Chiropractor for Breastfeeding and Infant Feeding in Lafayette, CO
When feeding is not going the way anyone promised
You were told breastfeeding is natural. Nobody told you it could look like this.
Parents come to us for chiropractic care for breastfeeding and latch trouble in Lafayette, CO when feeding hurts, when a baby will not stay on, and when everything they have been told to try has not fixed it.
Cracked nipples. A latch that feels like a pinch instead of a pull. A baby who does fine on one side and fights the other, every single time. Clicking. Milk running down their chin. Twenty minutes of feeding, then asleep, then hungry again forty minutes later.
You may have already seen a lactation consultant and fixed your positioning. You may have been told the latch looks fine. And it still is not working.
That usually means the problem is not technique. It is the baby's body.
What tension has to do with feeding
Feeding is not just a mouth activity. To transfer milk, a baby has to open wide, seal with their lips, lift the tongue to the palate in a rhythmic wave, swallow, and breathe, in a coordinated cycle, hundreds of times per feed.
The nerves that run the tongue, the palate, the lips and the swallow all exit the skull at the base, right where the head meets the neck. That is also the area birth puts the most strain on.
When that area is tight, a few things follow. The tongue does not lift or coordinate well. The jaw does not open as wide on one side. The palate sits higher or unevenly, so the baby cannot get a seal. And a baby who cannot get a seal clicks, swallows air, drips milk, gets gassy, and works twice as hard for half the milk.
That is also why the one-sided pattern is so common. A baby who turns their head easily one way and not the other will feed well on one side and struggle on the other. The breast did not change. Their ability to get into position did.
The same tension often shows up somewhere else at the same time. A baby who cannot get comfortable at the breast is frequently the same baby dealing with colic, reflux and broken sleep.
What birth has to do with it
Birth is the hardest physical thing your baby will ever do. Even a straightforward one asks a lot of a brand new body, and there does not have to have been an emergency for your baby to be holding tension afterward.
Some births leave more of it than others. A long pushing stage, a very fast delivery, a posterior baby, shoulder dystocia, a cord around the neck, a vacuum or forceps delivery, or a C-section after hours of labor all send force through the head, neck and jaw. That is the exact area feeding depends on.
The tension usually shows up as a pattern rather than a complaint. Your baby turns their head one way more easily than the other. They arch. They startle awake minutes after going down. They feed well on one side and fight the other.
Nothing went wrong, and you did not do anything wrong. A lot of force went through a very small body in a short window, and some babies need help letting go of it before feeding gets comfortable.
What about bottle fed babies
The same mechanics apply. A bottle still asks your baby to open, seal, lift the tongue, and coordinate suck, swallow and breathe. Tension shows up as milk running down the chin, gulping and sputtering, a feed that takes forever, a baby who falls asleep partway through, or one who will only take a bottle held a certain way.
Some of these babies are exclusively bottle fed. Some are triple feeding, moving between breast, pump and bottle around the clock because feeding at the breast is not working yet. Both are worth checking.
If you are working toward getting back to the breast, we can support that. If you are not, care is still worth it, because the goal is a baby who can feed comfortably however the milk gets there.
When tension looks like a tongue tie
This is the part worth understanding before anyone picks up a laser.
The muscles of the tongue anchor to the jaw, to the hyoid bone in the throat, and to the base of the skull. When those anchor points are pulled tight, the tongue cannot lift or extend properly, and the baby presents exactly like a baby with a tie. Restriction that starts in the body can look identical to restriction that starts in the mouth.
Diagnosing a tongue tie is not a chiropractor's job, and we do not do it. What we do is take the body tension out of the picture, so whoever is evaluating your baby is looking at the actual tongue rather than a tongue that is being held down by everything around it.
Sometimes feeding resolves once that tension is gone. Sometimes there is a genuine restriction that still needs release. Either way, you get a clearer answer.
Before and after a tie release
If your baby is headed for a release, body work before and after it matters.
Before: a baby whose neck, jaw, and palate are tight cannot make use of a new range of motion. The tongue is freed, but the rest of the body is still holding the old pattern, and feeding does not change as much as anyone hoped.
After: the release creates a wound in the mouth and a brand new movement your baby has never had before. Gentle work in the days that follow helps them relax into it rather than guard against it.
We unwind the body before a release and support your baby through the recovery after. The release itself is done by your dentist or ENT.
Working alongside your lactation consultant
We love working in conjunction with IBCLCs, and we will always want you to have one.
We are doing two different jobs. Your lactation consultant works on the feeding relationship, positioning, milk transfer, and supply. We work on whether your baby's body can physically do what they are teaching. When a baby cannot turn their head or lift their tongue, even perfect positioning has a ceiling.
If you do not have a lactation consultant yet, ask us. We would rather connect you with someone excellent than have you white-knuckle it alone at 3 a.m.
What the research shows
A 2018 scoping review looked at manual therapy for babies with suboptimal breastfeeding. Across the studies reviewed, covering 201 infants, no serious adverse events were reported, and nursing ability improved on a range of measures, most often reported by the mother. The authors graded the overall evidence as moderate and positive.
Hawk C, et al. Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine. 2018. doi:10.1177/2515690X18816971.
