It’s not the pacifier, it’s your baby.
Have you racked up a huge bill trying to find a pacifier your baby will finally take? Frustrated because you see other babies using them so well, and yours just won’t? In almost every one of these cases, it’s not the pacifier. That means you likely won’t find some magic one that your baby seems to take perfectly. Even if you find one they will take, they probably aren’t using it properly. Many things can cause a baby to misuse a pacifier, and we will go into the three most common.
1. Palate
The roof of their mouth can be distorted at birth. This will dramatically affect the top half of their latch, and they won’t be able to make a seal to keep a pacifier (or nipple) in their mouth. If you look into your baby’s mouth and see ridging, or it seems like a deep arch on the roof of their mouth, this is likely an issue for them. Look at the sample photo for an example of the ridging and high area in the middle and compare it to your baby. The bones here can be pushed up because of a chronic poor latch. The tip of their tongue tends to push these bones higher because it isn’t working correctly. Pediatric chiropractic can help restore the normal position of the bones in the roof of your baby’s mouth, allowing your baby to latch more effectively.
2. Nervous System
Your baby’s tongue is completely controlled by their brain. Let me repeat that, your baby’s tongue is completely controlled by their brain. That is a pretty important part of a successful latch, and it’s usually missed. The nerves that send messages back and forth are almost always irritated because of some form of birth trauma. The pushing, pulling, turning, and twisting of delivery will stress the nerves in your baby’s neck. A c-section delivery is even more traumatic. Every c-section baby I have seen in practice had strain in their neck. Yes, every single one. When those nerves are irritated, it is difficult for your baby to use their tongue properly. It can also be difficult to turn their head and coordinate the suck, swallow, and breath reflexes needed for them to latch correctly. This does not go away with one or two adjustments, but fixing it when your baby struggles with these issues is SO important. Seeing a pediatric chiropractor consistently is the only way to make sure your child’s nervous system works at its best.
3. Tight Muscles
Lastly, your baby could have muscular and fascial tension under their tongue. This makes it difficult for their tongue to move freely. Picture how your tongue feels when you are eating a spoonful of peanut butter. If their tongue can’t move freely, they won’t be able to get a good hold of the pacifier. The tension that causes this is in most babies from birth. When babies are in the womb, they are stuck with their heads looking down the entire time. After they are born, they need to look up and back constantly, but their tongue muscles are still stuck down in flexion. This makes it difficult for them to lift their tongue. A specially trained pediatric chiropractor like us will be able to identify this tension and remove it. We can also provide you with at-home exercises to speed up the process.
ALL these things can be helped by pediatric chiropractic. Adjusting your baby consistently removes stress on your baby’s nerves. Then they are more likely to move their tongue freely and coordinate the suck-swallow-breath reflex. The muscles under their tongue will relax and they will have an easier time using their pacifier. This means you get a new way to calm your baby down and get some sanity back. The sucking reflex in babies helps to soothe them. It’s a healthy tool to use during the first months of your child’s life. Even more important, these issues mean your baby is NOT latching as effectively as they should be (either on breast or bottle), which will affect many other things later in life.
If your child is dealing with any of these things, I highly recommend that you make an appointment to have your baby checked. Other moms always tell me it was one of the best decisions they made for their baby! If you’re not in Bismarck, ND, or the surrounding area, visit icpa4kids.org to find a qualified pediatric chiropractor.