Feeding you baby doesn't feel natural or easy for you. It feels like a struggle. Your baby fights you, pushes you away and arches their back, Your baby's body feels stiff & tense.
Your baby doesn't open their mouth wide enough so their latch feels shallow, chompy and pinching
Your nipples hurt! Breastfeeding feels like your nipples are being rubbed with: sandpaper, a cheese grater, shards of glass or tiny baby sharks. The pain makes you gasp, curl your toes, cry or want to scream. You dread every feed.
You feel trapped under your baby. You feel like you feed and comfort your baby all day and all night. You feel like you need a break! You want your body back.
You're worried that your baby isn't getting enough to eat. Your baby spits up your milk that you've worked so hard for.
You don't need to try harder. And it's not your fault.
A massive sense of relief from stress, pain and constant worry.
A baby that melts into your arms and falls asleep content with a full belly.
Feeling relaxed, comfortable and confident while feeding.
As your baby gets better using her body to feed more effectively you'll have more time and space for yourself in between feeds.
Here's how you get there:
I help balance the tension in your baby's body. This tension can be corrected in a gentle and relaxing way.
You know how when you sleep you sleep in the most comfortable position? And how trying to change that position doesn't last long because it doesn't feel right or comfortable?
It's the same for your baby. Except they have a lot less patience for things that don't feel good for their body. They are ninja level sensitive.
It might not feel good for your baby's body to be in certain positions.
That's why they prefer one breast over the other.
That's why they clench their jaw, making it hard to open their mouth for a deep latch.
That's why they arch their back and push away from you.
That's why they like to be held upright instead of laying down on their back or tummy.
That's why feeding or tummy time can feel like an epic, and stressful struggle.
Imbalanced tension in your baby's body can pull on your baby's head, neck or back making it hard for them to feed, burp, poop, fart, settle and sleep more deeply and longer.
Your baby could have a twist or tilt in their body which makes it hard for you to line up their hip, shoulder and ear to get a good deep latch.
Try this.
Try the football hold if your baby is fighting you in cross cradle. If that works better it's likely your baby has tension in their head, neck and shoulders which makes cross-cradle too difficult or painful for them.
Try feeding your baby laying down. If it's better it might be that they have a problem curling their body forward like they'd need to for cross cradle. The tension in their back can be pulling them backwards instead of forwards. These are the babies that arch their back and push away
These are all signs that your baby needs help balancing that tension so that they can comfortably and effectively feed in all positions and feel more settled with a full belly.
Why does this happen?
Your baby was curled up inside of your body. As their body grew bigger inside of you the space around them got smaller, pressing into their squishy body.
During your baby's birth their body was compressed on by powerful contractions. If a vacuum or forceps were used to pull our baby's head out during your baby's birth additional twisting and pulling were added their body. If your labour was long or you pushed for a long time (2-3 hours) your baby's head was pressing down on your cervix for a long time and that can compress their neck.
All together this can cause the insides of your baby's body to feel pinched, pulled, twisted or compressed. That's why your baby cries when they don't like certain positions like being on their back, tummy, side or in the car seat.
Can it be corrected?
Yes. Babies are resilient and their body's naturally tend towards health. They just need a little help unwinding and straightening out so that their body's work better and that they feel better.