Despite what some folks believe, most pediatricians are very interested in breastfeeding and learning as much as they can to help their families breastfeeding effectively for as long as they wish.
They are not looking to push baby formula or bottles to sabotage a mom’s chances of breastfeeding her baby.

And they will typically do anything to help the mom breastfeed, as well as make sure the baby is getting enough to eat. At least they will do anything that has some evidence to show that it is effective.
Chiropractic for Breastfeeding Problems
Will they refer their babies to a chiropractor for extra help with breastfeeding?
“Chiropractic manipulation in children who are < age 12 years is considered unproven and not medically necessary as a treatment for any diagnosis as there is insufficient published evidence to assess the safety and/or impact on health outcomes in the pediatric population.”
Chiropractic Spinal Manipulation in Children
Probably not, as there is no real evidence that it would help. Unfortunately, well meaning pediatricians do often refer their patients to lactation consultants who may then recommend further management by a chiropractor.
Why?
“Based on their case studies and the volumes of previous research, these researchers concluded that subluxations and the neurological interference they cause play a major role in Hypolactation. The researchers suggest, “Chiropractic evaluation for subluxations would be a key element in the holistic assessment of the failure to establish milk supply in the post partum patient.””
icpa on Chiropractic Helps New Mothers Produce Milk
Maybe it is because they don’t understand that when chiropractors use the term subluxations, they are not referring to something you can see on an xray, but rather something they think they can feel, and when manipulated, unblocks the flow of energy that prevents your body’s innate ability to heal itself.
“DD Palmer, an American magnetic healer, believed that diseases are often caused by subluxations of the vertebrae, which, in turn, lead to an interruption of nervous impulses; and that the correction of these subluxations allows the body to heal itself. This is still a central tenet of chiropractic.”
Chiropractic care for children: Controversies and issues
Is that why your baby is having trouble breastfeeding? An invisible subluxation is blocking the flow of energy in your body?
Or is that why your baby has reflux or colic?

What about the “research” chiropractors talk about?
They are case studies, which is basically a chiropractor telling a story (glorified anecdote) about what happened to their patient, without any evidence of why it happened or how it could have happened.
“High-quality evidence supporting effectiveness of spinal manipulation for nonmusculoskeletal concerns is lacking, especially in infants and children, for whom the risks of adverse events may be the highest because of immature stability of the spine.”
AAP on Pediatric Integrative Medicine
The American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Integrative Medicine even warns parents about taking their kids to a chiropractor. And that’s saying something, as they promote some other holistic therapies that aren’t actually all that evidence based.
Craniosacral Therapy for Breastfeeding Problems
What about craniosacral therapy?
Similar to chiropractic, it has to do with has to do with tides and rhythms of cerebrospinal fluid, which these practitioners think they can feel and manipulate by massaging your baby’s head.
Is that why your baby isn’t breastfeeding well? The tides and rhythms of his cerebrospinal fluid are off?
“When a baby is unable to nurse or nurses so poorly that he causes pain to his mother, he presents a true challenge. A mother who experiences pain or who perceives that her baby is not breastfeeding effectively is a mother who is at risk of prematurely weaning this baby.
After working through all of the usual avenues of information and resources that can help in this kind of situation, some Leaders have found a new therapy, called CranioSacral Therapy (CST), can be helpful. CST is a light-touch manual therapy used to encourage the body’s self-correcting mechanisms.”
La Leche League on Considering CranioSacral Therapy in Difficult Situations
Not surprisingly, there is no real evidence that craniosacral therapy helps breastfeeding or anything else.
It is very surprising that some parents are willing to pay $600 or more for a few craniosacral therapy sessions.
And it is disappointing that a lactation consultant would refer their patients for this kind of therapy, since there is no evidence that it will work.
What to Know About Chiropractic and Craniosacral Therapy for Breastfeeding Problems
Parents looking for breastfeeding support should view a referral to a chiropractor or to get craniosacral therapy as a red flag and consider getting a second opinion for their breastfeeding problems from someone who uses evidence based therapies that have been proven to work.
More on Chiropractic and Craniosacral Therapy for Breastfeeding Problems
- Is There Evidence for That Therapy, or No?
- Why Cranial Therapy Is Silly
- AAP – Pediatric Integrative Medicine
- The American Academy of Pediatrics has an Integrative Medicine Problem
- Chiropractic care for children: Controversies and issues
- Pediatric Chiropractic Care: Scientifically Indefensible?
- Chiropractic and the Newborn Baby
- Should Chiropractors Treat Children?
- A Touch to Fear: Chiropractic and the Newborn Baby
- The Crack Heard Round the World
- Why I don’t take my kids to the chiropractor
- Newborn Chiropractic, False Balance, and The Doctors
- Maximized Living: “5 Essentials” of Chiropractic Marketing Propaganda
- Subluxation Correction: A Chiropractic Treatment for Babies
- Pediatric Chiropractic Care: The Subluxation Question And Referral Risk.
- A Canadian Journalist Calls Out Pediatric Chiropractic, and a Chiropractor Responds
- Pediatricians alarmed by chiropractic treatments for babies that ‘border on the fraudulent’
- Chiropractic and Spinal Manipulation Red Flags: A Comprehensive Review
- Chiropractic Spinal Manipulation in Children
- Study – Chiropractic Care for Children
- Study – Adverse events associated with pediatric spinal manipulation
- Study – Chiropractic spinal manipulation for infant colic: a systematic review of randomised clinical trials.
- Posterior Rib Fractures in a Young Infant Who Received Chiropractic Care
- Cranial Manipulation and Tooth Fairy Science
- Alas poor Craniosacral. A SCAM of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy.
- Breastfeeding and the curious epidemic of “broken” baby tongues
- Infant dies after craniosacral “therapy”
- Quackery for Kids
- Breast Milk Testing: Scaremongering, Not Science
- Considering CranioSacral Therapy in Difficult Situations
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