This post made me feel totally depressed and inadequate as an IBCLC. I am not arguing against the "rightness" of Jennifer's post only that it rounded out this feeling that I have been experiencing lately that I am not having as much fun as I used to and maybe its time to look into what I always said my next job might be...working in the garden department at Home Depot selling plants and flowers :)

Holly McSpadden
Sent from my NOOK

"Jennifer Tow, IBCLC" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Lisa said:
"If there is indeed an environmental factor altering fetal development of the tongue, then the question becomes not why are so many being diagnosed, but why are we not pursuing identification of the cause more diligently?  If there is indeed an iatrogenic cause of this epidemic of suck-related breastfeeding problems, shouldn't we be pursuing this instead? And *if* folic acid turned out to be the problem, if we decided that the benefits of this therapy outweigh the unintended side-effects, the conversation must then turn to the significance of the secondary problems and how we are going to put out those fires."

I could not agree more, and all of my work for the past ten years has been directed towards this question, because it integrates with the work I have been doing even longer on gut healing. Several years ago, I began asking all of my clients with ties to have their babies tested for MTHFR. We know the number in the general population is about 45%, but among these babies it was over 90% (which of course means one or both parents have MTHFR). I approached Ben Lynch, one of the leading researchers in the world on MTHFR with my concerns, which led to the first identification of genes associated with TT. It also led to his first lecture on MTHFR and TT, then his lecture at IATP in 2013 and my digging even deeper into methylation ( I have now taken three full courses on methylation). I have presented this material many times at conferences and in webinars over the past several years, but it still seems very few IBCLCs are hearing it yet. MTHFR is only one piece, but it is vitally important to the way that the face is formed in untero. Some visionaries in dentistry have observed that the human face has been changing for a couple of hundred years, progressing (or digressing) rapidly in the last 100, as poor diets have become the norm across the globe. We are not the only ones seeing this epigenetic change happening in front of our eyes.


For those who argue that excellent IBCLC care and bodywork (at least for those now embracing it) are all we need, I urge you not to get stuck there. A decade ago, Sharon Vallone DC and I started working w Betty Coryllos w PTT babies. I had referred almost 100% of my babies for bodywork for years pre-PTT becoming a known issue, so we had an interesting client base to observe. All we managed to do for those kids was support compensations. Once we released the ties, the bodywork completed the release of other compensations, but w/o TT release, those kids compensated forever and bodywork became just one more crutch. I do not think any IBCLC has more experience with bodywork for more years and with more babies than I do. I am also now trained in cranial-sacral fascial release (CFT). Yes, every single tied baby needs bodywork, but they ALSO need to be released. It is unfortunate it has taken so long for bodywork to become accepted among IBCLCs, but for those of use with decades of experience, it is very discouraging to see folks now embracing it in a way that will not normalize function in these babies. Bodywork does not release a TT or  LT or buccal ties. Both need to be done.


I am the least likely person in the world to embrace the frequency of ties that I am now seeing. I am the first person to resist cutting babies, the first person to want to believe bodywork and good IBCLC support will fix it all. But, I did that for a decade and I was wrong. Like Lisa, it was my own family that really opened my eyes. Looking back at my own kids, I am horrified at what my own daughter went through in spite of nursing her for 5 years while relying on so many of the compensations all those who argue for over-dx would recommend. I finally had her released at 19yrs. My granddaughter was released at 1 week--she was born in my home and had bodywork from day one. She needed the release in spite of all we did to support her. I had mine released in 2010 and learned so much about oral function I went on to become a myofunctional therapist, learned Buteyko and CFT. I went to the UK to lecture on TT in 2013 and visited an orthotropic clinic while there bc I wanted to see what the dentists who recognized these changes long before us were doing. I have attended 2 AAPMD conferences (and now lectured at one). This is not only us seeing these restrictions. The dentists who practice functionally are seeing them, too. So are the few OMTs and SLPs who realize that w.o release all they are doing is supporting compensations. Just like IBCLCs are still doing in so many cases.

I have been lecturing on collaboration for almost a decade. IBCLCs, bodyworkers and revisors need to work together. But, we need to face the reality that mothers who are told by IBCLCs their babies are not tied **when they indeed are tied** are not going to be inclined to care what an IBCLC has to say after that. We are alienating mothers by refusing to learn, IMO. Bc my practice is global, I see mothers who have usually seen numerous other IBCLCs already from all over the world and the story is the same everywhere. I see dyads for complex issues, that were often not very complex when they began. Often a TT release or food elimination early on would have changed the trajectory for these dyads. I agree that we are seeing the double-edged sword of immediate global communication. One side is that parents know they need to pay for a release and for bodywork while they can get their breastfeeding info free on FB. And much of that free info is just ill-informed opinion. But, the other side are those mothers who were not helped by IBCLC after IBCLC who left them suffering until they came across another mother with the same story and sought out a doc or dentist for release and freedom from pain. Those stories are real and they are very common. Should we ask those doc to demand the mother have an IBCLC referral when we know where that got her before? Many do ask for a referral, but they are also aware of these stories.

IMO, we are doing ourselves no favor as a profession by not seeking out current information from various fields. Personally, I don't attend bfing conferences bc the information I need to help my clients isn't to be found there. Last year, aside from the cost of my Master's, I spent $8000 on CE!! The only lactation conference I attended was IATP. Parents are not happy with IBCLCs and with good reason. We are seeing different babies than we once did because they are being gestated in the wombs of sick mothers poisoned by industrial foods, environmental toxins, GMOs, after years of depleting all their vial nutrients on chemical contraceptives, massive exposure to abx that has trashed their microbiomes and frequent use of other medications for issues caused by their crappy diets and lifestyle choices. That's before they are born via a medicalized process that utterly disrespects their physiology and their humanity. And parents **know all of this**. They know that something is not right with their babies, but instead of acknowledging them, practitioners are telling them they are wrong. What does that do to their confidence and intuition?


I did a quick pole over a 12 hour period a few months ago asking mothers in my groups what they wanted IBCLCs to know: they wanted us to listen to them and they wanted us to never withhold information from them on the presumption that they cannot handle it or will not follow through. They wanted to not be treated as is they are fragile, that it is that treatment that denies what they know and can lead to depression, bc it makes them helpless. They wanted IBCLCs to know about TT. And the gut. These are real and connected issues, whether there are IBCLCs who want to disparage that connection or not.

I am one of those folks who rarely posts here anymore, even though I have been a member of LN for decades and have thousands of posts in the archives--many on all of these issues. But, what I have seen in recent years is an unwillingness to reach beyond the very narrow knowledge base this field now retains to answer the very urgent questions our clients have. It has been very discouraging and I would rather spend my time unraveling these issues than arguing about why they need to be unraveled. But, Lisa's post resonated with all that I am seeing among my family, my clients and within other fields where there are also pioneers willing to be curious. I hope more IBCLCs will become curious about these issues as well. IMO, that's the level of humility we require to effectively serve the families we care for.




Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, USA & France
Intuitive Parenting Network, LLC



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