I like to teach hand expression, much better than pumping (early days 
anyway), but I have a ways to go at it.  I usually have better luck doing 
it myself for the mother at first than teaching her to, but I agree that 
it's more empowering for the mother to do it herself.  It's just that I 
have to get better at teaching the skill so that the mother succeeds fairly 
promptly.  If a mom doesn't get any with her first tries she gets so 
despondent that I do some for her so I can show her the colostrum really is 
there, and then she cheers up a bit and learns to do it herself.
They mostly don't have any objection to me doing it, but say "hey, you know 
how and I don't" -- which, again, is not the can-do attitude I want to 
foster, but does usually convey that they are not upset at my doing it.
As I've mentioned before, though a spoon is great, I think straight to 
baby's lips is best (second best after suckling at the breast).  Mother is 
learning to position baby, baby is learning milk comes from the 
breast.  They get a chance to put the pieces together bit by bit, and by 
the time the last piece falls into place they are often very comfortable 
together.  The bonding study from Russia specifically involved the baby's 
mouth touching the mother's nipple, or vice versa, as I recall, even if no 
suckling occurred, so expressing onto the baby's lips helps with bonding 
too.  Finally, this way, feeding is valuable time they spend together, 
instead of two distinct tasks (expressing and feeding) that take time 
*away* from s2s (nice abbrev.!) cuddle time.
And for that matter, I think the colostrum comes more readily when the baby 
is right there than when the baby is in the bassinet.
But I repeat myself.
Elise
LLLL & IBCLC in New Hampshire, not for much longer...
flying to Mississippi on Monday to look for housing.

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