I have been watching Animal Planet all morning, and seen many examples of
things that occur with animal mothers and babies, and trying to identify
what might be applicable to humans, or where there might be a similarity
that we generally don't think of.  I have been thinking about this topic for
quite a while, after reading a new book about cats (which I have five of).
The book described how kittens paw, as well as purr, while nursing, and
suggested that both behaviors assisted in the letdown of the mother cat's
milk.  I knew the pawing (kneading) that cats and other animals do assisted
in milk removal, but had not thought about the purring.  I wonder, however,
if it is the purring, per se, or the fact that the mother comes to associate
the kittens' purring with the need to let down milk.  That would make it
more of a learned behavior, I think.  I would also think that other species
have habits that the babies have which the mother learns to associate with
nurturing and letting down her milk.  Perhaps the fact that so many cats
have successfully nursed "adopted" babies of different species, which do not
purr, suggests that the mother can adapt to whatever behavior she comes to
associate with nursing babies.

I wonder if identifying such things in human babies could be helpful in
certain situations, especially in situations where there are problems with
milk supply and/or letdown.  I think those unique little grunts that newborn
babies make would be one behavior that qualify.  Of course, the odor of the
baby is a big one.  I felt like that was a big thing for me, with my adopted
babies, and one thing that explained why my babies got SO much more milk
directly from me than I could ever get from a pump.  I very rarely used
anything but warm water on my babies' skin, and washed their clothes
separately, so that they did not retain any perfumed products.  My babies
really smelled like babies.  I wonder if the widespread use of baby washes,
lotions, shampoos, powders, scented baby detergents, etc., would interfere
with any response the mother might have to the scent of her baby, or if a
mother who uses those things consistently would develop the same association
to those scents with her baby, and the same response.

Back to the animals, another interesting thing I learned is that a baby
panda cannot find the nipple and latch on without the mother holding it to
the breast.  I even saw a film of a new panda mother, who had just delivered
the first male baby the breeding facillity had had in over a year, who was
confused.  She would sit with her baby, but not guide him to the breast.
After a few hours, the keepers showed the new mother a video of mother
pandas nursing their newborn babies (including switching sides!).  Shortly
thereafter, she held her baby to her breast and her baby started thriving.
I was also impressed that the keepers were going to extra effort to keep the
(very rare) baby with the mother, if possible, rather than just removing him
and raising him by hand, immediately.  They have done that many times at
that facillity, since there is a high incidence of panda mothers completely
rejecting their babies.  Obviously, the experts there appreciate the
benefits of having a baby with a real mother, over even their most educated
and sophisticated efforts.

I believe that we humans can learn a great deal about breastfeeding from
animals.  The topic of animals breastfeeding "adopted" babies is, of course,
one that I have been especially interested in.   I know of literally dozens
of various combinations of animals where a baby of come species has been
nurtured, and breastfed, by and "adoptive" mother of another species.
Sometimes, the mothers aren't even female, and sometimes the babies aren't
even mammals, but the mothers produce milk for their adopted babies, without
any form of medication or hormone treatment, and regardless of whether they
have ever had a pregnancy.  In some cases, where I have heard comments from
the owners of the animals, they have said that they did need to provide
extra food to supplement the milk supply of the animal adoptive mother, but
that has been where the adoptees have been some much larger animal, like
where an ordinary little housecat was nursing large breed puppies, or a
small goat was nursing a calf.  There are alot of similarities to human
adoptive moms and babies breastfeeding.

Another one of my thinking out loud, drawn out posts, but sunday is a slow
digest day, anyway!  Anyone have any thoughts to add?  It would be nice to
come up with a list of things that could serve as a resource for mothers who
need to depend on pumping, for whatever reason, and are having trouble
responding to a pump.  Such things might especially be helpful to adoptive
moms who spend alot of time pumping, before they have a baby, but I would
think it could help in lots of situations.

Aloha,
Darillyn

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