I sent this post to Laurie privately, but thought some of you might find it
useful someday.

Laurie, I worked with blind parents in their breastfeeding their baby.  What
an experience!  I had wondered what I could teach her and how I would do it.
As it turned out I *learned* much more than I taught.

For getting baby latched on Mom had him on a pillow and held her left breast
in her left hand and had her right hand behind his head (base of skull).
She would touch her nipple with her index finger and then touch baby's mouth
to see when it was open, then she had to move quickly to get him onto the
breast before he closed his mouth.  At first it took many tries, but baby
learned to hold his mouth open longer and he soon did most of the lactching
himself. And she learned to touch his nose to see where everything was.

I found that she had more skills than sighted moms, in that she was more
sensitive to baby's subtle cues.  She did lean into him for a while, which
is not ideal, but it helped baby to stay latched at first.

When baby was latched on properly, there was good swallowing and the nipples
didn't hurt--about the same as with a sighted person. Output also tells a
lot, of course. He fed very well.

Do you have an office or do you do home visits?  I do home visits which was
most helpful in this case, as I could see how she was sitting on the couch,
and how her pillow arrangement was, etc.

One day when things were going better, she called to say that she could
latch him on well all day then at night she has a lot of trouble. (Several
times I was called in the middle of the night because she couldn't get him
on.)  Then it came to us, they weren't using lights at night and baby was
using visual cues to help him latch. They started turning lights on at dusk
(they checked with friends) and he was latching round the clock.

This woman was a dedicated breastfeeding mother, as she said that it was
much easier than having to deal with bottles.  She also knew that it was
essential that they have a close relationship and breastfeeding would assure
that. She went on to work outside her home when he was 3 months old, pumped
milk for the sitter, and fed him at the breast until he was 3.

This was a highlight in my LC experience.

Patricia Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee






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