Review: Cranial Osteopathy by Christophe Becquereau

A personal experience of being treated

I first heard about Christophe Becquereau and his cranial osteopathy treatments 3 years ago from a couple of my friends from NCT and Mums & Tots groups. Their new babies had been suffering with what seemed to be colic – they seemed uncomfortable and cried all the time and my friends were not only extremely concerned for their children, but the crying and lack of sleep was really beginning to make life hard.

Conventional medicines and advice hadn’t helped, and they were reaching breaking point when someone recommended that they take their babies to see Christophe Becquereau. After seeing Christophe, both their babies were like different children – their crying had gone (well, it had reduced to normal levels!), they were sleeping and feeding better, and my friends were finally able to enjoy life with their newborn bundles of joy.

Since then, it seems like everyone knows someone who has had a similar experience! So when our new baby William arrived, and Christophe offered to treat him, I jumped at the chance.

Christophe Becquereau has recently opened his new clinic (The Maple Tree Clinic on Overslade Close in Hunsbury), from which he not only offers his own osteopathy and cranial osteopathy treatments, but also a number of other health and wellness services from other experts such as pilates, music sessions, baby yoga, hypnotherapy, homeopathy, and much more. The list goes on! It is a lovely space – clean and spacious, the staff are all warm and welcoming and immediately make you feel at ease.

On arriving for the appointment with William (who was about 3 weeks old), Christophe asked about his general well-being, including his weight and his birth and any other problems. Though William had to be admitted to the special care unit at Northampton General for 9 days when he was first born, we were actually experiencing very few problems with him. He was and is a very calm baby and cries very little – the only problem we had, as many parents do with babies this age, was that William seemed to have a lot of wind and was having trouble getting it up. This was happening particularly at night time, and I was finding myself either sat up winding him, or listening to him groan and moan for an hour or longer at a time.

The Assessment

The first thing Christophe did was to take a photo of William in his car seat – he took a front on view and also one of the top of his head.

We looked at the photos on his computer and he showed me the ways in which William’s skull wasn’t quite symmetrical. The observations were really quite subtle, but I could see them when Christophe pointed them out. He showed me that though the bottom half of his face was perfectly symmetrical, one half of the top of William’s head was slightly rounded, whilst the other was more flat. His left forehead bones also bulged slightly more than on the right hand side and his cheek bones are not quite symmetrical. He also pointed out tension in the left eye that was absent from the right one.

He said that William’s wind problem might be caused at least partly by the bridge of his nose being slightly ‘wonky’, which could be seen by looking at the bottom of the nose (which wasn’t quite straight) and might be obstructing air passage in some way.

The Treatment

Christophe held William on his lap and put his hands on his head, on the top, sides and on his cheek bones. He seemed to be applying a little pressure, but William was very relaxed and Christophe chatted to me, making it all a very calm experience. William seemed perfectly happy and comfortable lying on his knee. The treatment took 10 - 15 minutes and Christophe explained what he was doing and took some more photos at the end.

It was hard for me to tell if there was any difference at first, but again Christophe showed how the top of William’s head was now symmetrical, and it certainly did seem to be true. The top of his nose was still a little wonky, though Christophe explained that that should straighten out in the next 3 – 5 days. He said that William might be a little whineier today or tomorrow, but that we should notice in 2 – 3 days that his wind is easier to bring up and he shouldn’t be making the straining, uncomfortable noises as much as before.

He also said that in general that we had nothing to worry about as there weren’t any major problems with his skull which was reassuring!

Later On

Far from being whiney, William slept most of the day after the treatment and seemed extremely calm – perhaps more than usual – which made us wonder if Christophe had indeed released some tension in his head. As Christophe suggested, we didn’t see any immediate improvements with his wind and unfortunately a few days later William then came down with a cold (in fact the whole family did!) which caused some unsettled days and nights. We are just over a week on after the treatment as I write this and the cold is passing, and William’s problems with his wind do indeed seem to be getting better. He is sleeping longer at night and is waking up less with wind issues.

It is difficult to say why these improvements have occurred and whether it was wholly or partly down to Christophe’s help, but William’s face does seem more symmetrical now, and his nose does seem to have straightened up a bit. At the very least, it was reassuring to hear from Christophe that there were no major problems with William’s skull, and I feel that he probably has helped William feel more comfortable. On a very practical level, the appointment ran perfectly on time as well, so it was easy to plan it around feed and nap times, which was handy!

If I was going to have any more children, I would certainly take them to see Christophe – even if it was just to check that their skulls were OK - but I must say if they were suffering from colic or any other similar conditions, I would be down to The Maple Tree Clinic in a flash. In that situation, I think it’s worth trying anything!

Finding The Maple Tree Clinic

The Maple Tree Clinic is based at 1 Overslade Close, East Hunsbury, Northampton, NN4 0RZ.

To find out more, or book an appointment, you can call the clinic on 01604 765880, or contact them by email.

Or you can of course visit The Maple Tree Clinic Website.

You can also read more about Cranial Osteopathy in an article on the subject written by Christophe Becquereau himself: Cranial Osteopathy: The Mystery Revealed.