Jean, you lucky thing to have the Self-Attachment video!  But I'm really
responding to your sentence, "Thus babies are given a 5 minute *chance* to
breastfeed (wrapped in at least two terry towels) before being taken away
for such important tasks as weighing etc."

What Jean didn't explain, folks, is that there seems to be a fear in Africa,
bordering on the pathological, that babies might get cold.  They are always
wrapped in *layers and layers* of clothing and blankets and towels, so that
when you pick up even the tinest newborn, the whole bundle is *huge*!  As a
result, there can be a fair number of positioning/attachment problems and it
can be a novel idea to the mom that baby's body should be as close as
possible to hers.  It often takes several minutes to unwrap the bundle,
discover the baby and place him chest to chest so he can be strategically
placed to reach the nipple.

The baby-friendly hospitals have the mom bring in with her a new nappy
(cloth diaper) and towel.  To achieve the skin-to-skin requirement at
delivery the baby is placed naked on the mother's naked upper abdomen/chest,
covered with the nappy, then covered with the towel, then both of them are
covered with a blanket.  Both of them are to be left like that for at least
30 minutes (during which time breastfeeding can be initiated).  However, I
have seen breastfeeding roughly "forced" at this time, before either mom or
baby are ready.  I must make a suggestion that we get this video too, but
can identify with the frustration about the towels.

Pamela Morrison IBCLC, Zimbabwe