Children can really benefit from reflexology. It can be wonderfully calming for babies, can be used alongside nursery rhymes for toddlers and intrigues them from school age. If children start experiencing reflexology from early on it can be a great tool to help them cope with all things childhood throws at them. It is staggering that an estimated 1 in 10 junior school children have been reported to have anxiety and/or depression and this increases to 1 in 4 young people in secondary school.
I recently met two children, a girl aged 5 and a boy aged 11 who have really benefitted from the wonderful effects of reflexology:
Kathryn-the-poo
The gorgeous 5 year old had been holding in her poos for the last 6 months, not through constipation, but because she was scared of going. Even when desperate to go she was still able to hold them in for 5-7 days making her exhausted, uncomfortable and bad tempered. She’d recently been prescribed Movicol and Lactulose which had helped her a little. The transformation in her when she was finally able to go, I was told, was incredible but she never learnt from it and always reverted to holding them in.
After our first reflexology session I received this email from her mother that night:
“Wow. What a result. Within 5 minutes of arriving home she rushed to the loo and over the course of the evening went SIX times!! After the first time, she went uncomplainingly and is very pleased with herself. Fingers crossed this has now broken the cycle.”
It’s a vicious and very painful process if children start holding in their poos because it hurt them at some stage. Although with medication, the pain is softened, the memory that they don’t like going seems harder to combat and the longer they hold it in, the harder and bigger the poo will be to expel. The reflexology session included giving the poo a name (i’m still not sure how I feel that she called hers Kathryn!), some reflexology for her soft toys (so she could see what it would entail before trying it out herself) and some deep breathing. It was a lovely, relaxed and happy session and I’m really delighted it made such an impact so quickly.
Wet Wet Wet
Bed wetting is embarrassing and traumatic. It can cause children to feel ashamed and guilty, reluctant to talk about it and overwhelmed by the pressure to keep it a secret. Parents often feel it’s their fault and the family are exhausted from a continual disturbed nights sleep. It’s a source of misery, stress and anxiety as children miss out on school trips and sleep overs. Growing up is hard enough without having to cope with something totally beyond their control.
Recently I started treating an 11 year old who had been on medication to stop wetting the bed for 2 years. After our first session they reduced the medication from 2 tablets to 1. He stayed dry. After our 3rd session they stopped taking the medication completely and he was dry 3 out of 9 nights. I saw him weekly for 7 weeks and he was dry for a week with no medication.
The reflexology sessions included specific points to help reduce stress, support the urinary system and normalise hormone balance.
With over a million people affected in the UK, bed wetting is more common than we think. It can be an exhausting, painful and stressful time for parents as well as children so please get in touch to see if reflexology can help your family get a good night’s sleep.
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