Hi All and ELise,
Here is a site for Nueromuscluar Therapy. It is the Paul St. John method
and is PHENOMENAL! A CNMT (certified neuromuscular therapist) in my area is
also and instructor for Paul St. John and thank God she is here. Without
her I would have zero use of my right arm due to severe auto accident 6 yrs
ago which left me with nerve trauma, damage, 4 blown discs in my neck and
muscle trauma like no one's business. My arm was uselss for 6 months and
the pain was unimaginable. I can honestly say that this type of therapy,
which is very specific, is the ONLY reason I can work and function. I have
almost 100% use of my arm, tho I have to be careful with it and can put NO
weight on my right shoulder due to nerve damage. At any rate, for babies
with serious feeding issues, tongues not moving correctly, tight jaws,
lopsided heads, toricolis, etc - they go see my gal here...every baby (and I
mean EVERY) she has worked with has had drastically improved results with BF
and comfort. The stories and cases I could tell you about are many...Not
every baby needs these types of interventions - but the ones who do get it
if they see me.
Here is the site:
http://stjohnseminars.com/
Elise, my comments follow...
>The funny thing is, that's what I expected to see but he doesn't seem to be
>in any pain or discomfort
This is often the case - baby doesn't act as if anything is wrong, but if
you feel around, or do a finger feeding session to see what his tongue is
doing, you can feel a problem. Baby's muscles should be soft, like soft
butter. If you were to feel aournd his neck and head, you may feel 'guitar
string' muscles. If you watch his jaw move while he is sucking on breast or
bottle, you may see 'popping' in the TMJ area - this is a sign of tight
muscles. Check out his head and facial alignment - any thing off center?
One side of jaw higher than the other? When he opens his mouth does one
side open more than the other? If so - tight muscles. The muscles under
the tongue can be tight on one side and not the other - leading to problems
with peristaltic movement, poor maintenance of suction (or no suction), the
tongue may snap back and forth (in and out choppily) and tight frenulum may
be suspected. There are so many subtle clues to watch for - I have the
benefit of working with my CNMT to really learn about the body and what it
is supposed to do. If the vertebrae are out of alignment we aren't going to
'see' it. There has been much documentation and study I have seen (don't
have the references on hand) about babies needing chiro adjustment after
birth simply becasue of the pressures put on the head and cervial area that
put the cervical vertebrae (especially C-1) out of alignment.
>He does not object to the positions involved in feeding, just to being at
the breast and he acts like he is saying "this is
>not going to work, this never does work for me" --which again does not seem
>to be an issue of pain so much as maybe an inability to feel a light touch
>on his palate???? Firm pressure yes, light touch no?
More, I feel, and issue of "I cant get my tongue to work right to get milk
and it frustrates the heck out of me!" This, again is where I evaluate with
finger feeding - see what the tongue is doing. Letting him suck on a finger
without milk flow is useless (imo) because they can suck fine like that -
but introduce the flow of milk and you'll find out what is going on - can he
maintain suction? Does his tongue move correctly? Can he establish a suck,
wallow, breathe pattern? What is going on in there with the flow?
>Okay, if I don't see progress I will encourage them to pursue therapy.
Given the circumstances of his birth and subsequent feeding difficuluties, I
personally wouldn't wait. When I see a baby in this situation I encourage
mom to get help now. Some do - some don't...
>FWIW, the baby did gain two ounces on the MD's office scales from yesterday
>to today, and he has resumed stooling (though not up to par yet), so I am
>cautiously hopeful about her supply. Also she is doing lots of skin to
skin.
Awesome! As long as she can maintain her supply and baby gets plenty to eat
there is time...
>Long drawn out process!
No Kidding...sigh...I wish we all had access to appropriate therapies NOW
for situations like this so baby and mom don'e have to wait.
Warmly,
Jaye
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