Fiona wrote,

> I don't think that games of patty cake
> or whatever would have helped her much caring for the baby...probably
> what he would have wanted was to be *held* pretty much constantly
>

Perhaps some of the tricks I learned with twins (who had to be fed
separately, at least sometimes) would help. I didn't pump exclusively,
but I did pump, with a hand-held pump named in Fiona's post.
Often the baby can be positioned to have his / her head in the mother's
lap when she is pumping. When s/he has a bit more muscle control, being
propped up in a sitting position between her legs works well, too,
especially if she is sitting cross-legged. This was a favourite position
for us in bed at night. Remember there is skin elsewhere on the body
than on the breast, so putting a barely-dressed baby close to an
unclothed tummy or leg is better than nothing. We also have a picture of
my first baby wrapped around my arm while I am holding a book. There is
something so delicious about sleeping on my dh's shoulder that there
must be some anthro-bio- basis for this!
Jo-Anne

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