I work in the hospital environment, and encourage laid back skin to skin with all of our new mothers, so the baby can have a baby led feeding at least once.   It is amazing to see the baby head over the breast and latch on, and just to watch the interaction of the mother and infant--it is so amazing.  Since I have never had another IBCLC to work with in the hospital, I have no colleague to learn from.  As you probably know, once the baby latches in the laid back position, gravity is often pulling the head downward--depending on mother's anatomy.  I often find myself propping up the baby's forehead a little, and teaching the partner to do the same.  At other times, once the baby is well latched, I raise the head of the bed some, so the head can fall back and rest on mother's forearm....

I would love to know if any of you have suggestions to make it easier to prop the baby's head etc.  I had a most amusing comment from a father last week--which really deserves a cartoon.  He said, "Will it always take this many people to breastfeed?"
Loved it!

Looking forward to your ideas!
Kathleen Gale RN, IBCLC, RLC

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