Freddie’s Story: A Mother’s Experience with the Dive Reflex
Our son Freddie was born in June 2011, five weeks early, and from the start there were many unanswered questions. At 20 weeks of pregnancy, scans showed fluid on his brain, and later scans confirmed a brain injury. He has never received a specific diagnosis but lives with global developmental delay, meaning he faces difficulties in almost every area of life.
I had already been seeing Hector for several years for my own back problems and severe tension headaches. So, when Freddie arrived early, with his health challenges, we turned straight to Hector for help.
Freddie had an unusually small fontanel that closed very early, and he was later diagnosed with microcephaly. I was deeply worried that his skull would fuse too soon, restricting brain growth. We shared our concerns with Hector, and treatment began immediately. His head was, as I described it at the time, “as hard as a walnut.” We started with sessions every two weeks. As he gradually began to loosen, we were able to extend appointments to every four weeks, and now, at three years old, we attend every six to eight weeks.
The Difference Treatment Made
Almost every time Freddie received WellsBeing treatment, we noticed a developmental leap within the following week. Sometimes the changes were small, other times very noticeable.
As Freddie has grown older, we’ve also seen a pattern: during periods of intense learning or development, he becomes very agitated, angry, and often sleeps poorly. At these times, we take him to Hector. Once the tension in his head and neck is released, Freddie becomes calmer and more relaxed, and he seems able to carry on learning. It’s as if he reaches a critical mass of learning, then needs the release in order to take the next step.
One of the most powerful examples came in March 2014. Freddie had been especially angry and unsettled, so we brought him in for treatment. The very next day, he took his first independent steps. Our joy was indescribable. I rang Hector on the Monday morning to share the good news, because without these treatments, I doubt Freddie would have come as far as he has.
The Dive Reflex and Relaxation
The Dive Reflex has been a key part of Freddie’s care. This natural reflex calms the body by overriding the stress-driven sympathetic nervous system. In Freddie’s case, it consistently helped him become less agitated and more relaxed after each session.
The improvements often lasted until he went through another growth spurt. When his body stiffened again—as happens when children grow—his agitation returned. This taught us something very simple but profound:
A child finds their potential more easily when they are relaxed. Learning is always easier when the body is not locked in fight-or-flight.
Clinical Observations
From Hector’s perspective, Freddie’s head was the tightest and smallest we had ever treated. Initially, treatment seemed to “wear off” after two weeks, and his skull would stiffen again. This continued until October 2012, when his head began to hold its flexibility between sessions. From then on, Freddie’s progress became more self-sustaining.
In the early days (2011), treatment seemed to initiate development; now it appears to facilitate it, helping him build on the foundation he has already gained. His skull has never returned to the stiffness we first encountered, and every treatment since has supported him in making his developmental steps more easily.
Take-Home Experience
For parents and practitioners alike, Freddie’s story highlights some important truths:
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The Dive Reflex offers short-term hope by visibly reducing agitation and making learning easier.
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Over the long term, children like Freddie still face challenges, but treatment creates windows of opportunity where progress is possible.
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Regular intervention—whether through WellsBeing, swimming, or water-based therapies—helps keep the body relaxed, flexible, and more open to development.
As Freddie’s mother, I see clearly that his journey is ongoing. But the fact that treatment continues to unlock these small but meaningful steps forward gives us both hope and strength.
