I have to share this, I'm just bubbling...I just had a mom come to my
house, baby is 6 wks, term, vaginal birth, everything pretty normal. He has
developed jaundice for some reason; the drs. think it is some sort of
benign condition and aren't TOO concerned yet, and best of all they are
VERY supportive of continuing bf. (!) Baby was 7lb13oz at birth and is over
11 lbs now! So bf is going pretty well. But mom was discouraged so she came
over.
She was told that she has flat nipples, and she reported to me that she was
VERY sore. But just looking at the nipples answered all my questions, just
about: they are HUGE. About as big around as my thumb. Fairly small areola,
medium size breasts. Baby was not opening his mouth well and was sliding
off those big nipples, plus he was sucking his lower lip in. Result:
soreness. She has been trying to pull out his lower lip, but invariably
breaks the suction and loses the latch they both fought so hard to get. He
has a GREAT suck, unbelievable, but has a tough time getting that big ol'
nipple into his tiny little mouth! BTW, I showed the mom MY nipples, which
are the *definition* of flat. This reassured her that hers aren't that flat
at all, just a little.
Mom was concerned that the baby wasn't getting the *whole areola* into his
mouth, which the hospital LC (and lots of books) told her he had to do or
she wasn't doing it right. We worked on using a football hold and modifying
her cradle hold so that she could try different positions to ensure that
the soreness wasn't coming from there. I went over knowing the difference
between latch-on pain and let-down pain, and that seemed to turn on some
kind of light bulb for her.
I used so much with this mom that I JUST learned from Lactnet. The mom is
dealing with a lot of pressure to bottlefeed, and is determined to succeed
at bf. And by golly, I am sure she's going to make it. I just wanted to say
that it took 3 hours, but this mom went away feeling downright empowered
and feeling pretty good about herself. We spoke mom-to-mom, and she said
that just hearing me say that yes, the first couple months are HELL, made
her feel worlds better!
Also, she'd been using a cheap bicycle-type pump, and I asked her to throw
it away. I briefly showed her some hand-expression techniques and she was
quite receptive. She tried it, and was a smashing success. I can't believe
how good I feel now. A success. A mom that I've worried about for days
finally shows up on my doorstep, practically in tears, and leaves smiling
to beat the band with a happy, full-of-mommy milk baby! I hope it doesn't
sound as though I'm gloating. But I was so scared that I would drop the
ball on this one and when I didn't, what a relief it was!
See, we do make a difference. All of you can pat yourselves on the back for
this success. Couldn't have done it without you. In fact, it felt as though
you were all there.
Cheers
Nancy Kramer
Port Angeles, WA
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