Emily writes: "In talking to mom, baby was suctioned a lot before feeds and then fed by bottle as NICU staff told her baby could not go to breast because it would take too many calories, etc." It would not surprise me that the baby was "forced" to take a bottle in NICU, compounding the assault the baby had already experienced in being repeatedly suctioned. Further, the separation from mom would serve to reinforce defensive behaviors. I would not doubt that his mommy is much more responsive to his distress and less willing to force things on him than someone else might be. <snip> "In observing her, baby is very hypertonic and will not tolerate anything touching his mouth and does not root or open to fingertips. When we did get him calmed down by rocking and shooshing, he opened up for me but when I tried to evaluate him he screamed top of his lungs high pitched and had to be calmed again. After about 20 minutes he did finally accept my finger and no anomolies were found in his mouth but as soon as the pad of my finger hit the roof of his mouth he would spit it out and cry." This is no surprise, considering his experiences. "Mom has great let down and with baby calm and jsut laying in her arm mom was dripping milk and on occassion he would press his mouth to breast with no suck but did lick a time or two. If head was touched it would trigger problems and she basically had to jsut cradle him and allow him to find his way. He never latched but mom was much happier since he at least was not screaming." Has mom tried regressive co-bathing with this baby? I would put mom and baby in bath (no agenda!!) with Bach Rescue Remedy, (I would add star of bethlehem, rosk rose, mimulus and clematis, but RR is a good start and easy to find). Give baby the opportunity to go to breast of is own volition. I know sling-wearing was also suggested and I would certainly agree. I tell moms that they need to become opportunists--not try to nurse at "feeding time", but make the breast available all of the time) "His weight is fine as he does eat witht he bottles but does not like to either. Mom tried a shield, SNS, and we talked about finger feeding to put him back in control....what else can I do for this babe? Will finger feeding be a good transition or should I have her keep doing what we did until he decides to latch? I also talked to her about laying down with him and trying to feed when sleepy...thanks for the help." I recently had a babe who would not tolerate anything in his mouth and we were able to get him to feed from a Medela cup feeder--it removed the defensiveness he was experiencing with any attempt to bottle or finger-feed him. The most important intervention that can be done for this baby is CST or chiropractic. It is unlikely that there is one simple cause of his oral aversion and it is also unlikley limted to only his oral space. Whatever this baby has had to do to both compensate and defend hinself during his time in NICU, he probably has developed numerous structural restrictions and compensations in addtion to whatever may have been present in utero and at/during the birth. For example, babies can arch for many reasons, including an attempt to self-correct structural restrictions, physical discomfort, fear, neurological disorganization. There is incredible wisdom in their bodies and babies will always attempt to restore function, even if they have to compensate to do so--significant evidence of their competency! Nothing is more effective at releasing trauma than a combination of responsive, healing mothering and bodywork. Even if tincture of time will allow this baby to feed, it cannot release the compensations the baby has integrated, nor, IMO should this have to ahppen as we have an effective tool in CST. Jennifer Tow, IBCLC Intuitive Parenting, LLC CT, USA ________________________________________________________________________ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com. *********************************************** Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html Mail all commands to [log in to unmask] To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or [log in to unmask]) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet or ([log in to unmask]) To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]