I have a mom with a problem that I'm hoping all of you wise and wonderful
people can help me with.  I am  LLL leader and received a call with a 3 wk
baby, born 3 weeks early.This is her second baby.  She said the problem was
gassiness and lots of air in the tummy.  After much other questioning I found
out the baby was making clicking sounds while nursing.  I have run into this
with babies with short frenulum and asked her if she knew what that looked
like and could she check carefully for that.  I also gave her lots of info on
helping the baby to deal with a strong letdown .  I offered to come for a
home visit.  The next day I went over and  watched her nurse and checked her
mouth and suck.  I think the problem is a very receding chin.  I showed her
how to lay the baby face down on the arm, support the forehead and suck on a
finger upside down like described in the BAB.  There is a definite dropping
of the jaw.
I showed her a couple of nursing positions that would help keep the jaw and
tongue down too.  The babyis pooping and peeing great, and her nipples aren't
real sore yet, but I think they will continue to get more sore.  Most babies
"grow into their chins" fairly soon, right?  The other child has a nicely
developed face and she definitely doesn't have an overbite.  Any other ideas?
 The baby latches on well, Lots of nipple and breast tissue, lips flanged
nicely.  When she sucked on my finger she her tongue cupped nicely and came
far enough forward and the action of the tongue seemed right.  She just can't
hold it in her mouth well enough when her jaw drops back.  When she nurses
she gets a really nice draw, pause swallow going until the milk flow makes
her choke.  Reinforced the ways of handling that and lots of burping early in
the nursing.  She really does swallow a lot of air!

Please e-mail me privately.  I'm going no-mail for a few days to visit my
daughter who just had a baby about 6 wks ago.  Breastfeeding, of course.

Thanks for any help on this one.

Linda Mosher LLLL, Kalamazoo, MI  >>>>  [log in to unmask]