Conditioned Dialling Up

One of the earliest situations where this type of uncontrolled crying can set itself up is, sadly, with an unhappy breastfeeding experience.

It may surprise you to learn that many midwives, nurses and lactation consultants have adopted a practice of pushing a baby onto the breast to try to achieve the type of latch they are seeking. They wait for the baby to have his mouth wide open and then, with their hands on the back of his neck and shoulders they bring him forward to the breast with definite force, as if teaching him to latch. It is a technique that has likely been taught to them which has become part of their skills repertoire as they spread themselves across the breastfeeding needs of many women in a time pressured hospital environment.

It is a story we hear and see far too often, and it has gone on for decades.

Can you imagine the experience for the baby, if they are also swaddled to keep their hands out of the way and cannot move freely with their bodies to switch on the full suite of their feeding reflexes?
Can you imagine also, if once latched, he is not left in a position of good fit and hold at the breast and is trying to feed against partially closed milk ducts, created by breast tissue drag?

It has been known to only take one feed like this for a baby to develop conditioned dialing up the breast.
A newborn baby's developing brain has enormous neuro-plasticity and episodes like this can confuse the messaging that is being laid down in the explosion of neural circuits and networks that is underway.
The frustration that is felt and experienced by the baby is registered in the parts of the brain that deal with our feelings, called the limbic system, which works intimately with the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamus that controls the release of adrenaline. A baby can become stuck in a feedback loop that triggers - even without real need - simply because an unpleasant situation or setting is being re-visited.

It could be going to the breast, being in a soiled nappy, or feeling lost when placed into the car capsule.

We can help you to unravel this and prune this experience away, if it has happened as part of your baby's breastfeeding experience.

Should you find yourself in a setting of getting breastfeeding help and force is being used to help your baby latch, you are encouraged to say something and ask if there is a different way that your baby could be assisted to feed.

Newborn Home Care can help.