I received an email asking why I did not comment on the breast compression
thread. I didn't really catch it from the beginning, but the writer said
that it was a post that put down this technique.  Well, it is a terrific
technique and it works just fine. Anyone who has ever watched women in South
Africa breastfeeding (Black women who have still the tradition of
breastfeeding) will have noticed them using compression.  Not exactly the
way I suggest it, but they use it, all the time.  In fact, I "re"learned the
technique from a young mother from Chile who was at the clinic in Toronto
and she was doing it as I was getting the history from her.  When I asked
her why she was doing that, she said it was because her mother told her to.
When I asked why, she looked at me as if I was from another planet, and
said, seeming to wonder, I thought, whether it was actually a good idea for
her to come to me for help, "well, the baby gets more milk".  The penny
dropped.  Of course, the baby gets more milk! And the baby does get more
milk. So what's wrong with that?

I don't suggest it to women who are not having problems, but nobody comes to
see me just to tell me how great things are going. It is a wonderful
technique. I loved it from the first and still do.

Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC

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