Following this conversation.... and wanted to ask, perhaps a little 
irreverently, if we aren't carrying the "noble savage"/"natural" 
thing just a tiny bit too far...?? <:-|

Having lived in places that regularly reach 31 degrees C, or even 
more, I've found that moms are very sensitive to being sweaty in the 
first few days postpartum, and often apologise for it.... not that it 
bothered me, and I thought they apologised unnecessarily.  I also 
suspect that the phenomenon is due to low estrogen levels, like hot 
flashes.  But IME a new mother wants to feel nice, and clean, and 
having a shower and perhaps using her nice perfumes/soaps and then 
getting into a nice fresh nightie or PJs can feel wonderful.

New babies are little open books - why should they not "bond" with 
mom's normal soaps/deos/perfumes rather than with sweat?  And are we 
really sure that smell alone has that much influence on a baby's 
ability to latch and breastfeed? It's positioning and latching skills 
(which we can teach...) which allow breastfeeding to take place. 
Other animals have large olfactory centres in their brains, but our 
sense of smell is not one of our main survival skills...IME, having a 
non-bathed, unwashed mother is just not that important to 
breastfeeding success, whereas it's probably very important to her morale!

Though I did have a case where a nursing strike was traced to a 
bottle of Joy perfume.... Dad had brought home this special gift 
after an overseas trip, and the baby, now several months old, refused 
to nurse until mom stopped using it and returned to her "normal" 
smell, whatever that was.... (not sweat!)

Respectfully,
Pamela Morrison IBCLC
Rustington, England
------------------------------------------
I always encourage a mother not to use anything that would mask her natural
smells for the first few weeks.
-----------------------------------------
 > How long should the mother wait to bathe herself above the belly button
 > after giving birth?  I'm wondering if washing off her scent and adding
 > soapy scent and flavor can have a negative impact on breastfeeding
 > initiation.  A better question might be how long is it reasonable to tell a
 > mother to wait to shower when she lives in a culture where people shower
 > daily or every other day and certainly after working up a sweat.
-------------------------------------


---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
http://www.avast.com

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

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome