<< When latch was corrected (opening baby's mouth by pressing on chin
 with her finger) >>

although use of the dancer hand position (or other chin-face-jaw supportive
positions as mentioned in the wolf and glass book) is something i will do
when i think it might help, i cannot imagine ever simply pushing on the
baby's chin to "make" a baby open his mouth. however, this is done routinely
here, and i often find that the babies i see who are refusing to open or
refusing to open widely seem to be the ones where someone taught the mother
to force the baby to open by pushing on the chin. would those of you who use
this technique describe why and when and how and why do you feel this would
not cause an aversion later on (which is what i think i am seeing)?

actually, i want specific references, because in riordan and auerbach it
doesn't mention chin pushing as a way to get a baby to open, but rather there
is a reference to not forcing the baby to open as it could cause aversive
reactions. in wolf and glass the solutions to lack of spontaneous mouth
opening does include a mention of gentle downward pressure and traction to
the jaw, but i i view the use of this technique as something more specific
than merely shoving on the chin of a baby who doesn't open up promptly enough
(these techniques are described for use with babies with identifiable
problems, would be how i would describe it).

to me it seems to be like pushing on the back of the baby's head - i suggest
to mothers to not do this because the natural response seems to push back
against a hand pushing on your head. i feel that if someone were to push on
my chin my natural response would be to tighten my mouth - in a closed
position. of course, any adult has enough strength to force a baby's mouth
open.

so if pushing on the chin forces them to open their mouths even when they are
reluctant to open to eat, and we can then force in a nipple of one kind of
other, and then force the baby to suck (if it is an artificial nipple) -
would this be "a normal feeding" or force feeding?

carol brussel IBCLC

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html