This afternoon I spent about two hours working with a mother and baby who are
learning to breastfeed.  The mother has an 11 yr old who did not breastfeed
and has did a lot of reading and decided to BF this baby. I spent some time
talking to her about the process and then I woke up the baby, slowly by
opening the drapes to let the sun in and then unwrapping his wraps and
beginning to massage the baby.  He opened both eyes and began to stare at
mom. He had huge expressive eyes, just taking in all of mom's features. He
was very quiet but very alert. We settled him in the football hold and he
just sat there. Mom became nervous and said that she didn't think he liked it
so I told her to watch the baby, his body language and tell me what he was
saying to her. She said she thought he would like it if she stroked his hair
while he nursed so I told her to try it. As she did that and began to talk to
him, he started sticking out his tongue and licking her nipple. I decided not
to guide him on but to watch and let him do it himself. It was so amazing to
watch the interaction between the two of them as they learned each other. He
would lick and then back off and look at mom for some information. She would
talk to him, he would lick again and then very gingerly began to latch on. He
nursed very gingerly-none of the "Big Mac" attack latching but very
carefully. He would nurse for a few minutes then stop and watch mom. Each
session lasted a few more minutes then the previous. Then he got a big
mouthful (well for a first feeding) of colostrum, pulled off and grinned at
mom and latched on again. This time he nursed faster and she began to have
uterine contractions. The entire feeding lasted an hour, and ended with him
pulling off by himself, with a very quiet burp. She settled him on her chest
and he continued to be quiet, awake,and occasionally lifting his head to look
at and to study mom.
I thought of all the times that moms have said that someone had rushed in to
help with breastfeeding, shoved the baby on, was rough with them, and other
things that turned them off to breastfeeding. I know that we can't always
spend 2 hours on helping just one mom but oh how rewarding this experience
was, for me as well as the mom and baby. I don't know why I decided to back
off and quietly let this baby be his own guide. But it certainly worked. I
spent 10 hrs working at the hospital today, and then had the 90 minute
commute each way but I was still flying high when I got home. This baby was
the highlight of my day!

Barb Whitehead, IBCLC
Eastern NC

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