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Back to Basics
Regressive Therapy Could Give You and Baby a Fresh Start By Teri Brown
When Janine Wilcox had twins, she did everything she could to ensure that she would be able to successfully breastfeed them. She went out of her way to hire a lactation consultant who specialized in twins, and after following her advice, she felt prepared. Unfortunately, after giving birth to a beautiful – though small – set of twins, things fell apart.
"My daughter latched right on," says Wilcox, mother of three from Glastonbury, Conn. "My son, on the other hand, just couldn't get the hang of it."
Jennifer Tow is the IBCLC that suggested Wilcox try helping the baby latch on through regressive therapy, a technique that is designed to relax the baby almost by mimicking the birth waters.
"Breastfeeding is a learned behavior for mothers, but it is instinctive for infants," Tow says. "Mothers learn to breastfeed by responding to the elicitations of the baby. When the mother responds appropriately, the infant is encouraged to continue to root, suckle, lick and seek the breast."
Tow says that the human infant is uniquely prepared to thrive in the environment for which it was designed: the body of the mother. Removing the infant from this environment, especially after an interventionist birth, can short-circuit the infant's hard-wired instincts and disorient him, leading to an inability to initiate breastfeeding.
"Another possibility is that trauma, either from birth or from postpartum experiences such as rough handling, deep suctioning or separation from the mother, can cause babies to be unable to latch or to latch poorly," Tow says. "Infants whose instincts are intact and who have not experienced trauma will usually latch correctly with no assistance from anyone. The intention in regressive therapy is to restore the infant's access to his hard-wiring – the instinctive information that allows him to elicit maternal response, to seek the breast and to latch well."
