Judy, This is a chicken and egg question. I read in some occupational therapy literature that a high arched palate is associated with weak intrinsic tongue musculature (the muscles within the tongue itself that are used for sucking). Without pressure from the tongue, the fetal palate fails to spread and remains high. After birth, the tongue weakness may persist. Some babies compensate for weakness by fixing the tip of their tongue against the nipple, pushing it to the palate. This understandably causes sore nipples. I agree with you that some mothers have more elastic breast tissue and can take the stretching more readily than others and will have less difficulty. When all the positioning and latch on corrections are made with no improvement, I have found it helpful to have the mom stroke the baby's tongue from back to front and from side to side with a finger placed pad down flat on the tongue. Have her go only about half way back or she will trigger the gag reflex and make baby uncomfortable. She should also be careful not to just shove the finger in, have her trigger the rooting reflex by gently brushing, stroking or tapping the baby's lips so he opens his mouth. The stroking gives proprioceptive input to the muscles, making the brain more aware of them, which increases muscle tone. I have also seen a channel in the palate of preterm infants who were tube (gavage) fed using an orogastric tube. The infant palate is so malleable, it will take the shape of whatever presses on it. That's one I wish I had a photo of. Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC note to everyone: I am changing my e-mail address to [log in to unmask] Compuserve was getting too expensive with all this wonderful mail. I already notified the Listserv to sign me off and back on.