To all:  I haven't had the time I'd like for posting this summer...seems I'm
doing well if I even get to lurk--when I haven't been NOMAIL.

I wanted to thank all of you who sent me information on Sensory Defensive
Kids & on the use of magnesium.  It was all helpful and I've had an
incredible education this summer.

To remind you the situation:  My sister had her 5th term baby....all have had
major problems with feeding and then other issues.  Her toddler (now 22
months and learning to crawl) was recently Dx'ed with Sens. Def. and is in
therapy 5 xs/week.  Some of you wished a gentle birth to her new baby and
unfortunately it was one of the most intense and frightening births I've
seen.  It was precipitous, the midwife was downstairs and missed it...the
nurse broke the cord before birth with resulting bleeding everywhere...baby
inhaled meconium, neccessitating delee suction--to name just a few problems.

Baby is now 6 weeks old and the nipple pain is down to a bearable level.
 This is the *best* breastfeeding experience she's had.  It may be the
magnesium but more likely we found 2 things that seemed to help a lot.  One
person suggested brushing the anterior palate before feeds.  As I did that, I
noticed that it would take him about 30 sec. to organize his suck on my
finger.  So we brushed, digitally organized and flexed him before bringing to
breast.  Though there was still a great deal of pain, temporary cessation of
those procedures caused excrutiation so we believe that they help.

I'm thoroughly convinced that the reason I haven't seen these babies in 20
yrs of helping with breastfeeding is because so many mothers can't hang in
long enough to even seek our help.  There's been so little in *our*
literature that we don't know much about *how* to help, if they do seek us
out.  Apparently docs & nurses may receive little training in this.  A good
Occ. Therapist is a God-send.

I again thank those who let me pick their brains (via Lisa M's posts).

Nancy Williams