# Loosening a Newborn's Tight Jaw?



## allnaturalmama (Jul 25, 2005)

Anyone have any tips? Baby's jaw is sooooo tight, he won't open wide enough for a good latch.

I gently hold his chin down while sucking, and he fights it the whole time. When I let go, it immediately pops back up to gnawing on the tip of my nipple.

I've seen an excellent LC, who referred me to an excellent chiropractor, but according to them, it will take weeks for this problem to resolve. Right now, I'm just dreading the next 2 hour feeding, and have no idea how I will survive this for weeks.

Any help?

TIA!


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## wednesday (Apr 26, 2004)

I had this problem when my son was a newborn. I ended up pumping milk and feeding it to him by dropper for some feedings just to get some relief. It got better basically as his mouth grew bigger. Hope someone else has better advice than "wait it out" but that is basically how it worked for me.


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## LeosMama (Sep 6, 2005)

Jen, you can try massage on his large mandible muscles (the knotty mucles in the middle of his lower jaw). But the best thing is to see a speech language pathologist or occupational therapist. A chiropractor won't generally have the detailed knowledge to deal with these kinds of issues.
HTH!
-Lindsay


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