> Considering all the different types of breastfeeding holds and positions,
>which one is most commonly used in your area of work and which one seems to
>work most effectively with breastfeeding mothers and infants?

I think the two problems with the "C hold" are that it doesn't take into
account the position of the baby - like holding out a hamburger with your
fingers below it and thumb above, and expecting an adult to take a bite from
it equally well if she's standing up or lying on her side.  (For the
side-lying person, *of course* you'd turn the hamburger sideways.)  And that
in "supporting" the breast the hold lifts it from its natural position - not
necessary for the average breast.

There's more and more agreement that babies seek the breast by tipping their
head back and thrusting their lower jaw forward, so anything that allows
them to come to the breast in that position is likely to work well.  Usually
that means the nipple is above their top lip, to give them a *reason* to tip
their head back.  (And even an adult can see that opening her mouth with her
chin tucked results in a small mouth with tongue pulled toward the back of
the mouth, while opening her mouth with her head slightly back means a
cavernous gape with tongue lying on the floor of the mouth.  I hadn't
realized the tongue part until I saw it in Rebecca Glover's video.
Revelation!)

Christina Smillie sees a universal seeking-of-the-breast in babies who are
just held upright, skin-to-skin in their upright mothers' arms.  One way or
another, they get themselves down to the breast, and bob around looking for
the nipple:  positioning at its simplest.  I've just started doing this, and
in my very small sample size it's been universal too.  Not the latch,
necessarily, but the willingness and focus on the baby's part, and the
mother's focus on what the baby's doing rather than on the style of the hold
she uses.  Even babies who'd really resisted the breast have suddenly been
active, interested partners in the process.

Specific "holds" still have a definite place, but I suspect as we learn more
they'll have less and less to do with standardized "breast support" and more
and more to do with a little skilled nudging to help certain floundering
infants finish the job they start themselves.
--
Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC  Ithaca, NY
www.wiessinger.baka.com

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