Dear Stacey,
     I was sorry to read your Lactnet posting telling about the
sequellae of the inappropriate attempts at suctioning your latest baby.
This was really upsetting for you.
     You may be interested in this information. I had a client about six
years ago with a baby who retracted her tongue (sort of concentina-ed)
any time an object approached her mouth.  The mother believed this was
because of her experience at birth - the baby "went flat" at birth and
in the haste to get the tube in, it may have hit her tongue tip. She was
consequenly attaching poorly at the breast and the reason for the
appointment with me was (you guessed it!) sore nipples.
    Not long before, I'd seen another baby who for different reasons did
not protrude his tongue - could but preferred not to.  In desperation,
trying to find a way which would make him aware of his tongue, and to
*want* to protrude it, I got an ice cube and encouraged the mother to
cool her finger on it. Then she was to tap the centre of her baby's
lower lip and, as he opened his mouth, tap his tongue tip with her cold
finger. It usually worked out that she'd get in 2-3 taps before he
objected. This tiny boy was a fast learner, and the mother got her first
painfree attachment, ever.
    I tried this technique with the second mother and it helped give her
baby girl a different tongue experience.  Her mother needed to continue
this technique, before or between feedings, for a while as the baby had
already had several weeks of the inappropriate behaviour.
    With the permission of both mothers, I published these two cases in
a Letter in the Medical Journal of Australia, probably April 1993 (this
is from memory), and so the technique is in the literature. It is also
in the 1992 edition of my Feeding Baby & Child.  (Both these refs were
published under my then surname, Phillips.)
    This is *not* a quick fix, there are *no* quick fixes for all babies
in all circumstances.  I offer it simply as one of a number of
techniques which work for some babies in some situations, adn less for
others;  it is a matter of professional judgement whether to try this
or do something else.
     I hope, Stacey, that you are beginning to enjoy your baby more than
in the early weeks.  Every day is a new day, and you are building up
new, happier experiences.
     Regards,
       Virginia
         Virginia Thorley, OAM, IBCLC
         Brisbane, Queensland, Australia


______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com