Newborn Craniosacral Therapy in Chicago
Gentle CST for Baby
Supporting Your Baby’s Nervous System From the Very Beginning
At Coalesce Wellness, we offer gentle craniosacral therapy (CST) for newborns in Chicago to support healthy nervous system development, feeding, digestion, sleep, and overall regulation. This light-touch, non-invasive therapy is designed to help babies release tension from pregnancy and birth so they can settle into comfort, calm, and connection during the earliest stages of life.
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What Is Craniosacral Therapy for Baby?
Craniosacral Therapy is a light-touch, nervous-system–based therapy that works with the natural rhythms of your baby’s body—specifically the brain, spinal cord, cranial bones, and fascia.
Using a touch so gentle it’s often compared to the weight of a nickel, CST helps your baby’s system:
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Release compression from pregnancy and birth
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Improve communication between the brain and body
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Shift out of stress patterns and into rest, digestion, and healing
Babies don’t need to “try” to heal, their bodies already know how.
CST simply removes the obstacles.
Why Babies Benefit So Profoundly
Even when birth is peaceful and uncomplicated, it places significant physical and neurological stress on a newborn’s body. Long labors, fast deliveries, cesarean births, assisted deliveries, or in-utero positioning can create subtle tension patterns in the skull, spine, and fascia. These patterns may affect how the nervous system organizes itself in the early weeks of life. Craniosacral Therapy gently supports the body in releasing these stresses so your baby can settle more comfortably into feeding, sleeping, and self-regulation.
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How Craniosacral Therapy Supports Your Baby’s Nervous System
Your newborn’s nervous system is developing at an extraordinary pace, forming the foundation for digestion, sleep, emotional regulation, immunity, and sensory processing. When the nervous system is under strain or compression, babies may express discomfort through fussiness, feeding challenges, reflux, or difficulty settling. Craniosacral Therapy helps guide the nervous system out of stress patterns and into a parasympathetic, rest-and-digest state. From this place of regulation, the body can heal, grow, and function more efficiently.
1. Supports Nervous System Regulation and Calm
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Gently helps a baby's nervous system release tension from pregnancy and birth, encouraging a calmer, more settled baby with improved ability to self-regulate.
2. Promotes easier feeding and digestion
Supports relaxation in the jaw, neck, and digestive system, which may help with latching, reflux, gas, and overall feeding comfort.
3. Encourages better sleep and physical ease
Helps soften tension in the head, spine, and body, allowing babies to rest more deeply, move more freely, and feel more comfortable in their bodies.
Benefits of Craniosacral Therapy for Babies
Common Signs Your Baby May Benefit From CST
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Difficulty latching or breastfeeding challenges
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Excessive crying, colic, or fussiness
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Reflux, gas, or digestive discomfort
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Torticollis or head-turning preference
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Flat spots on the head (plagiocephaly)
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Trouble settling or sleeping
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Sensitivity to light, sound, or touch​
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When Should My Baby Receive CST?
CST can be beneficial:
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Within the first days or weeks after birth
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After a challenging or fast birth
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If symptoms arise at any time during infancy
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Early support often means less intervention later.
What a Newborn Craniosacral Therapy Session Feels Like
Newborn CST sessions are calm, slow, and entirely baby-led. Using an extremely light touch, the practitioner listens to your baby’s natural craniosacral rhythm and supports areas of tension or restriction. Babies may rest, feed, move, or sleep during the session, and parents are encouraged to remain present and relaxed. Many sessions end with babies appearing visibly more settled, often falling into a deep, restorative sleep or feeding with greater ease.
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The Coalesce Wellness Approach
At Coalesce Wellness, we view newborn care as an extension of maternal and family wellness. Our approach is trauma-informed, nervous-system focused, and deeply respectful of the baby’s innate intelligence. Rather than addressing symptoms in isolation, we work with the whole system, honoring birth experiences, early transitions, and the profound connection between parent and child. Your baby’s care is never rushed, forced, or standardized; it is intuitive, gentle, and individualized.
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A Gentle Start Can Change Everything
Your baby doesn’t need to “grow out of” discomfort.
Their body may simply need support to unwind and reorganize.
If you feel something is off, or if you simply want to give your baby the most regulated start possible, Craniosacral Therapy offers a loving,
powerful foundation.
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Located in the Avondale neighborhood, Coalesce Wellness proudly serves families in Chicago and surrounding neighborhoods.
Frequently Asked Questions
Newborn Craniosacral Therapy
