These are familiar terms i N. Europe and at least in Norway several of us
who work with breastfeeding problems have run across babies who fit the
description of having KISS syndrome.  Personally I am less concerned with
labeling something as a syndrome than with solving the breastfeeding
problem, and so far manual therapy looks like the best thing going, from my
very limited experience.  At least one osteopath/craniosacral therapist in
my town has done a study on CST and breastfeeding and her opinion is that
the muscles used in suckling at the breast can help bring cranial bones into
better alignment and keep them there, though she feels it is generally
necessary to do CST first so the baby can suckle effectively at all.  

There is high resistance among pediatricians to the notion that many many
babies suffer from a hitherto unknown and undetected syndrome which has not
been researched by pediatricians or other physicians besides osteopaths.  I
think we have an uphill struggle ahead, and the most effective way I've
found to work at the moment is by collaborating with my colleagues, who are
mainstream pediatricians, on breastfeeding problems, showing them on a case
by case basis when the problem was solved with the help of manual therapy by
someone experienced with treating young infants.  Since the term KISS
syndrome is like a red cloth to a bull for peds here, I prefer to get them
to take a look at the baby as I point out all the features of the individual
case that are making breastfeeding nearly impossible.  The ones I work with
can readily see that these babies have something going on, and it's not
something they have a name or a treatment for, so when I talk about
physiotherapy they usually are just as interested as I am to see whether it
helps.  If the therapist (in my town I can refer to osteopaths, physical
therapists, and chiropractors, some of whom hold more than one of these
credentials) writes a good summary of what they did, it lets the
pediatrician know that they are seriously interested in future collaboration
and it shows that they have a strategy that involves more than a simple
laying on of hands - even though that is all the treatment appears to be to
an untrained observer.

For what it's worth, most of the cases I have seen resembling KISS syndrome
have not manifested themselves before 2 or 3 months have passed.  When I
take the history of the breastfeeding problem, it seems that feeding never
went really well, but they limp along for the first few weeks, with vague
symptoms that could be any number of things, before things come to a crisis
with the baby refusing even to lie in mother's arms and screaming at being
brought to breast, sometimes on both sides, but usually with a marked
aversion to one side.  In every case I have seen, there was some improvement
with body work, sometimes dramatic but usually more gradual over the course
of two or three treatments, until feeding starts being downright enjoyable
for mother and baby alike.  Even in the cases where there was little
improvement, the parents were grateful for the referral.

In the longer term, our lives would be easier if pediatricians (and
parents!) were able to take in just how serious an intervention it is to
meddle with birth, but until that happens I have to have some way to get
help for the babies I am seeing here and now who seem to benefit from this
kind of body work.  I'm willing to compromise about what to call the problem
if that's what it takes to get acknowledgment that the problem exists.

FWIW I was taught in midwifery school about torticollis, and we learned that
nobody knows what causes it, or even whether it starts in utero or is a
response to taking a wrong turn, so to speak, in the birth canal.  Oddly,
pediatricians will readily acknowledge that a baby has torticollis, even
without good diagnostic criteria or clear guidelines for treatment.

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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