Anne asks about: the infant who

' gapes widely, latches on, comes off, shakes his/her head back and forth
as if searching for the nipple, latches well again, soon comes off, and
repeats this over and over'

In my experience these babies may have been messed about....they have had
at least one person 'helping' the mother to latch, and sometimes several.
In severe cases there have been bottles, cups, nipple shields in use within
a short time.

The mother's panic is made worse by 'helpers' whose attitude and behaviour
indicate that this baby *must* get it right soon.

I find it helps if everyone backs off a bit and the mother and baby share
lots of skin-to-skin contact so they can enjoy the closeness without the
pressure to 'get the baby on' ...and the mother can respond to cues calmly
and swiftly.

It is very, very dififcult for some health professionals to feel okay about
this hands-off approach.

In the case Anne is talking about, this twin could benefit from skin to
skin,  and I would be very hopeful of a positive outcome as the baby is
always able to latch on eventually and Anne says he does well - so it's
time and patience that will help.  I would share Anne's concern that the
night time bottle is probably *not* helping this little boy to learn about
bf.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK