Pam,
As Upledger Institute is in Florida, you would have a huge number of
CST's there to choose from. I have worked with abbeis with the exact
situation you describe--babies who have certain muscles so
overdeveloped that others are almost not in use at all. This is exactly
what CST treats so beautifully. One thing I did recently with a mom was
combine regressive therapy with CST referral. Bbay was born breech at
home after three hours of pushing and mom was transported to the
hospital overnight--away from baby as hospital would not let him stay
with her. He was so distraught when I saw him, he had only two
states--shutting down and screaming, totally refusing the breast. I put
mom and babe in the tub with warm water and the Bach Flower remedies (I
think these are the ones) clematis, star of bethlehem, rock rose,
aspen, elm, walnut and cerato and maybe gentian. Within 20 minutes, he
came into his body and was ready to nurse. Dad was amazed by the change
in him. He nursed shortly afterwards, but was also very tight
structurally and had a tongue-tie. He is now 100% bf'ing--never had any
AIM. I feel like your family would really benefit from such a combined
effort. Babies will overdevelop the muscles they have control
over--which may account for the observation that his tongue is fine--I
bet it is not fine ("within range of normal" is not normal and frankly
anyone who evaluates oral function without assuming bfing as the norm
is not who this mom needs to see). http://www.upledger.com/home.htm (I
have no affiliation with Upledger) .
Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2006 01:58:42 EDT
From: Pamela Mazzella Di Bosco <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: weak lips and cheeks affecting latch?
Looking for input about helping a baby latch who has been
unwilling/unable
since birth to take the breast. When I first saw the couple, baby was
only 4
days old and absolutely refused to even attempt to breastfeed. This is
after
two days of non stop skin to skin, co sleeping included. Mom is an
experienced breastfeeding mother of 4 previous children who took to
breast
immediately at birth, nursed for years, etc. This baby would not latch
in the
hospital
after normal vaginal delivery. Mom began pumping and feeding the baby
with
a spoon and continued to do so for days. Still no latching baby.
Finally,
mom frustrated and baby frustrated, mom used a bottle with paced
feeding, slow
flow nipple, etc.
This baby was so tense and tight fisted and just screamed when placed
even
in the proximity of the breast. Even on the bottle the baby would not
really
suck, more like a chewing chompy motion. Tongue would not relax, but
no
tongue tie, and when not feeding baby will put the tongue way out.
Mom decides
to pump, bottle feed for a bit and wait and continue to try to offer
the
breast while protecting milk supply and feeding her baby. Two weeks,
and the
baby
is just now relaxing in her arms when in front of the breast, fists no
longer tight, arms and body no longer so tense and stiff. They come
to see me
again, and honestly it was like a new baby all calm and relaxed.
Still, not
latching. I have seen a lot of babies over the years, but only a few
who do
not
make the connection between drawing in a nipple to suck even on a
bottle.
This baby used the tongue to try to force the bottle out also.
Okay, so what to do? Outside my capablity. I am totally aware
something is
wrong, not a therapist for newborn sucking disorders, so cannot figure
out
what is up with this baby. Ask mom to take the baby to the
pediatrician to
rule out any reason to protect airway. (Mom says when baby spits up,
occasionally milk does come through the nose quite a bit, so at least
she
should rule
out any possibility of a hidden cleft---not to mention I am looking
for a
good reason for this baby to not want to relax and eat.) Next, to
take the
baby
to a specialist (good luck in finding one that understands
breastfeeding).
Pediatrician says no reason for the baby to be protecting air way.
Okay,
one possibility not correct. On to the speech therapist specializing
in
babies. Her conclusion? Baby can suck, swallow and breathe just fine
(of
course
only seen at the bottle, since she did not ask to see how the baby
reacted to
the breast, only wanted to see how the baby bottle fed) and said the
tongue
was within range of normal, but the lips and cheek in relation to the
tongue
were weak. Also, stated 'no sign of sensitivity disorder'. was
wrtitten (which
is at least one thing we can rule out?) Her diagnosis was that there
is
nothing wrong, and the baby just wants the bottle. Told the mom to
support the
cheeks during feedings to help equalize the strength of the cheeks and
the
tongue. Those were the exact words she wrote for the mom, and
basically told
her that her baby just doesn't want to suck except for reward, so the
breast
does not offer reward. (Not making sense to me as the mom is a
fountain of
milk and easily expresses more than a full supply for this baby and
can easily
hand express milk into the baby's mouth, but baby still will not take
the
breast.)
Quitting is not happening. This is a mom who breastfeeds in years not
months and she is determined to keep working until her baby does
breastfeed.
But,
since my brain always goes back to "A baby who cannot breastfeed is a
baby
with something wrong, because breastfeeding is the biological normal
behavior
to eat and survive", what is missing here? I have a plan in mind for
mom to
try next since the therapist says there is nothing wrong and baby
should be
able to breastfeed, but am looking for other ideas too. And wondering
if the
tongue and cheeks being week would make the baby unwilling, unable to
latch
to a breast as opposed to tolerating the bottle (which in my
uneducated
opinion the baby also does not appear to use the way a baby typically
sucks on
a
bottle.) I do not think the bottle is the culprit here because it was
the last
thing used to make feedings easier and I have worked with far too many
babies who have had weeks of bottles go to breast easily once the
bottle
feeding
method was changed and the option of breastfeeding was offered
properly. This
baby does not suck the way a breastfeeding baby should, and even
though the
therapist says the baby is 'within range of normal' for behavior,
maybe that
range of normal is not based on normal at all, but is based on the
ability to
bottlefeed? I may not know what is wrong, but I am fairly certain
when
something is not right.
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