Breastfeeding While You Are Sick
As a Breastfeeding and Lactation Medicine physician, I often encounter questions from new mothers about the impact of their health on breastfeeding. One common concern is what to do when you're sick. It's a natural instinct to want to protect your baby from illness, which might lead you to consider stopping breastfeeding or even isolating from your child. However, the science suggests a different approach. Successful breastfeeding can and should continue despite maternal illness.
investigating the tongue and breastfeeding
Lifting the Tongue: Arguably the most important skill is lifting the tongue. Not only does a baby need to learn how to lift the tongue, but the tongue needs to have the mobility necessary to do this. If there is a restriction of some sort, it may prevent your baby from lifting the tongue adequately no matter how hard they try. This restriction could be from a variation of anatomy (an "oral tie" would fall into this category). But it also could be a functional inability due to strength, tightness of the neck or jaw, or something else that is keeping that tongue from moving up as needed.