Breastfeeding and Chiropractic CareBreastfeeding is not always easy! Many new mothers try breastfeeding and face challenges along the way. If your baby will not latch, will only feed from one breast, has to be turned like a football to eat, or cannot turn her head to one side, there may be a structural misalignment (subluxation) in your baby’s neck that is preventing her from being able to breastfeed properly. Many parents are turning to chiropractic to improve latching and breastfeeding outcomes.

The Birth Process

A child can have trouble breastfeeding for many different reasons. However, the most common reason a child has issues feeding is due to structural misalignments from the birth process. Depending on the type of delivery (vaginal, c-section, forceps, vacuum extraction, etc), 60-120 pounds of force is used to pull the baby out by the neck. As you can imagine, the top vertebra in the neck can easily misalign after receiving this type of force. This misalignments places stress onto the baby’s master control system, the nervous system, and can create challenges with latching and breastfeeding.

Chiropractic Care and Breastfeeding

Pediatric chiropractic adjustments gently move the spine back into its proper position to restore normal physiological function to the child. When this happens, the baby is able to move her head from side to side, she is able to suck, swallow, and latch, and has the healthiest start to life!

Research from the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics documented 114 infants who were referred to a chiropractic office for failure to adequately feed at the breast. Every single infant in the study showed improvement, with 78% of those able to exclusively breastfeed following chiropractic care!

If you are having trouble breastfeeding, please contact our office to see how we can help!