Latching/ Breastfeeding Challenges and Osteopathy
Latching/Breastfeeding problems
The ideal image when having a baby is being able to breastfeed them. However, this is not always as easy as it seems. Sometimes the baby doesn’t know how to latch properly and this can cause pain for the Mother. Lactation specialists do a great job at teaching many mothers how to adjust to a certain position in which both you and your baby are comfortable during breastfeeding, however this is not the case for everyone. This is where osteopathy comes in.
Why is my baby still not feeding properly?
The key to persistent breastfeeding problems is often a strain pattern from birth. This makes it hard for your baby to move in a certain way, which is necessary to obtain a good latch. When we talk about strain patterns we mean slight tender points or tension in your baby’s body. This makes it uncomfortable for them to for example, open their mouth wide enough or stay on the breast for a long enough period of time.
If your baby has a tongue-tie that has been snipped and they still aren’t feeding right, this could again be because of an underlying strain pattern in their jaw, throat or neck. As your baby was not opening their mouth properly before the tongue-tie was snipped it is possible that some structures are not used to moving in a new direction. This usually resolves with the exercises given by the specialist, however in some babies this needs more treatment before they are ready to fully open their mouth.
How do I know if my baby needs treatment?
You usually know your baby is not feeding properly if they do not latch at all or if they pull off during the feed. They could also bite using their gums rather than their lips and tongue. They could also get very irritable during the feed, or tire easily straight after. Another less obvious sign is your baby refusing to turn their head one way. This usually affects feeding on one breast more than the other.
Lactation specialists usually do a wonderful job of improving the issues named above. However if nothing seems to be working it is worth finding an osteopathic manual practitioner to see if anything else can be done.
What can osteopathy do to help?
An osteopath manual practitioner will look for any strain patterns and how they might affect the baby’s feeding. They will assess the movement, position and strength of your baby’s jaw to see if it opens symmetrically, opens wide enough or if there is a muscular imbalance through the jaw muscles.
They will also look at the muscles in your baby’s throat and in particular the hyoid bone, which is an important attachment site for the muscles of the tongue.
Lastly they will also assess the movement and mobility through your baby’s neck. If your baby has trouble looking up, this might hugely affect your breastfeeding and it is therefore important that your baby is free to look in any direction. At the same time your osteopathic manual practitioner will also look at how your baby turns their head from one side to the other and if that is symmetrical.
If any strains or imbalances are found your osteopathic manual practitioner will discuss their findings with you and explain the treatment they think will benefit your baby. Some of this may be exercises you can do at home with your baby. Mostly small and gentle motions will be used to restore balance to the structures found strained. The treatment should not be painful in any way, and is done in the gentlest way possible.
Osteopathy does not treat any condition in itself, however it improves the function of the body as a whole. This way your baby will be more comfortable whilst being breastfed, which makes the process easier for both baby and mum.