More Reiki, cuddling, and music, and fewer opioids

Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) is a terrible disease, partly because the patient has done absolutely nothing to have it, and also because its signs are something that you would never want for a newborn to experience. NAS occurs when a pregnant woman abuses from a certain drug (either legal or not) and the newborn is deprived of such substance, leading to a series of signs that affect its body. These little patients can suffer tremors, rashes, vomiting, dehydration, unstable temperature, sleep deprivation and seizures, among other symptoms.

The characteristics of this disease depend a lot on the substance being abused, the dosage, and the trimester of pregnancy in which the fetus was exposed. If the substance abused was any type of opioid, then morphine is the most commonly used drug to treat the newborn.

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The Concord Hospital -located in New Hampshire, USA- has the intention to decrease the use of opioids and to adopt more practical and efficient treatments. This Hospital is into the process of Medical Integration, and it even has an online Complementary Services page.

Their services already include Reiki and Acupuncture. And this is not the first Hospital that offers Reiki as part of their Complementary and Alternative Services. For a full list, click here.

Along with this, the Hospital also gave green light to The Cuddlers Program. The amazing fact of this initiative is that they’re not using another drug, neither using state-of-the-art equipment. It consists only of cuddling the newborn, giving warmth and care to it. And nothing else.

That’s right, they are just giving care, love and energy healing to them. It can´t be any easier.

The Cuddlers Program began in May of 2018, and no one had a clear idea of what was about to happen. But the opportunity was given, and we just had to wait before getting any conclusions.

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After some months, it was pretty clear that the integration of Complementary Therapies is a big success.

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For you to make an idea of the positive impact of it: with traditional therapeutic practices, a baby could easily receive more than 20 doses of morphine. Now, in the last 10 months, the Hospital administered just 1 dose of morphine to one of the 61 babies with NAS that were staying at the facility during this period.

If you’re a Reiki Healer, this might not be surprising, but for many people it is. I think it’s important that Hospitals consider the fact that giving love -either by cuddling and singing-, and energy healing -by applying Reiki- has very strong effects on the patient. And in this case, even opioid administration is being decreased.

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CONCLUSION

After almost 2 years since the Hospital integrated Reiki, cuddling, and live music as Complementary Therapies, the results speak for themselves. The Cuddlers Program is so successful, that there is a waiting list to become a voluntary cuddler at the Concord Hospital.

We are humans since we are inside our mother’s womb. And since then we need love, touch, affection, and care. The Concord Hospital has demonstrated that music, Reiki, and cuddling can’t be underrated. I hope that other Hospitals consider this and implement similar programs, so their patients can recover with fewer meds and more affection.