Body Led Breastfeeding: A Full-body Approach to Understanding Suck Dysfunction - Workshop 4

Speaker(s): Ellen M. Chetwynd, PhD MPH IBCLC

Breastfeeding is a system that functions across two bodies. Resilience is achieved when both bodies work in equilibrium. As lactation consultants, we know this, yet the methods we have to address breastfeeding problems can increase the parents' workload (e.g. triple feeding, compressions, supplementation) without addressing the infant’s contribution (or lack of contribution) to feeding function.

This session explores breastfeeding through the lens of infant physiokinetics, focusing on how an infant’s physical movements reflect and influence suck efficiency. Rather than isolating oral structures or latch technique, we examine the baby’s entire body, from toes through trunk to head and facial muscles, assessing how postural adaptations can support efficiency or obstruct oral motor skills.

Attendees will learn to assess infant body patterning, including spinal arching, elevated shoulders, facial tension, or a persistent occipital crease. These signs offer clues to how a baby is working to maintain suction, seal, and flow, and whether that work is functional or requires excessive effort in focused areas. We integrate full assessments of suck at the breast using the Infant Suck Strength Exam (ISSE), visualization of tongue motion, and observation of body dynamics both during and outside of feeding.

Understanding the infant’s body as an active participant in lactation helps clinicians identify dysfunction at its source and support feeding improvements through targeted body-based interventions. By recalibrating the embodied workload between parent and baby, we can restore functional balance and promote resilience in the breastfeeding relationship.