Rachel wrote:
>Much of what we do after many years of practice is intuitive; that is, we
don't need to think consciously about the individual components of it.  We
can see at a glance that a baby is badly positioned or attached, or is
struggling with a feed, when someone just starting out would need to have a
checklist in hand to make sure they observed body position, breathing,
suck/swallow rhythm, and all those subtle things that we just take in
globally because we have done it so many times.  But for someone who doesn't
have that knowledge, it is vital that we are able to spell out what it is we
do, because otherwise, outsiders will think that anyone at all can do our
job at a glance.  When we make something complex look easy, it is likely
because we are good at it, NOT because it is necessarily that easy. <

Spelling out what it is we do is incredibly difficult.
Just look at how hard it is to describe one of the most basic
proceedures, putting a baby to the breast. How many times have we
refined our wording? We are still attempting to accurately  put into
words the actions necessary to get a good latch, mostly because of the
uniqueness of  each mother-baby dyad. What works for one pair may not
work for another, and for sure, what worked last week may not work
next Monday!
Guiding principles based on proven research may be more workable than
protocols.

norma, interested to see how this dilemma is resolved.

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

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(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html