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Subject:
From:
"Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 23 Jul 2001 13:26:32 EDT
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Jennifer you wrote, "All of the discussion I have seen so far assumes that
babies born in hospitals can in some way be reflective of the biological
norm, but they
cannot. Having given birth at home and worked extensively with midwives and
their clients, I can assure you they are different babies. I am not saying a
baby born at home never has difficulty nursing or that every baby born in
hospital will.  I am saying that midwives don't tend to wait and see, b/c
they know this is not normal. Babies born at home usually don't even lose
weight, so they must surely be eating well from the beginning."

I agree with you. Birthing in hospitals is not the biological norm.  Part of
the fact that homebirthed babies do not usually lose weight may not even have
to do so much with eating well as with the fact that the home environment is
less stressful to infants.  I remember years ago hearing a NICU nurse
describe how some premies literally shut-down because of the NICU
environment--the noise, the lights, etc.  These premies looked like they were
sleeping when in fact they were not.  If one gently pulled the eyelids of
these infants, they would stare back at you.  Their defense against the
stress of the NICU environment was to shut it out by closing their eyes.  In
doing home visits when I worked with WIC, I encountered full-term,
hospital-born infants that were using the same kind of defensive action.  The
mothers told me they could not awaken these babies to nurse.  I would assume
from the descriptions of the birth that it was the effect of drugs.  But I
began to suspect after a time that this was not so much the drugs, as a
response to being overly stressed.  Often when mothers understood that their
babies were stressed, they would work towards finding ways to make the infant
feel safe and secure.  That security of being near mom, often facilitated
breastfeeding far better than any other suggestions I made.  From my
experience, Jennifer's post makes absolute sense to me.
 Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC

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