Patricia writes:

'what a self-affirming
first action it would be for a baby to make her way to the breast and latch
on for that first feed.  I think that it would instill a "CAN DO" attitude
in the little one that would last a lifetime.'

Well, maybe, though we can't know, can we, and we can't know whether that's
a good thing to teach so early in life  - but perhaps that's me being
English : )

My concerns about self-attachment are that it is *an intervention* . All of
us seem to agree that the natural and instinctive response of the alert,
undrugged mother is to help her baby find the breast. Telling her not to do
so (and mothers have to be told or they will find their maternal response
is to just do it) interferes with the process, and surely, surely, we know
enough about bf by now to know that interference can affect the whole
process.

Breastfeeding (sorry if I've said this before - it's a thing with me!) is a
relationship between two people who are learning together, not just how to
bf, but how to be a mother and a son/daughter. Forcing independent
attachment is probably not threatening to any of this, in fact (though we
can't be sure....) but it rather goes against the spirit of bf seen in this
way.

I really don't see the point of self-attachment. There is a slight risk
that it could develop into a new thing that mothers are told to do - hey,
you might even get some advocates suggesting that the baby should do this
at every feed from birth on!

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK