainly with medications. The article aims to inform the physiotherapy society and the Bowen practitioners of the positive application of the Bowen technique for baby colics and to recommend its usage as an addition to conventional medical practices.
REPORT
Baby colics are usually present during the first few weeks from birth to the third month. In rare cases they can persist up to the sixth month of childbirth. Usually, they go with sharp, severe abdominal pain and severe spasms of the smooth stomach and intestine muscles. It is difficult for the parents to understand the real reason for their child’s cry as the babies cannot describe what is actually bothering them.
Most common symptoms:
• The baby is loudly crying for a long period of time despite the attempts for relief.
• Symptoms usually appear at a same time of the day, often after feeding and usually disappear as suddenly as they appear.
• Signs of abdominal bloating and gas.
• The baby is having a stiff stomach, knees are fully flexed towards the body, and palms are into fists. • The baby is often suffering from insomnia, anxiety, irritability.
There are many theories for baby colics but there is no concrete, solid, scientifically based one over which experts unite. It is proven that the reasons for colics differ with different babies. Several major factors, usually revealing in combination may lead to discomfort or baby colics:
. Newborns have immature digestive system, which has never before processed food. It is, literally, just learning how to function. The smooth muscles of the digestive tract that has to assist digestion have not developed an appropriate functioning rhythm to be able to effectively advance food through the digestive tract. Furthermore, newborns have lack of beneficial bacteria intestine flora (probiotics), which forms with time and assist digestion. This can give an explanation why almost all babies overcome colics during the first couple of months.
. Some foods that breastfeeding mothers eat contain volatile chemicals and allergens which may lead to colics and abdominal discomfort to a small percentage of newborns. Through breastfeeding, signs of fruits, vegetables and other gas forming foods may pass over to the baby and lead to gas and/or bloating.
. Babies often swallow air while they eat or during a prolonged cry. This increases gas and bloating and contributes for a further discomfort.
. Baby’s nervous system is immature as well. It is possible that they get easily overloaded with unfamiliar sounds, lights or vibrations. Babies like that usually experience more pronounced colics, irritability, difficulties falling asleep at day or night, etc.
. The psycho-emotional status of the mother is also very important especially if she is breastfeeding. Tension, anxiety, petulance and other negative emotions of the mother and the family could easily transfer to the baby and cause baby colics.
Different ways for solving the baby colics are known. Most widely spread is the conventional treatment with medications prescribed by a pediatrician. The healing property of naturopathy is well known also.
Highly effective is the application of the Bowen technique.
44 babies were included in the current research at an age of -5 months, monitored between February 0 and September 0. Baby Bowen sessions were applied to all monitored babies with a minimum of two minutes break in between the set of moves. The procedures were done once on every 4-7 days.
The average number of sessions is 2,8. (fig.1)
Parents were asked to give a phone .all feedback five to seven days after each session. The stage of the colics was discussed, the quality of sleep whether is deep and long enough, the amount
of milk intake as well as awareness and agility
of the baby. If necessary a new appointment was scheduled.
As a result of the applied Bowen sessions a complete recovery was achieved to 63% of the babies, after only -3 sessions. 3% respond with a significant improvement but still experience mild, incidental colics and 4% show no improvement of state (fig.2)
It was interesting to observe that after two or three sessions some parents were satisfied by the improvement and did not continue with the treatments despite some remaining signs of the symptoms. As shown on fig. 1 only 8 babies had four Bowen sessions. This may give an explanation why there are 3% with incidental colics.
Another observation at the end of the research period shows that many of the non-responding babies are on natural breastfeeding. It is once again “a food for thought” that the psycho-emotional status of the mother and the food she eats plays an important role in resolving the baby colics symptoms. However, this is still a matter of future observations.
CONCLUSION
The Bowen technique can successfully be applied to the complex treatment of baby colics. There are no side effects or contraindications. A complete recovery or a significant improvement is observed almost to all babies, even after the first few sessions.
Let’s remember that babies are still getting used to this world and with growth their colics will disappear. The Bowen technique simply shortens this period.