Many of the new mums that bring their baby in for treatment at The Perrymount Clinic mention to me that their breast feeding isn’t going as smoothly as hoped.
There are a number of reasons that can be causing issues and I recommend getting help from a lactation consultant at one of the brilliant local clinics.
In this article I want to describe to you the most common reason I see and how cranial osteopathy can help this specific issue.
Let’s see if it applies to you.
There are two common issues, firstly that the baby is very “snacky” and wants to feed continuously but isn't actually hungry, they are just feeding for comfort to settle themselves.
The second problem that is so common is that the baby doesn’t feed well off the mothers RIGHT side, preferring the mum’s left.
Let me now address the problem of your baby not feeding well off your right side.
I would love more mums to understand there is help for this as the main reason for mums giving up feeding is the fear that their baby isn’t getting enough milk.
What your baby is probably doing is remaining in the pattern or direction they where born in and this is most usually with their head favouring turning to the right.
Have you noticed that when you put your baby down they always look to the right?
If this is the case can you see that your baby will then turn into to your left breast more naturally and feed off this side easier?
However, when you switch sides and put them to your right they must now turn their head to the left, which they probably struggle with. Their latch might not be as good and you will have to fiddle with their head position possible using the “rugby ball” hold to better effect as that allows them to turn their head the way they like.
Cranial osteopathy is the go to therapy for helping your baby be able to turn their head equally well in either direction so they can feed off both your sides and you can continue to successfully breast feed.
I have seen so many times that as I treat babies for colic and irritability they are able to “unwind” from the birthing process and start to feed much better.
A piece of general advice I give for parents to do at home to encourage their baby to look in the direction that they don’t like as much is simply to put their toys on that side of the cot.
Or just play with them so they look more in that direction.
A baby will obviously eventually start to look both ways equally but cranial treatment speeds the whole process up and if you are desperate to continue breastfeeding and this issue is what is holding you up then cranial treatment may be the answer that no one has told you about.
