Dear Friends:
    I have permission to share this post with you all.

 "How many moms in your experience have tried breastfeeding to help their
labor along once it had started naturally?
    Breastfeeding worked for me when i was 5cm & 42 weeks with my 2nd
daughter (1st daughter was 20 months). In celtic tradition, it is believed
that breastfeeding
 helps labor because the new baby realizes he/she must be born soon to claim
their milk supply! It would seem to make good sense, nipple stim does wonders
for orgasm (contractions) but none of my friends at LLL had heard of it or
tried breastfeeding for during labor untill i walked in with happy, nautral
birthed Lei, all 10lb of her! :)
 Ann

 I have had  7 or 8 experiences with nursing of an older toddler once birth
has begun naturally.  The moms didn't do it to help labour along but rather
to settle down a cranky 2 yr old that just needed some time  with Mom to
mellow out.  You're right,
it is magical.  Once Mother Nature has started the process, that nipple
stimulation of the older child just moves it into another level of intensity
and the woman who went into the bedroom to nurse in light birthing process
comes out of the bedroom completely changed, usually heads for the toilet,
then the birth tub and has a baby l/2 hr later.  I find it interesting that
the day before that same toddler nursing did NOT bring on the birth.  Most of
these women, as I recall, were one or two weeks past the due date.
     Nature is so wonderful.  We have a cervix that holds our babies in the
safety of the womb until just the right time.  There used to be a common
saying in Obstetrics that, unfortunately, I don't hear any more "A wise
obstetrician does not pick unripe fruit."  I pray that we will return to that
expression when all the induction insanity in North America wears off."

 Gloria Lemay, Vancouver, BC
 Wise Woman Way of Birth Courses
 http://www.birthlove.com/pages/wise_woman.html


Nikki Lee RN, MSN, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CIMI
craniosacral therapy practitioner; childbirth educator
Elkins Park (a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; northeastern USA)
supporter of the WHO Code and the Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative

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