> <a common comment I hear from the midwives
> is - the baby won't open wide to latch.  No when the nipple is just being
> offered directly at the lips, few newborns see any reason to open very
> wide.  But as soon as you tilt that nipple up their nose, the baby gapes
> beautifully.>

I use to think about the video from Righard about self-attachemnt directly after
delivery when I try to explain this to people.

A just-born baby crawles to the breast, using his knees, arms to move, his hand ,
eyes and mouth to orientate. Once he smells , feels and spots he is close, the
baby lifts his head and latches on. This causes -as described by the sandwich
metaphor from Wiessinger- the mouth opens wide.

By having the nipple in front for the nose, a baby has to bent his head backwards,
and needs ot open his mouth wide. The inborn latching-on reflexes are stimulated
by doing so.

regards, Annelies Bon
Lay counsellor of the Dutch bf organization "Borstvoeding Natuurlijk"

             ***********************************************
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