In a message dated 8/1/0 4:23:45 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:

Cherly wrote:
<< <<  We recently had a family member
 want to help the patient breastfeed right after the cesarean, mom  & baby
 both stable. The OR staff was opposed to this, even though they were there
 to recover the patient. WHat do others do? Can only an OB staff member
 assist with breastfeeding in the recovery period or can it be a family
 member? >>

Laura responded:
If breastfeeding is all they are concerned about, NO help is needed. Remember
the babies crawling to breast & self-attaching in the video/study? Or - is
this an issue of who is responsible for the well-being of the new baby? If
the baby is healthy & stable, the mom & family member can certainly look
after baby.>>

Laura,
While I agree with you that intervention (even of the "helping" kind) can
actually interfere w/ breastfeeding, if you remember the crawling to the
breast video, the baby born of a drugged mother could not do this. This baby
that Cheryl is referring to was born by cesarean section, so was medicated
*and* probably had numerous other interventions as well.

<<At our facility, we do all our own c/s & recover them on. This has not been
an issue & no one really needs to help with breastfeeding except to make sure
that mom & baby are in close contact. >>

The other issue, as I see it, is that a mother has the right to have any
assistance from any family member (or anyone else, for that matter) that she
chooses. Keeping family members at bay is part of the whole medicalization of
birth and breastfeeding that IMO interferes with mothering.
Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA

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