Episode Details

We just finished an hour with Cathy Watson Genna, and our brains are still buzzing. That's how it always goes with Cathy — she has this gift for showing you how everything connects. The web of infant assessment can feel impossibly tangled from the inside, but she helps you see the threads, trace them, and understand why each one pulls on the others. 

One of the things Cathy does so well is remind you how much you've actually learned — and how much there still is to learn. Both of us are coming up on recertification this year (yes, already — we found an old episode in our archive of us talking about our first recertification and the time warp is real), and we're both still chasing CERPs and CEUs with zero signs of stopping.

This aftershow is us, Annie and Leah, processing what sparked for us and what we're taking back into the treatment room.

"It's hard to figure out what's going wrong if you don't know what's going right." 

In this episode we talk about:

• Learning through touch (3:21)
• Finding healthy baselines (7:40)
• The importance of staying flexible in assessments (13:16)
• Tools for oral function (15:15)

Each month we host a live Deeper Dive so you can connect with us, our special guests, and each other + get lifetime access to the recording!

Our next Deeper Dive is on working with Type A clients — and yes, if you practice in an urban or professional community, this is basically your entire caseload. We cannot wait. 

Links and Resources

• Subscribe to the Deeper Dive Membership: https://learn.paperlesslactation.com/subscription/deeper-dive-membership
• Have an idea for a podcast episode or a Deeper Dive? Let us know! https://learn.paperlesslactation.com/form/collaborate
• Catherine Watson Genna's book: Supporting Sucking Skills in Breastfeeding Infants, 3rd ed. — the foundational text for much of what Cathy teaches
• "Inside the Interstitium, the Human Body's Hidden Pathways" — New York Times, May 11, 2026 (gift article — no paywall)
• Langevin & Yandow (2002): Acupuncture points and the connective tissue network — original fascia-meridian mapping study

Infant Assessment Tools Annie Uses

• AOMT (Academy of Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy) — Martinelli Oral Assessment Tool
• Srinivasan, Dobrich, Mitnick & Feldman (2006): Frenotomy Decision Rule — Breastfeeding Medicine
• TABBY (Tongue-tie And Breastfed BabY): Ingram et al., International Breastfeeding Journal, 2019

Craniosacral Therapy Training

• Beames CST Foundations Course — Meaghan Beames, RMT (virtual, 4 weeks, eligible for CERPs)

IBCLC Recertification

• IBLCE recertification and CERPs information

If you like what you heard today, ple