Catherine Watson Genna wrote:

"I also see similar mandible lengths, tongue attachments and palate
structures in siblings.  There are very strong genetic influences at work in
this area."

And thanks to Catherine (I sent her some pics) the quarter (or penny, or
cent) has dropped. All my kids have small lower jaws as babies, to the
extent that they look like clones.  Eva, the baby of the three has clearly a
small receeding chin plus a tongue that does not come very far up into her
mouth. Plus a high palate and I think a bit tongue tied (not at tip but
further back). Her brothers were exactly the same, judging from the baby
photo's but breastfed no problems, probably because the tongues were looser.
I believe they also have had high palates. I couldn't say now if they are
still higher than normal, their dentist will be able to though i guess.
The oldest is 7 years and no longer has that small receding chin, thanks to
bf I guess. You can still see it in the 3 year old, but only if you look
closely at his profile. But what really interested me was to see that my
grandmother had a small chin (but not receding) when she was 70. I think I
too have a slightly small chin but it's hard to look at yourself and judge!

I  had the feeding problems, the mastitis, but that is long over. I think
I'm lucky in some ways because all my babies have been on the large size
(between 4 and 5 kg) which means that the proportions were larger (I stand
corrected on my assumption). I'd hate to think of the sore nipples a mother
could suffer with a smaller baby / smaller head and mouth. And what really
sets the alarm bells ringing is that no-one in the health profession in my
location would probably recognise where the problem lies when confronted
with such a diad. Neither my family doctor, district nurses, local well-baby
clinic doctor, midwife, the peds or nurses in the hospital, picked up on it.
That makes me add the following question, does anyone have an idea what the
proportion is of babies with this sort of problem?

groetjes

Sara Bernard
The Netherlands

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