Dear Jennifer,

I guess I'll be the first to write what everybody is thinking:  This poor
baby desperately needs CST or OMM (osteopathic manipulative medicine, which
overlaps CST a great deal when we're talking about babies).  Any baby who
has a vacuum delivery, even a smooth one, probably needs CST/OMM.  The last
baby I saw was delivered by vacuum and got benefit from a series of four
treatments.  Sometimes one is enough.  My guess is the baby you saw will be
on a first-name basis with clinic staff.

 At the last LLL conference I went to, a chiropractor gave the smoothest
explanation I've ever heard, and I share it with clients all the time.  When
we think of a skull, we easily imagine the foramen magnum, the big hole
where the spinal cord comes out.  Alongside it are two other openings, where
the cranial nerves exit.  In adults, these are fixed slots, but in babies,
they are just slits and can easily be squished closed and pinch those
nerves.  Cranial nerves control tongue and jaw motion and the coordination
of sucking, swallowing, and breathing that is so necessary for
breastfeeding.  Re-opening those slits to release the nerves can be like a
magic wand.  It is extremely gentle, with no jerking, and nothing like what
people sometimes think of when they think of getting their back "cracked" by
a chiropractor or D.O.  Parents have told me that their babies relax right
in to it and seem to enjoy it.

I am fortunate to live in a town where 95% of the physicians are D.O.s, and
we have an osteopathic medical school, so it is rare for me to encounter a
family that is spooked by the idea of manipulation.

Obviously there is also the issue of mom's edema, but I will leave that to
others :)

Good luck!

Lynn Carter LLLL IBCLC
Missouri, USA

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