Suck. Swallow. Breath.
repeat repeat repeat
Breastfeeding and Bottles
Feeding difficulties are often due to structural/functional differences in baby's mouth, which can result in painful nursing, reflux, poor weight gain, and unhappy babies!
For example, if a baby is born even a week early they may be missing their cheek pads. Even with a great latch it can be hard for these babies to suck effectively. Some babies simply have trouble coordinating their muscle movements for sucking, and tethered oral tissues (e.g tongue ties) can restrict oral movements. Babies with muscle tension in the head/neck/mouth may even find feeding uncomfortable.
At Nourish Them our Lactation Consultant and Speech-Language Pathologist both provide support for breastfeeding, chest feeding and bottle feeding. We will examine your baby's nursing and/or bottle feeding skills to see how effectively their little mouth is sucking and swallowing. Depending on your baby's needs, we will complete a thorough oral assessment, looking at the structure and function of the lips, tongue, jaw, cheeks, gums and palate.
We will then work together with you to develop a treatment plan to help your baby feed more successfully. This may include suggestions you can implement right away to improve feeds, and/or exercises you can do to help optimize baby's oral functions. We believe in providing holistic infant care and will gladly collaborate with other professionals with your consent, including dentists for possible oral tissue release, doctors for weight/nutrition management, and body work providers such as osteopaths, physiotherapists or chiropractors.
At Nourish Them our goal is to support you in feeding your baby, honouring your instincts and helping with successful feeding in whatever way feels right for you.