Mary:  You asked what rebirthing is.  If Heather Harris is on the list, I
hope she'll respond as she does a beautiful job of describing it.  Basically
it is recreating for the baby his beginnings in water.  Hopefully it will
comfort & reorient him all over.  Mom should play gently with him in the
water for a period of time - I let the mom decide this.  Then she
semi-reclines, placing baby on her tummy and allows him to "make the crawl"
just like we see in delivery self attachment.  She doesn't guide him to the
breast - she just keeps him from slipping off her tummy.

As for the cord thing, perhaps some folks outside the US could comment on
this silly American thing?  Dr. Jack what do you say?  My understanding of
this (prompted by Dr. Leboyer's work) is that infection/drying is unaffected
by immersion bathing.  I point this out to moms.  In the US moms are told to
clean the cord with alcohol - I may suggest they do so after the bath.

This is such a neat, relaxing, often successful, free approach to help bfing!

Debbie Shinskie RN CES IBCLC in Millersburg, PA, USA
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http://www.epix.net/~shinskie/
"The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea."
                                                -Isak Dinesen