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Subject:
From:
Steve Salop and Judith Gelman <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 6 Feb 1999 08:08:47 -0500
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A personal story:

My middle child, who we adopted, was born with low oral tone.  I had an
opportunity to nurse him at his birth and he could not latch on.  THe
nipple just fell out of his mouth. Nearly everyone in the lactation
business in the Washington/Baltimore area (as well as my friends far and
wide in LLL) got their hands on me and Ezra as I tried to teach him to
nurse. He never had a very strong suck, but nurse he did for 4 1/2
years--the longest of my children.

As you might expect, his speech development was awful.  Basically, no
one, including me, could understand a thing he said. We started speech
therapy at the age of 15 months.  Every consonant cost us a fortune. He
had to be taught tongue, lip and muscle positions for every sound.  THis
is very difficult and frustrating for a child! But by age 4 1/2, his
speech was pretty much age appropriate.   About the same time he was
dismissed from speech therapy, he announced one morning "I am weaned."

I firmly believe that Ezra's speech improved in part because he was
breastfeeding.  He was being forced to use his tongue and oral muscles
correctly all day long.

HIs oral tone is still low--he mashes straws in his teeth to hold them.
But his speech is absolutely fine.

Some children need speech therapy DESPITE long term breastfeeding, not
because of it.

Warmly,
Judy Gelman, IBCLC
Washington, DC

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