On ties specifically, the picture is changing fast. The American Academy of Pediatrics noted in 2024 that there are still no uniform accepted diagnostic criteria for tongue tie. The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine calls it a functional diagnosis, meaning the presence of a frenulum by itself is not a reason for surgery. And anatomy research has shown the frenulum is not a cord or a band at all, but a fold of fascia that varies widely from baby to baby.
Which is another way of saying: look at function, not at a picture of a frenulum.
What a first visit in Lafayette looks like
We start with a full birth and feeding history. How labor went. Whether there was any assistance. How feeding is going on each side, how long, how often, and what the nights look like. Whether you are supplementing, and how you feel about that.
Then we check your baby. Head and neck movement, how the jaw opens, facial symmetry, and how your baby's tongue moves and how strong the suck is. We run nervous system scans so you have a baseline instead of a guess.
The adjustment is a light, sustained contact. It is about the pressure you would use to check whether a tomato is ripe. There is no twisting, no popping, no sudden movements. It is a tiny fraction of the force your baby already went through being born. Most babies sleep through it, and you are welcome to feed your baby during the visit.
At the follow-up we go through what the scans showed in plain language, and we build a plan around your baby, not a template. If we do not think we are the right fit for your baby, we will say so and point you toward who might be.
Book an infant assessment, or call or text 720-722-1622 if you would rather ask questions first.
When to call your pediatrician first
Some feeding problems need medical care before anything else. Call your pediatrician or your lactation consultant right away for poor weight gain or weight loss, fewer wet or dirty diapers than expected, a baby who is hard to wake for feeds, signs of dehydration, or worsening jaundice. Fever, forceful vomiting, or blood in the stool need to be seen the same day.
If your nipples are damaged and painful, that is worth urgent help too, because pain that bad is usually what ends breastfeeding before anybody is ready.
Training in this work
Dr. Michelle Green, DC is Webster certified and holds a 200-hour pediatric certification (CACCP) through the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association, where she is listed in the public directory of certified practitioners.
For infant feeding specifically, she completed additional training with Dr. Lynn Gerner in The Anatomy of Breastfeeding: five hours of coursework plus a full day of hands-on training in infant cranial, spinal, and oral function and how it affects feeding. Dr. Gerner teaches this work for the ICPA and for lactation professionals.
Serving Boulder County families
Our Lafayette office sees infants from Lafayette, Boulder, Louisville, Erie, Superior, Broomfield and Longmont. This page is one part of our wider pediatric chiropractic care in Lafayette, which covers newborns through teenagers.
Many of these families started with us during pregnancy. If you are expecting, prenatal chiropractic care supports your body through pregnancy and birth, and your baby can be checked in their first days.
More on this from our blog
Chiropractic care for colic and reflux: what the research actually says
What a nervous system scan shows in a child
Breastfeeding and latch questions, answered
Can a chiropractor help with a poor latch?
Often, yes. The aim is to release the tension that stops a baby from opening wide, lifting the tongue, and holding a seal. Care is gentle and low force, with no twisting or popping. A 2018 scoping review of manual therapy for babies with suboptimal breastfeeding found improvement in nursing ability across the studies reviewed, with no serious adverse events reported.
Why does my baby latch on one side and not the other?
Usually because your baby can turn their head more easily in one direction than the other. Feeding on the harder side asks for a position they cannot comfortably get into, so they fight it, slip off, or fall asleep. The breast is not the problem. The tension is.
What does it mean when my baby clicks while feeding?
Clicking usually means the seal is breaking. Air gets in, milk escapes, and your baby swallows air instead of milk. It often travels with a high or uneven palate, a tongue that cannot lift well, and a gassy, unsettled baby after feeds.
Does my baby need a tongue tie release?
That is not a chiropractor's call, and we do not diagnose ties. What we can do is take body tension out of the picture first, so the provider evaluating your baby is seeing the tongue itself rather than a tongue that is being held down by the jaw, neck, and throat. Some babies feed well once that tension clears. Some still need a release.
Should I see a chiropractor before or after a frenectomy?
Both, ideally. Before a release, freeing up the neck, jaw, and palate means your baby can actually use the new movement. After a release, gentle care helps your baby settle into it while the area heals. The release itself is done by your dentist or ENT.
How soon after birth can my baby be seen?
In the first days of life. Many families come in during the first week or two, often around feeding difficulty, a head turning preference, or a baby who will not settle. Care for a newborn is a light fingertip contact.
Do you work with lactation consultants?
Always. We work in conjunction with IBCLCs, and if you do not have one yet, we are happy to connect you with someone we trust. They work on the feeding relationship and milk transfer. We work on whether your baby's body can do what they are teaching.
Do you accept insurance?
We are a cash based practice, which means your care stays focused on what actually helps you, not on what an insurance plan will approve. Many patients use their HSA or FSA, and we are happy to provide a superbill you can submit for possible reimbursement. You can also review our Good Faith Estimate for clear pricing before your first visit.
Book a visit
If feeding hurts, or your baby fights one side every time, it is worth having their body checked properly.
Book online, or call or text 720-722-1622. We care for families across Lafayette, Louisville, Erie, Superior, Broomfield, Longmont and Boulder.
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