I've found a couple uses for the "washboard pillow."  Precisely because it's hard and impersonal, I used it with a baby who'd had his head pushed into the breast for 4 weeks.  Nothing else brought him to breast, but lying on his side on that stiff pillow, with just enough holding to keep him from falling onto the floor, mom wore a nipple shield and held a bottle right near her nipple to soothe him if he started to go ballistic.  The baby didn't bother with the bottle, but went right for the nipple shield, which, because it too was stiff, didn't go away when he messed around with it.  It took him 2 more weeks of gradually closer holding to be willing to nurse without the space that the pillow offered.  A rounded pillow would have rolled him toward his mother, and he absolutely would have fought it.

A second baby, 3 mo premature, also resisted all efforts when I saw them around her due date.  Mom wore the washboard, and rolled baby forward and back on it, hoping to send the message that she didn't much care whether baby approached the breast or not.  After a few days  of "pillow games" she added a nipple shield and a lifted shirt to the game, still not urging baby to approach.  It took a couple weeks for the baby to accept the shield deeply enough to get fed from it, but both pillow and shield seemed to be important parts of the process (yes, this was a skin-to-skin co-sleeping mom, but baby had had 3 months of negative experiences...).  They went on to exclusive, gadget-less breastfeeding.

But then there was the baby who stopped throwing up when his mom started using a puffy, comma-shaped pillow.  She had a mild oversupply, and he coped by rolling onto his back, which kinked his neck, which meant he swallowed more air, which meant he threw up.  Mom hated to hold him firmly, so couldn't change his head angle.  With their particular body shapes, the rounded pillow dumped him into the crease between pillow and mom, belly-to-belly, and gently held him there.  No weird angle to the nursing, no spitting up.  

Gee, I sure wish we had more one-size-fits-all solutions...

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC  Ithaca, NY  USA
www.wiessinger.baka.com

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