Diane said:

 

But if there really is a difference in percentage of non-latchers, and if
any of that is a result of our technique and not  the epidural rate, we can
change that!  How I wish!

 

From my own history: 

 

.        I was an LLLeader in 1975 - little troubles with latch, lots of
troubles with sore nipples - or was it that moms who were really having
troubles never came to a group meeting - they just quit?

.        I was an IBCLC in 1985 - still more troubles with sore nipples than
latch - or was it that few moms ever knew I existed and gave up?  HOWEVER, I
dealt with enough moms that I had to help supplement (even had 2 ER Trips
due to babies that really frightened me enough to make me quit private
practice!)  Kathy Lange, and I were both new IBCLCs and experienced
LLLeaders in St. Louis - and would meet to discuss how many moms we were
needing to supplement!  Many more than we had ever experienced as Leaders.

.        I was a new nurse in 1989 (yes, "new" but not "young") working on
the new Mother-Baby unit in St. Mary's Hospital in St. Louis - I remember
saying "what's with all these babies not latching?"  They don't seem to know
what to do.and then I'd get one that COULD and I asked about the difference
- usually it was epidurals.

 

Now the question is - did the epidurals cause the problem or were we
positioning moms differently because they had epidurals?  I really don't
think so - these babies seemed to have no clue how to get their bodies
coordinated .like you see in the middle baby in the Righard, Self-attachment
video.

 

However, moms were still staying in the hospital for a longer stay - we had
more time with them!

 

Now you compound the problem of moms that don't know how to hold a baby,
with a mother who has never seen a baby breastfed, with a family that is
convinced the baby will die of starvation if they aren't fed immediately and
a staff that knows the family is leaving in the next 6 hours and "all h---
will break loose" if that baby comes back because of hyponatremia,
hyperbiliruminemia or hypoglycemia . or any other h. you want to think about
- and you have a combination that leads to lack of pacing, lack of support
and hyper vigilance leading to multiple interventions.

 

...so hard to separate all the variables!

 

Jeanette Panchula

California, USA

 


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