Dear Friends:
     An interesting thread is growing about sucking needs. It reminds me of a
discussion that I had with a director of a childbirth education program. I
was teaching mothers about cup feeding. The director of the program was
shocked and horrified, saying that babies need to suck and if they don't
suck, it is a bad situation.
     Now my question is, where is the evidence? Do babies need to suck? They
have reflexes designed for suckling which are survival and growth driven. But
if they are fed without suckling (meaning breast), what happens to them? Is
sucking at a bottle, with all its different mechanisms and feelings, an
equivalent? Is there anything researched about this fundamental assumption,
which very well could be true?
     An analogy:  babies have reflexes that help them to crawl to the breast.
Most babies never get to do this. Is this a problem? Lennart Righard has said
that all babies should crawl to the breast because it will help certain
aspects of their personalities develop; however, he also says that all
mothers should deliver squatting. I didn't like some man saying what all
women should do; squatting is a choice, not a requisite. If a woman is
squatting, how could the baby crawl to her breast? She'd have to go from an
active, upright posture to flat on her back the instant the baby was born.
     Just curious......
     Warmly,
Nikki Lee RN, MSN, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CIMI, CCE
craniosacral therapy practitioner
Elkins Park (a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; northeastern USA)
supporting the WHO Code and the Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative

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