Hi all,
I wanted to let you all know the exciting news that Lactnetter, Ruth
Cantrill (with her university associates, Debra Creedy and Marie
Cooke), has won the Mary Paton Research Award conducted by the
Australian Breastfeeding Association and sponsored by the Victorian
College of Lactation Consultants. This is awarded for research or
reviews related to breastfeeding and lactation and relevant to
practice in Australia.

The winning paper concerned midwives' knowledge of the importance of
skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth and until the baby
self-attaches.

After the recent award presentation in Queensland, Ruth was
interviewed by the press and there is an article about it on the
Sydney Morning Herald newspaper website at
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/03/1067708119052.html

_______________________________________________________
New borns' skin-to-skin contact vital: research
November 3, 2003 - 1:23PM

Babies should have at least an hour of skin-to-skin contact with
their mothers at birth to cut down on breastfeeding problems, yet
many midwives separate them too early, research suggests.

Midwife Ruth Cantrill questioned 1,105 midwives throughout Australia
to study their knowledge of newborn feeding practices and their
ability in managing the first breastfeed.

She said around two-thirds of the midwives felt they needed more
education in breastfeeding and many moved the babies from their
mothers too early.

"The most important thing that midwives can do to help the mother is
to not separate the baby from her when the baby is born - not to wrap
the baby or weigh the baby or hand the baby around," said Mrs
Cantrill, a midwife and lactation consultant at Redland Hospital in
Brisbane.

"Research tells us that if the baby is kept in continuous
uninterrupted skin contact, the hormones of the mother and baby get
coordinated, and the baby gets a chance to adapt to the new
environment.

"The baby has the ability to then attach to the breast properly and
if the baby's attached properly ... then it will be able to take the
milk out of the breast effectively.

"Because of what's happened with the hormones, the milk will flow
well out of the mother's breast."

Mrs Cantrill said if more midwives were educated about the importance
of adequate skin-to-skin contact between mother and child, it would
cut down on preventable breast feeding problems.

"This is basic stuff that midwives need to put into their practices," she said.

Skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby should continue for up
to two hours for natural birth babies and four to six hours for
newborns affected by pethidine or other drugs.

Mrs Cantrill said if the baby was taken away from the mother after
only 20 minutes, it did not have enough time to get its tongue and
mouth coordinated to suckle properly.

"It just bites down on the nipple and gives the mother sore nipples
and pain and the mother doesn't want to do it," she said.

"The key is how long that baby is kept close so that it can learn to
breastfeed.

"To watch the cleverness of a baby as it makes its way to the breast
when it's kept with the mother is as awesome as watching a birth."

AAP
_________________________________________________________

I also heard a short radio news segment on this as well. Here's
hoping this media coverage will help get the message out there - not
only to midwives but also to parents, so they can advocate for
themselves and their babies.

The complete paper will be published soon in Breastfeeding Review.
Some of the other entries were also very good (there were 12
altogether) and will also be published in the next few issues. For
more info about Breastfeeding Review, see
http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/lrc/bfreview.html

Joy


******************************************************************
Joy Anderson B.Sc. Dip.Ed. Grad.Dip.Med.Tech. IBCLC
Australian Breastfeeding Association counsellor
Perth, Western Australia.   mailto:[log in to unmask]
******************************************************************

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