lisa brings up some good points about evaluating an overly strong suck or
biting or clamping at the breast. i remember my first son was described as a
barracude nurser! pretty good description, too. i won't bore all with the
details of how i was "helped." suffice it to say its a miracle i ever
breastfed him for more than a week (he actually weaned early at almost 3
years).
after eliminating all the other possibilities, and especially after using
compression to speed up milk flow (this can work amazingly well at "fixing" a
poor suck/latch), consider having the baby seen by someone who can do
cranial/sacral work. it can solve this problem, especially if the mother is
unable to do finger feeding for what may be a long while to fix the problem.
i have an alternate theory that doing fingerfeeding for a period of days and
maybe longer, is giving the baby's body time to try to correct what c/s work
can correct more immediately. and, the finger actually in the mouth can do
some of the same work as the c/s techniques.
i do have great concern, though, when i hear the words "apply pressure to the
baby's chin." its hard to know what someone else means by amount of pressure
without a description or qualifier, but applying a lot of counter pressure to
the chin could cause a baby to be more frustrated (depending on why the baby
is compensating in this way, back to lisa's list of suggested causes) or even
lead to an oral aversion instead of helping. occasionally i do find a baby
who is helped by the most minute, tiny amount of pressure on the chin - i
wouldn't even describe it as pressure but more as the presence of the finger,
helping stabilize the jaw.
in most of cranial/sacral work we are taught to use 8 gms. of pressure -
that's the weight of a nickel sitting on your finger. its a very vivid lesson
- holding up a nickel with one finger. to get a better idea of pressure on
the chin, try having someone push down on your chin while drinking something,
then go from there to help the mother understand how much pressure to use.
the dancer hand hold seems to me to be a better support for some of these
things.
and i have, unfortunately, seen plenty of babies whose mothers were taught in
the hospital to push down on the chin and are doing it so forcefully that i
can't blame the baby a bit for not wanting to nurse. and, before the usual
outcry explaining that the mothers are lying, misguided, misinformed, didn't
understand, etc., i will add that i have seen the nurses in the hospitals
teaching it to them as well.
carol brussel IBCLC
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