Eda writes:

So, I'm  not sure if its because of baby's R shoulder that isn't allowing 
her to latch  well 
Hi Eda, and all,
 
You may have tried this, but whatever position the baby latches better on,  
on the "good side", baby is in same alignment, rather than same position, 
on the  other side: in other words, if cross cradle on the R, then baby would 
be in  "clutch" or "football/rugby" on the L, rather that cross cradle on 
both. This  might mean that whatever position the baby is most effective and 
comfortable in,  the baby's body, especially, shoulder/neck area, is the 
same. I find most MDs  when assessing for anything related to whether a baby 
"should" be fine feeding,  are not really looking at the subtleties that we 
do. Since the baby's shoulder  is connected to baby's neck and jaw and tongue 
via a mesh of muscles, pain or  even a slight limitation in the shoulder, 
could easily lead to clamping by the  baby, in an attempt to work around the 
fact that they cannot get their jaw or  tongue to do what they want/need. The 
other thing is that I find that any time  there is an asymmetry, feeding 
can be affected. Feeding is a symmetric activity.  I think of it like this: if 
the baby had whiskers like a cat ( I know, it's  silly but the idea seems 
to help moms...:) then both whiskers need to touch the  breast at the same 
moment, with a nice wide gape, and the tongue extended nicely  as well. Any or 
all of those motions and relations can be off when there is an  issue like 
this baby has - they can be off because of the tightness itself as  well as 
off because the tightness is more on one side than the other. Without a  
bodywork person nearby, perhaps mom can, when baby is awake, put baby facedown  
on her belly/chest, or on a flat surface, to at least allow for some gentle 
 stretching. Baby can be talked or sung to as mom moves side to side, to  
encourage moving both R and L as baby extends the neck.  I know one mom and  
a local bodywork person, who also VERY carefully, holds baby upside down 
holding  them securely at the hips/pelvis, also to allow them to relax and 
literally  "unwind" which seemed to help. I wonder what others think of this 
idea as  feasible in a situation where resources of this kind are limited.
 
Peace,
Judy
 

 
 
Judy LeVan  Fram, PT, IBCLC, LLLL
Brooklyn, NY,  USA
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