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Subject:
From:
Diane Wiessinger <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 8 Jun 1999 11:11:22 -0400
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>However as I looked around the room during the talk I was amazed at the
>amount of "improper" positioning I observed.

When I asked a Chinese waiter to show me "the right way" to use
chopsticks, he looked over at a table where the other Chinese waiters
were all having lunch.  "None of them are doing it right," he told me.

Experienced mothers and babies have figured out the nuances they need
to pay attention to to make it work, and they abandon the rest.  I
slouched.  A co-Leader's baby sucked in his lower lip.  Another
co-Leader's baby lay on his back with his head turned.  A friend's
baby kept a tight corner on his mouth and seemed to hang off her
nipple.  None of us were sore, all our babies were plump or downright
fat.  (And come to think of it, none of these babies had a tucked chin
or had a head in the crook of our arm.)

It's casual positioning like ours that get pictured on most posters
and in most breastfeeding books.  But I think the new mom and baby in
a bottle-feeding culture, utterly clueless about the whole thing,
often need *meticulous* positioning for at least a few days, until
they, too, figure out what they can scrap and what they need to keep.

I change positioning at least slightly in the great majority of my
clients.  But then, they're coming to me because something isn't
working.  And if something isn't working, most of the time that
something has at least part of its roots in a positioning glitch.

I'd love to see those "badly positioned" African moms.  I'll bet if we
poked and peered, we'd find that the areola is deep in the baby's
mouth, at least on the lower jaw side.  But then, they probably grew
up seeing babies at breast and not being afraid to look and learn.  If
all they had to learn from was a few pictures of experienced nurslings
"slopping around" at the breast, and lots and lots of pictures of
babies with bottles, they'd probably be sore...

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, LLLL  Ithaca, NY

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