Jean and Pamela et al:
YES!  when I worked in an out of hospital birth center, I generally helped
moms by just bringing baby to breast.  But since I took my current hospital
job, where the majority of moms are medicated in labor, and many are induced
weeks in advance of their due dates, I find a lot more babies who need
intensive hands-on help for a few feeds.  Often when I am helping a baby
take the breast, part of my thumb and index finger get latched onto as well.
And as Jean states, it doesn't take more than 1-3 feedings with this kind of
help before most babies figure out how to help themselves.  that is one of
the great joys of working with newborns: being a witness to their
intelligence and quick learning of new skills.
Martha Johnson RN IBCLC
Eugene Oregon

-----Original Message-----
From: Kermaline J. Cotterman [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2002 3:21 AM
Subject: Pamela's "tea-cup" description


Pamela,

Even though you were addressing a different post, you gave a perfect
description of the use of the "teacup" hold on the areola:

<4.  Now ... with thumb and index finger mother takes a "pinch" of that
very
soft areolar tissue, just beside the nipple (that would be about 3 or 4
o'clock on the left breast) - this makes a kind of "handle" for the
nipple,
which can be stretched forward.>

The only difference I can imagine in the way we customarily do it in our
office is that we grasp this "teacup hold" somewhat further from the
nipple and closer to the outer edge of the elastic areola, in order that
the fingers be more out of the way of the lips and jaws unless the baby
is tiny.

At any rate, thanks for articulating it so beautifully. And thanks, Kay
and Barbara, for including it in your upcoming edition.There was a time
not long ago when one almost dared not discuss the idea in
lactation-savvy circles, as the "good latch" was almost dogmatically
construed only as one where the baby was put "on the breast", not where
the "nipple was put into the mouth". Any touching of the areola
(cigarette hold, etc.) was OUT.

<I usually find that the baby may only need this special help for several
consecutive breastfeeds, and then he learns to create his own teat from
that
soft tissue and the mother can then just offer the breast in the usual
way -
cupping, stimulating gape and quickly bringing baby close enough to get a
reasonable mouthful!>

Yes, oh for an adjustable areola and a reasonable mouthful! I am all for
teaching moms how to add "adjustability", what constitutes a reasonable
mouthful, and how great a miracle the MER is!

Before lactation experts and pillows and insights into the anatomy of the
infant mouth came to be, isn't it wonderful that latching must have
somehow been possible for a large majority of babies and mothers simply
because women learned from watching other women how to handle the breast
as a feeding tool!

Jean
******************
K. Jean Cotterman RNC, IBCLC
Dayton, Ohio USA (who agrees with Pamela, who doesn't believe that
nipple-confusion
needs to be a problem if you can get the latching right! [one way or
another])

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