Linda, I thought your comments here were excellent.

After 20 years as a LLL Leader, I think I also have that "thick layer" of
normal breastfeeding set down in my mind that you describe. I've seen so
many babies that I think I've seen most of the variations of normal - and
something that's "not normal" tends to jump out at me.

I remember years ago, before the information on position and latch came out,
going to visit a mother with painfully sore nipples. As a Leader, we didn't
have a lot of practical information on helping with sore nipples at that
time. But I remember looking at that mother and thinking "she doesn't look
right. This looks different than the other mothers and babies I see who
don't have sore nipples." And I started trying to change that mother's
position to match the picture I had in my head. In a not-very-scientific
way, I was correcting the position and the latch, and the improvement was
noticeable immediately. So that's the technique I used for years, until the
new information became available.

Teresa Pitman
LLL Leader, Oakville, Ontario