dear deborah and jeanne,

in all fairness, to myself and to both of you and everybody else, i will say
that yes, indeed, it can be a miracle to gently ease down that chin and get
the baby's latch to be better. however, the key item in this different
procedure is that this is a baby who is actually latched on somewhat. the baby
i saw, according to the mother,  was a baby who was refusing to open her mouth
at all, whose tongue was humped up in the back from the start, and was
literally not opening or attempting to latch. the baby was born with a
significant nursing blister on the upper lip, and the mother has observed her
sucking her tongue since birth.

one of the first things this client said to me over the phone was "my baby has
no rooting or sucking reflex at all." luckily this was not true, but this baby
was severely medicated through the mother at the birth, the birth was
traumatic, the baby was so tremendously sleepy after birth due to mother's
pain meds that they could hardly rouse her, the baby did not have a chance to
breastfeed until quite some time after the birth, etc., etc.

it's true, we weren't there, but there was something about the description the
mother gave that lent it more credibility than usual. also, the hospital she
delivered at is not particularly bf friendly, being an outpost of the babywise
method. the mother even specifically said "my husband and i have chosen to
feed on demand," a reflection of what i have "been told" is that scheduling of
feeds is done routinely in that hospital. of course, who are we kidding? it's
done in many hospitals, one way or another.

anyway, i think one of the important features of this, that i rather glossed
over before, is that those of us in private practice need to do as barbara
wilson-clay said this summer at the ilca conference, which is to provide
doctor's reports and reports to anyone else involved with someone who becomes
your client. in this particular case, there needs to be a report to both the
ob/gyn and the pediatrician. apparently not everyone does this, and it would
certainly theoretically help improve communication all round. at least it is a
start.

also, in this case as in many others, when a client says they are unhappy with
their hospital experience, i remind them that they are a consumer of the
health care they received, and writing a letter will have a big impact on the
institution or company involved. sometimes it happens.

i urged this mother to consider cranial-sacral work, and gave her a referral.
i am greatly interested in seeing what impact this has on this baby, if they
decide to do it.

carol brussel IBCLC
wishing that a little GENTLE chin action would have worked the miracle