Hello,

The Good Lord sent me three of these in the last four days of August. (I
think he really wanted me to listen.)  All had been deeply suctioned and two
of them had been forced onto the breast repeatedly.  In all three cases we
sepnt from one to seven days doing "happy" things with their mouths.  We
played with their mouths, let them suck bottles, pacifiers, mom & dad's
fingers.  NOTHING was forced into their mouths.  In each case, when I saw
them, they would hump the back of their tongues, as if to protect their
throats if they would even accept a finger to suck on.  Once they knew it
didn't hurt to let things into their mouths, we started giving them "cuddle
time" at the naked breast, no feeding.  As soon as they began to root at the
breast, they were helped to grasp it.  We also made sure to support their
heads at the base and not press on the crown of the head since that
frightened them all.  Fortunately, we didn't have any nipple
confusion/preference problems.  Good luck, your work is cut out for you.

All the Best,


Linda Pohl, IBCLC
Phoenix, Arizona USA
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