Several people have asked me if they could share the infant self-attachment
techniques and the "latch" handout that I use. First of all I'm sorry I
wrote that note to Lactnet first thing in the morning, in such a hurry that
my posting was pretty disorganized, and not very clear.
Those of you who were already uncomfortable with the RAM technique, and with
the hands-on way we have been taught to "teach" babies to latch, and the
unfortunate consequences of this aggressive intervention, were I guess
already primed to hear what I had to say, and seemed ready to plow thru the
confused way I wrote.
As for my handouts, I am happy for any of you who want to write to me
personally, to share this information with your colleagues, simply as
information about what one person has learned, my opinion. I will send you
the handout in more readable form, along with a little more background info.
But I do have a few important caveats:
1. The handout alone is really not enough to help you as breastfeeding
counselors or LCs with all the different experiences you will have as you
embark on a new way of watching babies learn to latch. I have been playing
with this for five years, and am still learning.
2. Please DON'T use my handout, as is, with your moms. I always feel a
little strange about sharing any of my handouts with moms I haven't met--
because I keep changing my handouts, for clarity, and for new thoughts and
new info. So I'd rather that for your moms, you took what you liked and
wrote your own handout.
3. And especially don't hand out this information, even in your own form, to
someone you haven't first worked or at least personally talked with. This
just doesn't stand alone.
4. For those of you who are interested, and would like to write to me
privately, I can send you as an attachment, not only my handout for moms (in
Microsoft Word) but also the text of a talk I've given in one form or
another to medical residents, La Leche League Leaders, etc. Although it's
only an outline, I hope it will flesh out the background and a little more
detail for you.
5. Please try this first, with several moms, learn about it first hand, feel
comfortable with what it's all about, before you rewrite and start handing
out your own version of these handouts.
Feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or interesting
situations as you explore this "method." I put "method" it in quotes because
I think this is what mother nature intended, so I do not see it as a
professional "intervention" but rather a return to what infants expect.
Tina Smillie
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