In a message dated 12/1/00 6:33:39 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
[log in to unmask]  Jean writes:

   * emphasizing BACKWARD (that is, inward toward
  the chest wall) pressure as the first step, and
* maintaining that pressure during the second step,
  of actual compression of the fingers, as in the
  Marmet method or anything similar to it,

produces results so much more quickly and efficiently. 

With the mother's permission, I believe she learns faster when I

> personally, gently, locate her milk sinuses and demonstrate the motions
> for her the first time. I think this is because this uses a third sense,
> the kinesthetic, in addition to vision and hearing.
> 
> If at all possible, I stand slightly behind and to the side of her,
> reaching over her shoulder, so that my thumb and fingers are in the same
> plane as hers.
> ****Often, I place her fingers appropriately, and my fingers over hers,
> performing the motions by "shadowing her fingers"
> 

****I like this method also. I like to help the mom to do this on her own. By 
placing my fingers over hers--she gets it quickly!

Jean also says:
For starters, the idea of massage before expressing has a 3-fold benefit
(it seems to me).

* A) It gives the mom practice (and permission) about handling her breast
as a feeding tool.
* B) It may help circulation of both blood and lymph, and physically move
some of the milk forward just by compression.
* C) It may trigger and condition the MER, and that is a wonderful
opportunity to educate every mother about this "neat system nature has
built into the breast that stimulates it to squirt the milk from the back
of the breast forward."

I think you are right on target with this---I like it.

Laura Hart
Winter Park, FL

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