Dear List, I have heard some about cranial sacral therapy. However, I have always been a little skeptical about some of the more unusal or less mainstream treatments and therapys, (such as herbals and chiropractic therapy etc), so to be honest, I have skipped over reading about this sort of stuff ..... you will have to forgive me for this, I was raised by a RN and I am an RN so I have a very medical outlook on things and just can't help it!!!.....Now I have a client that perhaps may benefit from this. I have searched archives, and while mention is made of this therapy, no description is given. What I am looking for is info on exactly what this sort of therapy does to the baby and what the effect is. My client in a 30 year old 1st time mom who experienced a very quick and natural birth with early and continuous contact with her baby. The baby would not latch and when examined by myself at about 6 hours of age was found to be alert but had no rooting relex. By the end of the 1st day mom was pumping and offering pumped milk first by finger feeds and later by a wide base bottle (as this began to drag on, parents requested alternative methods to feed). Mom continued to pump. The baby was seen again at about 10 days of age and was found to have no aversive behavior at the breast but again no rooing at all...even with the bottle. Parents were advised to treat the breastfeeding "as play" ...when baby was receptine, try to nurse and if any adversive behavior began to quit trying. Also advised to spend alot of time skin to skin...co-bathing and during awake times etc. Mom was still pumping. Now at 5 weeks mom calls and says she has had a few latches but poor milk tranfer and was ready for another visit with me. At the breast the baby still has no rooting. Interestingly, the baby will either stick her tounge out but keep her mouth closed or will open the mouth but bunch the tounge. We had a very difficult time getting an open mouth and a tounge out all at the same time...the baby was very patient with us, almost as if she was trying her best, but just could not figure things out. Eventually a good latch was obtained and milk transfer observed, however it was quite an ordeal to get to this. I told mom that sucessfull feedings will encourage the baby to adopt better techniques, however, I feel this baby is exhibiting some unusual behaviors (learned or otherwise), and wonder if there is anything else that may work, and back to my original question...is this baby a candiadte for cranial sacral work and what would be done? When I mentioned my thoughts to the mom, she was familiar with the words...she is a massage theapist, but she was interested in exactly what would be done with a baby and gave permission to post. Thank you for any input you may have on this intersting case, Lori Peters RN IBCLC Kenosha, Wisconsin *********************************************** 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