Jaye, thank you very much.  Your comments are very helpful.

>was made even worse with vacuum rotation and extraction.

I've caught myself wondering if a c-section would have resulted in a
better-feeding baby...though of course since you don't do a c-sec at the
drop of a hat he would still have been through 3 hours of pushing--but not
the vacuum!  Hard to say in hindsight...but the determination that saw this
mother through a grueling labor and deliver vaginally is the same
determination that has her pumping and cup and syringe feeding this baby
round the clock.

>When I see babies
>who have had this type of treatment I almost always see feeding issues of
>some sort - they may be severe enough that while everything looks OK on the
>outside, the baby just doesn't do well on the breast - if he can get on at
>all.

That's what's going on here: looks fine till he goes to the breast.

   Imagine someone doing this to
>you - how do you think your neck and head would feel??  AWFUL!  There is
>very likely some real muscle trauma to this poor little guy that is causing
>him real problems.  He may very well have cervical vertebrae that are out of
>alignment and muscles that are very tight.

The funny thing is, that's what I expected to see but he doesn't seem to be
in any pain or discomfort (once his belly is full -- he has plenty to say
about being hungry!).  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?

>I would get this baby to a
>neuromusclar therapist (NMT) or a chiro who is highly eperienced with babies
>and will also do massage and knows about neuromusclualr therapy, an
>excellant cranio-sacral therapist - someone who can correct this type of
>issue.  I am very fortuneate because I live in a town (Sacramento, CA)

Yeah...sigh.  I think there is a speech pathologist within an hour who has
worked with newborns with feeding issues, and I am trying to get ahold of
her.  Otherwise, I have no idea... Hi, Nikki!  Is there a registry of CST
specialists or NMTs or chiropractors that I could search to find any in New
Hampshire/Vermont?

>In some cases, time will help and things will eventually resolve.  However,
>in a situation like this I believe that time is of the essence and waiting
>to see if it will self-correct should not be done (kinda like waiting to see
>if your broken wrist will heal right on its own...).

Okay, if I don't see progress I will encourage them to pursue therapy.

>Elise, good luck...the circ certainly did not help the situation, imo.  I
>always encourage parents (whenever possible) to hold off on the circ until
>BF is well established...

I know.  I hate it.  Everybody here acts as if it's about on the level of
changing a diaper.  I did ask one doctor to hold off on the circ with an
at-risk baby a couple weeks ago, and she did.  Yay!  Gotta do more of that.

>Re: mom buying a pump - she needs a hospiatl grade pump asap.  The
>purchaseable ones just aren't for her situation and if she needs to pump for
>awhile her milk supply may be at risk (especially depending on what she
>bought...).

Yeah...  She already had insurance to buy this one (I think it's a Pump in
Style), didn't plan to need it for this purpose, and at the moment there
are *no* hospital pumps for rent in our area: ours are all out, and so are
the ones at the other rental stations within an hour or two of her.  So
we'll see...I'm calling in two of ours that are not actually being used any
more, and with luck she'll have access to one soon.
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.

Long drawn out process!

Thanks again,
Elise

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