Feeding Difficulties in Babies

Suckling Problems
A good suck is essential for starting the process of feeding in the newborn baby, and suckling is innate in all full term babies. It can, however, be compromised by many factors eg. poor feeding technique, nipple shape, lack of maternal milk, prematurity, illness or neurological damage. There are many organisations who offer advice, or you may wish to use an individual breast feeding supporter
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Babies 'suck' in a very different way to adults - they are unable to use their cheek muscles and, instead, move their tongues rapidly up and down on the roof of the mouth at about 2 sucks per second! This generates a negative force that draws milk into the mouth. For a baby to be able to do this efficiently, it needs to have a fully functioning tongue and correctly aligned jaw, neck and upper chest. A baby whose tongue is not working 100%, may well dribble milk, swallow air and frequently come off the breast or bottle in a state of frustration.

From an Osteopathic point of view, birth puts a lot of force through the upper neck, base of the skull and sometimes the facial bones. Nerves emerging from these regions to supply the tongue may become compromised if birth stresses are not resolved fully in the first few days of life. The baby may suffer from inefficient tongue function manifesting as feeding difficulties. Your Osteopath will examine and rebalance the head, jaw, throat and neck to allow optimal function.