<<
 What are your favorite "tight baby" techniques, and even stories of tight
 babes who have finally loosened up?  I want to make sure I am not missing
 things for her, and to have stories of down the road successes would be
 very helpful.
  >>
Karen,
This concerns me a bit. Babies are not supposed to be tight, unless they are
irritated, crying or upset. If this is not the case,  I would want to follow
up with the ped or even a neurologist as to why this baby is tight. This is
not a normal thing in a newborn. This baby may need some early intervention,
some physical therapy. One way to normalize tone in a baby is to do basic
range of motion. That is to gently move the arms and legs, moving each joint.
Gentle stretching the arms over the baby's head, bending at the elbow, and
bending at the wrist. The same with the legs, gentle stretching the legs at
the hips, bending the knees and rolling the foot. I call it *baby aerobics*.
If this is done, gently, several times daily, it can help to normalize the
tone. It also helps mom to learn what it should feel like, there should be
some resistence, but not too much that you can't bend.  You also do not want
it to be so floppy, without any resistance. Certainly, if the baby is upset
or crying the tone will be tighter.

Roni Chastain, RN, LCCE, FACCE
Long Island, New York

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html