The mother of an 8-month-old daughter was referred for CranioSacral Therapy (CST) by her lactation consultant. The baby was not able to nurse productively, and drinking from a bottle was less than satisfactory. The baby’s mouth was not forming the correct muscle movements, and she couldn’t turn her head to the left enough to nurse off the right breast. The consultant recommended 6-8 sessions of CST.

When mom brought her daughter to the first appointment, I asked her to show me how the baby nursed, as well as how she drank from a bottle. I watched as the baby tried to latch onto the left breast. She was unable to make her lips pucker and couldn’t produce sucking movements. I assessed her neck’s range of motion (ROM). She couldn’t turn her head enough to nurse on the right breast. When she drank from the bottle, the milk dribbled out the sides of her mouth.

After a 30 minute CST session, the baby tried to nurse. She was better able to latch onto both breasts and actually suck for the first time. She had better muscle formation, and her bottle drinking improved about 80% with minimal leakage. Her range of motion had improved about 50%. The baby enjoyed the CST, too. She found it relaxing and fell asleep during the session.

3 days later, we had a second CST session. I assessed the baby was still nursing on both breasts and drinking from the bottle in the same manner as at the end of the first session. Her ROM had not deteriorated. The baby was happy when she saw me and very cooperative during the CST. After 25 minutes, she comfortably latched onto both breasts. She was able to turn her head with a greater ROM. She drank from the bottle with minimal dribbling. A very noticeable improvement!

2 days later, we did a third and final session lasting 20 minutes. Once again the baby was very happy.