For new moms who choose to breastfeed, it is frustrating and can even be depressing when their baby struggles to nurse. But if you are one of those moms, it’s important that you don’t give up — even when you want to — and that you know that even though you may feel disheartened or inadequate, this is not a sign of you being an incapable mother. Your baby may have trouble maintaining suction or chewing on the nipple and may be irritable around nursing time, but fortunately, there is hope.
At Well Beings Chiropractic Family Health, we treat clients in the West Denver area through every stage of life, including infancy. We have helped numerous babies struggling to breastfeed, as chiropractic is an effective yet safe, gentle and non-invasive treatment for nursing issues, including tongue-tie.
Chiropractors are trained to look for misalignment and interference in the nervous system that causes issues. And although we would like to assume that a baby is born with perfect alignment, that is just not the case. In reality, chiropractors look for misalignment in babies too because most problems with latching are actually a result of biomechanical injuries — or subluxations — to the cranium and spine caused at birth.
As Pathways to Family Wellness reports , a subluxation is the misalignment of the bones that cause interference with nerve transmission to a given area and therefore, also the function of a joint. The spine, bones of the skull and facial bones are key in the latching and sucking necessary for breastfeeding. If a baby is having difficulty nursing, it’s most likely due to a misalignment in one or more of those areas. So when an infant receives chiropractic care, a path is often cleared for normal breastfeeding to begin.
It’s important to note that your newborn having subluxations is typical and doesn’t mean you or your doctor did anything wrong. By nature, birth is traumatic for a newborn and can cause stress. Particularly during the end of delivery, there is often force on the baby’s head and neck, which causes the misalignment and stress to the nervous system. This can especially be the case when a birth is done by C-section, or forceps, a vacuum or other devices are involved. Fortunately, the misalignment doesn’t need to be permanent and neither does breastfeeding disappointment.