Sue,

Like Danica Gehringer, I also haven’t read or heard of this.  In my 21 years in the field, I haven't yet come across any literature nor have I received education and training that describes the newborn's hard and/or soft palate as independently mobile or otherwise improperly attached as a result of lack of a vaginal birth, or that the aspect of vaginal birth positively impacts the hard and/or soft palate.  However, if such current information exists, I hope someone will share that information.  Asymmetrical facial features are a separate issue, although of course are related to infant feeding as well.     

Regarding the question of mobility of the palate, please see Watson Genna's 2nd edition (2013) of Supporting Sucking Skills in Breastfeeding Infants, pages 335 - 336:  “The hard palate is immobile and plastic, and it is shaped by tongue movements.  The more abnormal the hard palate shape, the more likely the tongue movements are to be abnormal.  Interventions should be directed to improving tongue function.  A very abnormal palate shape may be the result of a genetic disorder.  Like all bony structures, the palate is subject to Wolff's law, the understanding that bones adapt to the loads placed on them. . . . The soft palate moves in concert with tongue movements, dropping to seal against the tongue during sucking and raising to meet the walls of the pharynx to seal the nasal airway during swallowing."

Please also see the current (2015) edition of Wilson-Clay & Hoover’s The Breastfeeding Atlas (page 18): “The hard palate is a thin plate of bone located in the roof of the mouth.  It provides stability to the structures of the mouth (Wolf 1992) . . . . The soft palate is a muscular flap that lifts during swallowing to seal off the opening to the nasopharynx to prevent food from entering the nose.  It drops when the posterior tongue rises to form a sealed oral cavity during sucking.  ‘The coordination between the tongue and soft palate may reflect the process by which the tongue is timed to pump liquid by moving it into an enclosed space, compressing it, and allowing it to leave by a specific route through the pharynx’ (Goldfield 2010).  A sealed oral cavity facilitates creation of negative pressure and suction (Ramsay 2004b).”   

The 5th and current (2015) edition of Wambach & Riordan's Breastfeeding and Human Lactation, there is mention of the normal hard and soft palates in Chapter 3 by Wambach and Watson Genna, citing work by Wolf & Glass (1992): "While the hard palate works with the tongue to compress the nipple and maintain its position, the soft palate, a muscular flap, seals to the back of the tongue during sucking and elevates to seal off the nasal cavity during swallowing."

In the current (2016) edition of Breastfeeding:  A Guide for the Medical Profession, authors Ruth Lawrence & Robert Lawrence have three listings in their index under palate:  abnormal, cleft, and high arched.   

I've found nothing in these well-known resources that mentions a relationship between type of birth and function of the hard and/or soft palates, but again, if I'm missing something, will be grateful to be so advised.  

With best regards, 

Debra Swank, RN BSN IBCLC
Ocala, Florida USA
More Than Reflexes Education
http://www.MoreThanReflexes.org




Am 01.11.2016 um 01:21 schrieb Sue Pace <[log in to unmask]>:
> 
> Can someone help me out?
> I am sure I have read somewhere that the palate moves and settles into place when the baby has a normal passage through the pelvis-particularly during extension when the brow, face and chin sweep the posterior vaginal wall-this doesn't happen at LSCS and can contribute to poor latching and milk transfer.
> Can anyone either correct me or direct me to the source?
> 
> Sue
> 
> Sue Pace | Lactation Consultant & BFHI Coordinator | Lakes District Health Board
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