I am an IBCLC and long time LLL Leader. I have been working with breastfeeding babies for 27 years and I find myself at a loss to help my own daughter and her 8 week old baby. I would love some suggestions, as I may be overlooking something and would really like to help. I feel really bad not to have helped her much at this point. 

Quinn was born at 40 weeks with a totally unmedicated birth. Labor lasted for about 10 hours, and she was in a posterior position. She is my daughter's second child. She and her husband also have a two and a half year old son who is still nursing. My daughter is a labor and delivery nurse and is totally committed to breastfeeding as long as possible.

Quinn came through the birth canal with her hand on her head. Quite naturally this made the birth more difficult and she had some bruises on her nose and chin for a few days after birth. My daughter nursed her three times within the first hour of birth. When I arrived at the hospital an hour after her birth, she said that Quinn was having trouble latching on. I noticed she would latch and slip off. I checked her for tongue tie. She has a short tongue and tends to hold it back. The frenulum was a little tight but didn't seem excessive. She has a tight labial frenulum. Her palate is low and domed.  She latches and sucks twice and loses her latch. She slurps when she eats and has from the first day. My daughter has tried all ways to latch her. She helps her with asymmetric latch and holds her breast for her.At any time during the nursing, she can pull Quinn off and there is absolutely no suction holding her to the breast.

She weighed 8-3 at birth, went down to 7-6 by five days and by two weeks she was up to 8-9. She now weighs a little over 11 pounds. She looks fine, good color. She holds her head slightly to the right, I notice. When she smiles, she lifts one side of her mouth a little higher than the other.  Her mom had her frenulum clipped at three weeks in hopes that it would help her latch better. She noticed little change. 

She is thriving despite this problem, largely due to the fact that my daughter has a lot of milk. She had to return to work two nights ago. She had been unable to get Quinn to latch onto a bottle, so it is very difficult for her to be away for 12 hours. They tried every type of bottle but she does not seem to be able to form a seal on the bottle. She tries. It mostly runs out of her mouth. They had a little luck with a mini-Haberman although it was a struggle. She tried a finger feeder but Quinn will not form a suction on their fingers. My daughter pumped twice at work last night, the first time she got 15 ounces of milk, the second time she got 12. So there's plenty of milk to be had.
When I put my finger in her mouth, she mostly tongue thrusts and does light sucks, with her tongue not covering her lower gum line. She is willing to try to suck but never gets a rhythm going and I do not feel any pressure.

Thoughts? We don't know any crania-sacral therapists in the Charlotte, NC area, or any child friendly chiropractics that might be skilled in seeing whether or not this is the problem. If anyone knows any in driving distance we would sure like to know about them. Would it be possible that she could have a submucosal cleft that might be causing the inability to form a seal and latch? What would be the symptoms of this? Other ideas of what may be going on with her? I kind of assumed that if it were some kind of birth injury that she would improve over a few weeks but she has not gotten any better at sucking. Basically she goes the breast like a water fountain and drinks. Fortunately there is plenty there and big brother is helping to keep the supply going.

Will appreciate any help.
Ann Calandro, RNC, IBCLC

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