Christine I know just what you mean!  And I also think I get the drift of
what you are wishing you could do - I can imagine it on a balloon :-)  One
thing that I find helps these mothers is either you, if you are latching
the baby, or the mother if she is up to that stage yet, to continue to hold
the breast shaped until you can feel the baby has 'got it' back behind the
areola.  I find it takes a while of them suckling before they have sucked
enough in and that their jaw compressing the breast will be back behind the
internal nipple complex... now I'm having trouble explaining it.... It's
like that balloon I was imaging that you were describing ... Let me try again.

I see a full firm balloon, and the baby gets a wide mouth full but isn't
really on and as soon as you let go your shaping he loses it.  However if
you could compress it so it is a bit like the shape of a pear you'd be
right.  Well by shaping it just the one direction as we do with the breast
sandwich and holding in that shape until the baby has got past what feels
like a firm lump (described in para above as the internal nipple complex)
that keeps causing him to slip off every time you let go it seems to
work.  You can feel the lump go into his mouth and then you know you can
let go and he'll be able to maintain suction and keep going.  You may be
holding it for quite a while though before you feel him get behind that
firm area.  I'm sure others who are more eloquent have felt this sensation
too - please do a better job of explaining it then I did.

This isn't really related to engorgement or fluid overload oedema - it's
the mother's anatomy - Christine described it well "the nipples are not
just flat, they are short and inelastic"  - to me it feels as if the rest
of the nipple is inside the breast, though it certainly isn't inverted and
getting behind that is what is so hard for the baby.

Denise

Denise Fisher
mailto:[log in to unmask]
http://www.health-e-learning.com

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