For those who I have not yet met, my name is Dr. Erin Anderson, and I’ve been a pregnancy and pediatric chiropractor and have worked with difficult infants since 2006. I’ve also been a guide and mentor to lots of pregnant moms and new parents - discussing many issues such as feeding, nutrition, movement, milestones, and have helped thousands of children with my protocol of in-office chiropractic, craniosacral therapy, and bodywork as well as teaching the caregivers a protocol of at-home stretches.
My favorite thing to do is to empower parents, who know their baby or child best, to take the lead in their little one’s care and to feel safe in making healthcare decisions for their family. I also love to teach more about what to do at home to accelerate the changes we make in office, as well as the bonus of learning more about bonding, calming, and building their baby’s brain.
I know firsthand the difficulty of navigating new motherhood with a baby with complex needs. My first daughter was born in 2013 with a severe lip and tongue tie which caused us every nursing issue possible - delayed latch and milk production, painful feeding, blocked ducts, underproduction, overproduction, fast letdown, even failure to thrive. This was not the first few weeks I expected… I wanted nothing more than to breastfeed my child. I was afraid that she couldn’t, or that my milk wasn’t enough, or that I would have to exclusively pump or give her formula.
My daughter’s oral ties were released by a pediatric dentist when she was only 12 days old, and we were the lucky ones who had an immediate and nearly complete improvement in feeding. However, the restrictions caused by her ties and difficult birth still were present, which created painful reflux and hours of crying at night. Even though I’d helped hundreds of infants with colic and reflux in the prior 7 years of my practice, I had to become a ninja at learning and implementing the bodywork and cranial calming that I recommend for many babies and young kids. As both a parent and provider, I have tried every tip and trick, taken hundreds of hours of continuing education on infant development and feeding.
My passion for babies and families goes way back - I am the oldest of 5 children and the 4th oldest of 55 cousins (on my mom’s side alone). We were very much raised as a pack, so there was a constant stream of pregnant women and babies around! My passion for health in children goes all the way back, too! Not only was I the mom of a fussy, difficult baby, I was once that baby myself! The lip and tongue tie that were ignored in my own mouth created tethering and pulling into my head and upper spine. I became a classic example of a fixated upper spine and lip tongue tie left alone over time, leading me to stages where I was:
- A toddler with countless ear infections who took almost a dozen rounds of antibiotics as a child
- A little dancer who could only spin turning to the right, because my vestibular system was off and I felt ill or stumbled any time I turned left
- A super picky young eater who hated most textures and wouldn’t eat vegetables
- A teen with a destroyed gut after all the childhood antibiotics, giving me belly aches that would keep me up all night, and contributed toward significant anxiety
- An adolexcent with tons of head, jaw, neck, and shoulder pain and tension
- An adult with scoliosis, which affected my joints and posture as well as the function of some of those areas (decreased lung function, painful periods, etc.). I took up to 7 medications by age 25!
Luckily, I found chiropractic and bodywork in my mid 20’s and was able to wean off ALL of my medications to none in a short period of time (I wish my chiropractic for infants was common when I was struggling and could have helped me before then!). However, I believe I had to learn the information that I love to share about to prevent the suffering of thousands of children whose parents were like mine - well-intentioned, but didn't understand there was another way to help. My passion is placing my knowledge, wisdom, support and hands-on strategies into easy, bite-sized packages that won’t take you away from your precious babe.
What is your chiropractic story? Or do you have a story whose ending you'd like to change? We would truly love to help you or your child.