Osteopathic Manipulation in Breastfed Newborns

Osteopathic manipulative treatment(OMT) is a form of manual medicine in which a trained physician uses his or her hands to diagnose areas of restriction in a patient's body. The physician then uses his or her hands to manually correct the restriction, to improve body function. The research team will be performing OMT on breastfed newborns that have been identified by lactation consultants as having a feeding issues. The team will then compare the feeding behaviors of these babies to those in the same category who did not receive OMT. OMT has some similarities to chiropractic manipulation. No thrusting techniques that produce a popping or cracking sound, as traditionally associated with chiropractic, will be used in this study. Infants will be assigned to either the OMT group or No OMT group by the research team using a randomized process to help ensure equal enrollment in both groups. All babies will receive standard lactation support. All newborns receiving OMT will undergo the same four treatments, all of which involve light touch and massage. All newborns not receiving OMT will undergo a gentle application of light touch but no treatment. OMT treatment or sham sessions will be brief, taking no longer than 10 minutes, with each infant receiving two sessions during the study. During breastfeeding sessions, a lactation consultant will assess the infant's breastfeeding behavior using a tool called the LATCH score. He/she will be scored upon enrolling in the study, daily during hospitalization and before discharge from the hospital. The breastfeeding scores of the newborns who received OMT will be compared to the scores of those who did not. The following is information regarding the types of treatment the investigators will use in the study:All treatments will be done with the baby lying on his or her back and will be gentle, applying no more force than would be used to test a tomato for ripeness. The provider's touch will be delicate enough so as not to blanch his