Lynn brings up a very good point, that even with the best of birth management, there can still be breastfeeding problems, and some mothers and babies will need help! I had my second baby at home. She did not even get the chance to cry. She coughed, opened her mouth to cry, and I took advantage of that open mouth to latch her on. We never had any difficulties breastfeeding, not a second of discomfort ever. I have been at home births where the baby did have trouble (though most did not). Most of the time there is an anatomical or neurological issue in these cases, but sometimes it's just a delay in the learned integration of all those reflexes involved in latch and sucking. I believe that if the baby is not latching well within a few hours after birth, mom should be offered assistance. -- Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC New York City mailto:[log in to unmask] *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html