>Nicki wondered:
>
>After spending a week working as an LC in a local hospital, I wonder if
>anybody ever sees a normal newborn anymore.
>
>Yes, some of us still do, Nicki! Where I work some mothers still do have
>unmedicated births. And I love being the room with the family in that first or
>second day of life. Quiet wide open eyes gazing up at mom, or turning towards
>Dad's voice. I tell them it's a privilege for me to be there with them.
>
>Nonetheless this doesn't always give a perfectly latching baby. There are
>still some with disorganized or dysfunctional sucks. I see many habits acquired
>in utero.
I've always wondered how much disruption happens even at home births when
baby is passed around before he's had those first few hours to cement
feeding, though. Separation is separation, whether it's to be weighed and
measured or just to be held by Grandma. It does make sense that there'd be
habits learned in utero, though.
Here's what Ros Escott (Australia) had to say on Lactnet, 6 November 95:
"Hospitals all over the world are now implementing the 10 Steps and there
are overwhelming data to support the long term value of these
breastfeeding-friendly practices. I recently spent 12 days doing a project
for WHO in Thailand, where 70% of hospitals are now Baby- Friendly. It
changed my thinking about breastfeeding and made me realise just how many of
the problems we LCs face, and people on the Lactnet write about, are
iatrogenic. The Thai breastfeeding message is ubiquitous, elegantly simple
and the answer to everything. "The Three Sucklings". 1. Early suckling
(ie on the delivery table), 2. Frequent suckling (exclusive breastfeeding
and NO mother baby separation) 3. Correct suckling (good attention to
position and attachment.)
"These are not token messages. No separation means that the mother stays
with the baby for everything. Frequent suckling means that the mother lies
in bed on her side with her baby at the breast. If you asked a mother how
many times per day she feeds, she would look at you strangely. Better to
ask whether the baby ever falls into a deep sleep and drops off the breast
for a while - they occasionally do.
"We saw a lot of abandoned plastic cots. I was told that despite rooming-in
there had been a problem with jaundice. They got rid of the cots, put the
babies in the beds, and the jaundice stopped. Thatıs frequent suckling,
folks, not what we play around with.
"When you need beds desperately and mothers canıt be discharged until
breastfeeding is established and going well (2-3 days), you do everything
to make it work. The mothers feed all day and the nurses walk around
fine-tuning positioning and helping as required. Where was the hypoglycemia,
engorgement, sore nipples, babies unable to latch, etc.? Not to be seen. I
never heard a baby cry. Yet these are medicated deliveries, 100%
episiotomy, up to 16% caesarian.
"It seems that if the "Three Sucklings" are really done well, the rest can
fall into place. Now if every doctor and every nurse throughout the world
knew and practiced these three things.... we could be bored, not burnt
out."
Ros Escott's 1995 post
--
Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC Ithaca, NY
www.wiessinger.baka.com
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