>     Rachel says it so well. The best thing we can do for latch is to leave
>mother and baby alone after birth and let them work it out.
>
>     However, we also need to understand factors affecting latch because
>there are too many situations where mother and baby are lost, either because of
>hospital and obstetrical practice, or because of true difficulties such as
>prematurity or health complications (congenital defects, variations from the
>common, glandular insufficiency etc. etc.).

It occurred to me recently that our role is to act as translators.  The
mother and the baby talk to each other, but one doesn't always understand
what the other is trying to say.

Translators have to have a larger vocabulary than the people they serve,
because they never know what unusual words the speaker might present them
with.  But they themselves don't choose the words (unless perhaps they're
asked to help out when a speaker fumbles), they don't decide when the
conversation starts, and they aren't the ones who end it.  They stand by,
skilled, to contribute only as needed.

--
Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC  Ithaca, NY, who's being very interventionist
with a current struggling dyad and who hopes she's not doing more harm than
good...
www.wiessinger.baka.com

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html