Mary-Jane, I share your frustration.  Skin-to-skin isn't just about helping
breastfeeding.  It helps to stabilize temps and sugars, and it reduces
stress ... and I have to believe that a baby who is toasty, secure, and
physiologically stable is a more likely to take advantage of that nipple her
cheek just brushed, and latch on.  But Dads do skin-to-skin in NICUs, so we
know its clinical usefulness goes beyond breastfeeding.

The real issue is the "all-or-nothing" approach to bedside breastfeeding
support by health care providers -- IBCLCs, RNs, MDs, RDs, etc.  No one
technique, learned at a conference, is going to apply to every baby who is
born.  To have one concept at a conference be shared as the new, singular
 "truth" does a disservice to mothers and babies who must find their own
way, in what one would hope is a supportive environment.

Sigh.

Liz Brooks JD IBCLC FILCA
Wyndmoor, PA, USA

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