If you believe your baby is experiencing difficulty in breastfeeding, talk with your chiropractor about your baby’s birth to discuss how the baby was born. This can help explain any trauma that took place – like if your baby was born breech. Your chiropractor can explain the types of stress that can be placed on an infant’s spine or cranium.
The reason chiropractic helps is because any misalignment of the spine can put pressure on nerves, or stretch or irritate nerves. This causes roadblocks for the brain to transmit proper messages to the body. Similar to stepping on a water hose, not all the water would be stopped, but you will reduce most of the flow. When the proper information is not efficiently being sent from the brain to the body, malfunction occurs. This will eventually lead to symptoms if not corrected. A doctor of chiropractic is trained to find these areas of misalignment and gently correct them. The doctor may make the adjustment by hand or perhaps with an instrument to relieve the pressure or stress on the nerve, allowing full and normal flow of nerve impulses from the brain to all parts of the body. Once the correction is made, often over the course of a few visits, the brain will return to communicating fully with the body which will regain full, normal function.
Some common signs of difficulty with breastfeeding include:
Babies who cannot latch firmly
Babies who can latch but not sustain sucking
Babies who are unable to smoothly coordinate suckling, swallowing, and breathing
Babies who can feed in only one position
Babies who seem dissatisfied when nursing or who remain fussy and distressed throughout the day
Babies who chew and damage the mother’s nipples
Babies who may not feed any better from other devices
Babies who have the need to suck 24/7
At Body in Balance, we've had the opportunity to help many infants be able to breastfeed properly. We would love to help your infant as well! If you would like to have your infant checked for spinal misalignments, please call or text us to get scheduled- 360-718-2346.