Dear Colleagues,

What would you suggest for helping this tiny baby (my grandson) whose mother is convinced as to the (above) reason for his suffering?

She herself is a *** feeding consultant, and she says that her body releases too much milk for his capacity at this age.

She tapped on releasing just what he needs and tried massaging gently his tapping points with one finger but he gets irritated being touched like that on his face. Otherwise this baby sleeps well between feeds - today he slept 3.5 hours after releasing all the air from his digesting system.

Has anyone any experience with tapping babies on their back, on the points along the back bone?

Irit 

Hello Irit,

It is possible that the baby is swallowing a lot of air during feedings.  One thing to check is that the baby is making a good snug seal around the nipple.  It is also possible that the baby's suck is too vigorous or that the milk is coming too fast.  I suggest trying to give the *** milk in a bottle with a slow nipple to see if that makes a difference.  I am not suggesting giving up the *** by any means.  If that helps, I would try very frequent breaks for burping and perhaps a more upright position for feeding as well as keeping his head elevated 30-40 degrees for 1/2 hour after feedings.

As for tapping, newborns don't generally like the facial points rubbed or tapped.  What does work well is gently kissing the tapping points.  What's not to like about that?  Also, try tapping with 2 or 3 fingers under the baby's arm on the side of the upper chest.  This can be done by extending your fingers around to the side from the back -- just as if you were burping the baby with a slightly different hand position.

 The good news is that as the baby gets bigger and stronger, the problem will resolve itself. 

Hope this helps.

Hello Irit,

I am a grandma, too. I know that it can be difficult when our grandchildren are having problems and there doesn't seem like that there is much we can do, but we can (or the mother).

Have you tried tapping surrogately for your grandson. You don't even have to touch him when you do it. One way of doing it surrogately is to start off with Even though I am __________(grandson's name) Then you continue on tapping on yourself in behalf of your grandson. You could say things like Even though:

• my mom is making too much milk for me, I am a great baby!
• I am getting stomach aches because I am swallowing air...
• I am not sure why I am crying...
• my crying is upseting everybody in my life...

Then when you tap on your own points, you could say things like:

• Inner eyebrow: my stomache ache
• Outside eye: swallowing to much air
• Nose: tummy ache
• Chin: I'm crying like hell
• Collarbone: I am even upsetting Grandma
• Under arm: my tummy aches
• Top of head: I don't know why I am crying

Let me know if this helps.

Grateful to be a grandma,

JoAnn

 Thank you Nurse Crilly!

I shall pass your information on and let you know the results.

Irit 

Thank you JoAnn,

I shall try it and report the results to you!

Best regards

 Irit 

Dear Nurse Crilly,

The problem has resolved itself, now that the baby is 6 weeks old, and there is no way I can tell for sure how much my surrogate tapping contributed to this. But tap I did, and he is fine. Thank you very much for your loving and workable suggestions.

Irit. 

Hello Irit,

Glad to hear all is well.  All tapping is good tapping -- it always helps in some way.

Dear JoAnne,

I promised to let you know about the progression of my little grandson - now 6 weeks old. Well - he is fine! I tried yours and other's suggestions for a few weeks and I cannot be sure whether my surrogate tapping helped or his natural development - but now he much more peaceful, sleeps 5 hours at night, ofcourse he has to burp after feeding but like a normal (what is this) baby. Thank you for the trouble you took and your kind and loving suggestions. I appreciate it so much.

Irit