Re: <<You may be right about baby being very angry.  Birth was difficult, and he 
may be blaming mom, because there's no one else around to yell at!  You could 
suggest that mom pick a quiet time, perhaps about 15 minutes before she expects 
baby to be hungry.  Go into a quiet, dimly-lit room, and mom can just have a 
discussion with baby.  You have to explain to mom that, of course we know that 
babies can't talk and we don't expect them to understand her words, but even so, 
babies often seem to respond to the mom's *intention*>>


Gotta admit, I feel more than a bit concerned when newborns are attributed with adult emotional "context" or motivations. Is this baby actually angry and blaming(?!?!??!) a specific person for birth-related issues or is this a baby demonstrating physiological effects from some perinatal factor or combination of factors and responding to maternal nonverbal cues -- muscular tension, verbal expression, etc.? 

Perhaps this baby has a sensory integration issue? Perhaps this baby picks up on maternal "pressure to perform" muscular tension or "uncertain" movements when she tries to put him to breast and his instinctive response is to get away from this tension? Perhaps in her anxiety about baby getting baby to breast the mother uses a less-than-soothing voice and again baby's response is to arch away? Perhaps it is a combination of factors?

I totally agree with the strategies of mother-baby skin-to-skin (without pressure to perform -- keep BF out of it til baby seeks it at this point) in a darkened room with minimal environmental stim while mom speaks in soothing, low voice (unless baby's cues indicate conversation is having a negative effect) because these strategies can also calm the mother's muscles and voice. However, the attribution of anger toward mother (even if the LC has not voiced to her) gives the impression of "mother as enemy" to baby and gives baby "powers" that he cannot yet have developed as described. The context may be different, but the sound of it reminds me of those who propagate an "infant as manipulator" being, such as Ezzo.

Karen

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html