<< Janet,
 You described very quickly the hold you used for the bubble palate.
 Jeanette Panchula >>

HI All,
With Ben and his bubble palate the only way we could BF pain-free was to:

Ben on a pillow for support.  With L-O for right breast:

Support R-breast with right hand.  Use thumb on top of breast and forefinger
under breast to create nipple sandwich (what I call the Aroelar Squish, where
you compress the areola and "squish" it forward towards the nipple).  Baby is
held in the transitional/cross-cradel hold (base of head supported by left
hand, body by rest of left arm).  I had to maintain the nipple sandwich thru
the entire feed (which meant that I had to have my right arm supported also
or I would end up in terrible pain from muscle aches), or else the nipple
would slip back just enough to let Ben stuff it into his palate.  (not
pleasant!)
Ben also had a really sensitive Gag reflex, so suck training was neccessary
to get him used to having something on that soft palate without gagging.
 Another trick we used was to use the Medela Nipple for bottle feeding
(cup/syringe/finger feeding just weren't up my alley at the time) but to turn
the nipple upside down so it would go just a tad bit further and stimulate
that soft palate.
So far, I have worked with other moms with babies who have bubble or very
high palates.  We have tried doing what I did with Ben, and most times it
works.  Sometimes it doesn't.  It really depends on the baby, and what other
things are going on with the baby.

Hope this answers some questions!  If you have more, feel free to ask!

Jay