Carol,
I'm interested in the outcome of this baby.  What you describe - tongue
bunching up in back, lip blister from tongue sucking - has to be the
most frustrating thing I've ever come across.  Everything is "normal",
but nothing is working right.

Mothers call an LC and expect us to wave some magic dust and baby will
proceed to latch just fine.  Wish we had such an easy solution!  I've
heard from others here that cranio-sacral therapy works well, but I've
never seen it done.  I wish there were practitioners in our area, but
there is no one to refer to.

Others have suggested Rescue Remedy.  This was not something I was free
to use in a hospital setting.  In many ways, private LCs are free to use
tools and tricks that are restricted for hospital LCs.  One of the most
frustrating parts about working in a hospital setting was the
restriction of some interventions.  I felt that my hands were tied.  I
found myself using interventions that *I* didn't consider appropriate,
but were the only tools allowed to me.

One low-tech intervention that did work for me many times with babies
who bunched up their tongues was the use of posture feeding, or the
Australian hold.  With mother laying on her back and baby tummy down,
this seems to ease baby's jaw and helps draw his tongue out.

I like Pamela's query about babies beginning to relax as they gain
confidence that the milk is coming.  When the milk starts to be more
readily available to this infant, it may help him relax his jaw and
tongue so that he is nursing more comfortably.

Please let us know what you use with this one, and what finally works
for him.

Still on my first cup of coffee and hoping I don't have to do any
cooking today!
--
Jeanne Mitchell, Austin, TX
"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle."
Plato  http://www.flash.net/~xanth/home.htm
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