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Upper East Side Chiropractor Helps Babies Recover from the Stress of Being Born

By DNAinfo Staff on May 10, 2010 7:15am  | Updated on May 10, 2010 8:31am

By Gabriela Resto-Montero

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

It's been a tough first week for little Nicolas Berber.

The newborn was so tense after his delivery he needed an Upper East Side back doctor to ease out the cricks in his tiny spine, his mom told DNAInfo.

"I know the path he had to go through was so difficult," Jillian Berber, from Washington Heights, said. "I just want him to get a good start in life."

Nicolas is one of a growing number of stressed-out tots heading to chiropractors for realignment — making it the No. 2 most common alternative treatment being used on children, experts said. Using natural products is No. 1.

"In New York, we're all acutely aware of how much tension we accumulate," said Dr. Amy Burke, who adjusted her own daughter when she was just six-hours-old and treated Nicolas in her East 71st Street office, Flourish NYC.

Nicolas Jose Berber rests in the arms of his father after receiving his first Chiropractic alignment.
Nicolas Jose Berber rests in the arms of his father after receiving his first Chiropractic alignment.
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DNAinfo/Gabriela Resto-Montero

"The same is true for babies and it's about letting them let go of any tension they may have stored up."

Nicolas' back pain started to build up on April 28 during a drug-free, all-natural birth helped by a doula at St Luke's Hospital.

Since then, the days of nursing and sleeping have taken their toll on his frame.

On Wednesday last week, he curled up on his mother's stomach while Burke adjusted his spine — a process she says applies the same amount of pressure as a quarter resting on an adult's arm.

He then burped, and fell asleep.

The procedure was nothing new for the baby, who started feeling the benefits of a chiropractor's hands when he was still in the womb.

His mother began visiting Burke, who specializes in caring for expectant moms and children and charges $275 for the first two sessions and $90 for follow-ups, six weeks before his birth after back pain stopped her from working.

"He would always be so peaceful when we came here," Berber said of her pregnancy. "He would just be swimming around."

Advocates for chiropractic care for babies claim adjustments can lead to better eating, sleeping and digestion.

But other experts claim adult treatments for children could backfire.

"Their immune and central nervous systems are not fully developed, which can make them respond to treatments differently from adults," a 2007 report made by the National Institute for Complementary and Alternative Medicine warned.

And Dr. Karen Hopkins, a developmental behavioral pediatrician at New York University's Langone Medical Center, said, "I don't know that it's really, truly helpful, and we have really no evidence to say that it works one way or the other.

"Our bodies, our nervous systems, are designed (for birth), so I don't know if it's absolutely necessary."

But she added, "If it in any way alleviates the parents' stress about having a newborn, and if it make them more confident about raising a newborn, then it's absolutely positive."