Is Your Baby Stuck in Fight or Flight?

Understanding Subluxation and How Chiropractic Care Helps Restore Calm, Connection, and Coordination

We often meet new parents who feel like something just isn’t quite right with their baby.

Maybe your baby struggles to latch deeply or feeds constantly but never seems satisfied. Maybe they’re colicky, gassy, or only sleep when held upright on your chest. Or maybe your instincts are just telling you that your little one seems uncomfortable in their own body — constantly tense, clenched fists, arched back, hard to soothe.

We want you to know: You’re not imagining it.And more importantly, you’re not alone.

What we’ve seen over and over again in our practice — and what the science confirms — is that the root of so many of these early struggles lies in the nervous system. More specifically, it lies in how stress has shaped your baby’s brain-body connection from the very beginning.

Let’s break this down, and talk about how we help babies and families get back into regulation, resilience, and rest.

The Neurological Impact of Pregnancy & Birth

Your baby’s nervous system begins forming within weeks of conception. It’s the first system to develop — and it becomes the control center for everything else: digestion, sleep, immunity, motor skills, and even bonding.

But here’s what we now know:When mama experiences high levels of stress during pregnancy (emotional, physical, chemical), that stress can imprint onto baby’s nervous system. Think of it like the baby getting “coded” for survival mode before they even enter the world.

Then, add to that the stress and trauma of birth — especially with interventions like inductions, C-sections, forceps, vacuum, or long pushing stages — and your baby may enter the world already stuck in sympathetic overdrive (aka fight-or-flight).

What Is a Subluxation, Really?

In chiropractic, a subluxation isn’t just a bone out of place — it’s a sign that the nervous system is under stress and interference.

Subluxations occur when the body can’t adapt well to stress, and tension gets stored in the spine, cranium, and soft tissues. This disrupts the communication between the brain and body, especially the cranial nerves responsible for functions like suck, swallow, digestion, sleep, and self-soothing.

Stages of Subluxation (as seen in infants):

1. Neuro-Emotional Stress: Baby is born into a high-stress environment or pregnancy was full of anxiety, illness, or trauma.

2. Sympathetic Dominance: Baby's nervous system defaults to fight-or-flight — we see this as hypertonic muscles, tight fists, shallow latch, clenched jaw.

3. Structural Tension & Subluxation: We find tightness in the upper neck, base of the skull, jaw, and sacrum. These are signs that the system is “locked in.”

4. Disconnection: Baby has difficulty responding to the world around them — they struggle with feeding, sleep, digestion, and regulation.

How Subluxation Affects Oral-Motor Function

When subluxation affects the upper cervical spine, it can interfere with the cranial nerves that control tongue movement, jaw function, and coordination of suck-swallow-breathe.

This leads to:

• Shallow or painful latch

• Gagging or clicking at the breast or bottle

• Poor weight gain

• Gassiness, reflux, and spit-up

• Short, frequent feeds or frustration at the breast

No amount of latching techniques will resolve this if the root issue is a stressed, subluxated nervous system.

 How Chiropractic Adjustments Help

We provide gentle, nervous system-based adjustments that help clear subluxations and restore neuro-spinal communication.

Here’s how it works:

• Adjustments calm the fight-or-flight response and activate the parasympathetic nervous system — the one responsible for rest, digestion, growth, and connection.

• We focus on the upper cervical spine, cranial bones, and sacrum — areas crucial for oral-motor coordination and vagus nerve function.

• As tension releases, babies begin to perceive their environment more accurately, respond with better coordination, and show improvements in feeding, digestion, and sleep.

This is not just about comfort — it’s about reprogramming your baby’s nervous system for safety, connection, and thriving.

We’re Here for Moms, Too

This isn’t just about adjusting babies.Mothers also carry layers of stress and trauma from conception, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. When we adjust you, we’re not only helping you heal physically — we’re helping your nervous system co-regulate with your baby’s. That means both of you can find rest, peace, and resilience together.

The Results We See Every Week

• Babies who finally latch deeply and nurse comfortably

• Nipple pain disappears — and breastfeeding becomes a bond, not a battle

• Gas, reflux, and colic symptoms resolve

• Sleep improves as baby shifts from survival to restoration

• Parents say, “It feels like I finally got my baby back.”

Subluxation is a sign your baby’s nervous system is doing its best — but it’s stuck in stress mode.Our job as chiropractors is to gently and specifically guide them back to balance, safety, and strength.

Whether your baby is struggling to latch, isn’t sleeping well, or just seems “off,” nervous system chiropractic care may be the missing link.

You don’t have to do this alone.We’re here to help your family thrive from the inside out.