At 08:18 AM 10/1/97 -0400, you wrote:


>We flew AA to LLLI conf in July - from Calgary, west central Canada, to
>Washington.  Different flight attendants on more than one leg of the
>flight told me that "AA policy" is that the "baby had to be held during
>take-off and landing in a chest-to-chest position"   They made a point
>of interrupting our bf, which we continued the moment they turned away.

Can't see the problem here. Surely a breastfed baby is in the chest-to-chest
position, unless positioning is wrong.

>With regard the Australian hold position, what I want to know, is how
>people go out and have a normal life if they feed using these
>positions?  I know that the most important thing here is to feed the
>baby, but what if you have more than 1 child and need to go out or
>you work, or people ask you over?  I can't believe that doing the
>Australian hold for a month would help a Mum pshycologically with
>breastfeeding.  I know this may turn everyones fuses on, but I really
>believe that Mums should learn to feed in a socially acceptable way
>as quickly as possible, otherwise most of them simply won't bother
>and will end up bottle feeding.

I, as an Australian Breastfeeding Counsellor for 10 years, had never heard
of the "Australian Hold" until this discussion.  However, I have a friend
who had fierce oversupply for months after her first baby, later diagnosed
as diabetic, and who felt that posture feeding was the only thing that kept
her breastfeeding.  She would time outings to avoid feeding in public, but
at NMAA meetings or when among friends, just ask for a quiet place with
pillows, bean bag or whatever, so that she could make herself comfortable.
She fed him till mutual weaning.
No probs with second baby.

Lesley McBurney
Brisbane, Australia
NMAA Breastfeeding Counsellor (Clayfield/Wilston Group, Qld)
Publications Revision & New Publications Working Groups
Admin Assistant, NMAA Qld Branch office
International Conference Registrations Committee
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