I am finding that my work, as a private practitioner, has been
revolutionized by Tina Smillie's baby-led latch DVD.

I gets tons of calls like this:  Baby is two weeks old.  Baby "never
latched" or "was sleepy" at the hopiptal.  Mom started pumping ... and she
has been on the "won't latch-have to pump-my supply seems low" treadmill
ever since.  She is tired of pumping, tired of fighting the Baby, tired of
bottles, and has (finally) called the IBCLC.

So I waltz in, strip them both naked (well, from the waist up), place them
skin-to-skin, and just stand back.  I have NEVER had a baby fail to latch in
this set-up.  It has NEVER taken the baby longer than one minute to find the
breast and latch.  (Some have popped off-and-on a bunch .... but they are
popping ON and off, not failing to latch).  The longest part of the whole
scenario is my anticipatory guidance when I explain to Mom what we are going
to do, and what sorts of things we are going to see the Baby do.

But that is not why I am writing.

This technique worked its customary magic yesterday, and the Baby ended up
being on the breast for a VERY long time.  Mom was feeling kind of chilly,
so I did all those nice things PPLCs do, like drape Mom's bare shoulders
with a receiving blanket, etc.

Later, after the session was over, and we were winding things up, Baby
started to cue again.  By now, Mom had pulled back on her husband's very
large, long-sleeved T-shirt, which she had been wearing.  She was braless.
But here was her clever innovation:  instead of pulling the t-shirt
completely off, she simply took the front hem, and pulled it
up-and-over-and-behind her head.  Now, she had a completely bare chest, but
her arms were still in the sleeves of the shirt.

Think of what a "shrug" looks like, and that was the effect.

Mom was warm.  She didn't have that vulnerability that comes from feeling
completely naked.  Baby had free and unfettered access to the breast.
Imagine if the doorbell had rung: Mom could easily have whipped the front of
the shirt back down, and answered the door -- without stopping to find the
shirt she had removed, and fumbling to get completely clothed again.

Now, I think when using baby-led attachment the very first time, I will
still have Mom be completely naked (waist up).  That way arm skin is still
easily a part of the process.  But as the dyad is transitioning to
easier-and-easier latches, they may not need that extra tactile area.
Eventually, too, the aim is that "discreet" nursing we are so fond of
mentioning!  It will be a nice trick to tell Mom to use.
-- 
Liz Brooks JD IBCLC
Wyndmoor, PA, USA

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