— Aimee Mann, mother of Freddie
Freddie is still suffering from his disability, the treatment using the “Dive Reflex” effect of relaxing the client was very effective for Freddie. So Freddie did seem to improve while being relaxed and loosened off, he was always less agitated after the session, this lasted until he grew an inch or so. The as the stiffness returned Freddie began to be more agitated. What would be the take home experience? As a practitioner a child finds their potential easier if they are more relaxed. Learning is easier if the body is not in flight and flight. IN the long term Freddie still struggles significantly, in the short term when you don’t know the outcome it feels there is more hope if you feel the child can be seen to improve with intervention. It is interesting that no matter the disability the ‘Dive reflex’ can bring in better treatment outcomes than without the ‘Dive Reflex”, but regular swimming and exercises in water would also bring in relaxation too. Our son Freddie was born in June 2011, five weeks early, with lots of unanswered questions. At 20 weeks pregnant, scans showed he had fluid on the brain and after many further scans it was clear he had a brain injury. He has no diagnosis but he has global developmental delay which means he has difficulties in every area of life. I have personally been seeing Hector for quite a number of years to help with an ongoing back problem and the very bad tension headaches I get. So, once we had gathered ourselves together from the shock of Freddie’s early arrival we took him straight to Hector. He had an incredibly small fontanel which closed very early and he also has microcephaly. I was always worried his skull would fuse together and not allow his brain to grow. My husband and I shared our deep concerns with Hector and he started treatment immediately. His head was “as hard as a walnut” so we went every two weeks to start with and as he started to loosen we went every 4 weeks and now at age three we still go every six to eight weeks. Almost every time Freddie has been treated with “WellsBeing” he has a developmental jump in some way in the week following. We have also noticed, as he gets older, that when he is going through a period of intense learning and development he becomes very angry and stroppy and sometimes sleeps poorly. We always bring him to Hector for WellsBeing treatment at this point and once all the tension is released from his head and neck he is calmer and more relaxed. It is as if he is reaching a critical mass of learning and needs the release to continue to the next stage. The most powerful experience of this was after WellsBeing a release in March 2014 this year when he was particularly angry, the following day he took his first independent steps. I cannot explain our elation so I called on the Monday morning to tell Hector the good news. If it wasn’t for Hector treating Freddie with WellsBeing technique, I doubt he would be as far ahead as he is now. Aimee Mann MRI report for Freddie written by the Consultant Radiologist. October 2012 History: Developmental delay. Antenatal MRI showed the prominence of the left ventricle, delayed sulcation, a small cerebellum and a thin corpus callosum. Report: There is moderate dilatation of the lateral and third ventricles but the dilatation is particularly marked in the frontal horns. Dilatation is more marked on the right side. There is thinning of the white matter and the ventricular dilatation is probably secondary to this. There is marked thinning of the corpus callosum a secondary effect of the reduced white matter. There is periventricular white matter high signal, presumably due to gliosis and this is predominantly posterior in location. The white matter that is present is appropriately myelination. There is no convincing evidence of a neuronal migrational disorder. The posterior fossa is small. The inferior vermis is small and the inferior 4th ventricle is in wide communication with the cistern magna. This is clearly a congenital/developmental abnormality given the original identification in the 2nd trimester. It is difficult to know what the mechanism might have been. An ischemic insult is certainly possible to explain the supratenorial abnormalities. The limited amount of gliosis is consistent with an early 2nd-trimester insult. The cerebella changes are not so easily explained by an ischemic injury. WellsBeing perspective. Freddie had the tightest head, smallest fontenelle and the smallest head WellsBeing has ever treated, as WellsBeing made the skull more flexible, developmental progress began to be more rapid and obvious. First assessment (October 2011) revealed Freddie has no palpable cranial bone flexibility; treatment was aimed at increasing the palpable skull bone flexibility. Initially, treatment did not seem to hold for more than two weeks as the skull seemed to return to its stiff state. This return to stiffness after WellsBeing continued until October 2012 when Freddie’s head seemed to be significantly looser when assessed, the skull holding maintaining its flexibility between treatments. It would appear from that date on Freddie has made much more self sustained progress; treatment appears to facilitate development, not as before treatment appeared to initiate development in 2011. The skull has never returned to the stiffness, first experienced pre-October 2012. After October 2012 Freddie does benefit from WellsBeing release to his head and body, making his developmental changes easier. The first treatments in October 2011 appeared to actually generate the ignition for change as Freddie’s head made the first changes to become more flexible. In summary as Freddie’s head gained flexibility (to palpation) his developmental progress coincided. As Freddie’s head maintained its flexibility; so his development has been more self-sustained. Hecor’s comment: Global developmental delay has presented a number of times to the clinic, one child who I have seen over 8 years was three and unable to stand. The first treatment let this little girl put her feet on the ground and stand for the first time. She is now in mainstream schooling. I is abundantly clear, over the last 8 years, this child needs to be treated at growth phases. If we do no her behaviour gets more and more uncontrolled. The key zone is 1) Keep the skull bone pliable and not stiff 2) keep the thoracic cord and spine loose and flexible, as soon as the body tone increases, this little girl gets more uncoordinated. With Freddie above the same applies, except his starting point is a little further back that the girl I describe above.