Hi my name is Lindsey I am a junior nursing student at the University of North 
Dakota. I have seen many experienced professions on Lacnet have helped 
others on many different topics. I have recently completed all of my OB 
clinical and I am currently working with a family who has just brought their 
first child home and mom is breastfeeding. I will be meeting the family for the 
first time this week and the parents have told me they have concerns about 
the baby feeding; partially with establishing a latch and milk production. What 
is that best way to encourage and promote breastfeeding with this family? I 
am assuming that they had professional help from a lactation consultant 
during their hospital stay, and all that needs to be done is encouragement and 
reinforcement.  Naturally as a student I reviewed the information in my 
textbooks and researched journals on the internet where I found the following 
information. 
With information from my textbook (Olds 2004) I plan on reviewing basic 
knowledge with the parents about breastfeeding such as: milk production is 
based on demand, feeding baby every one to three hours, and the importance 
of maternal fluid intake. It is very important that the infant establishes a good 
latch by having the tongue down, lips flanged and rhythmic sucking.
Daly (1995) conducted a study that proved that maternal supply is to a large 
degree controlled by infant demand and that frequency of feeding also has a 
role.
Wiessinger (1998) has a very good article about using the analogy of eating a 
big sandwich compared to breastfeeding. This article will be very helpful in 
reinforcing good technique when establishing a good latch. 
With the concern of milk production and if baby was getting enough milk. To 
reinforce that baby is getting enough I will continue to encourage mom to 
attempt feed baby 8-12 times which is about every one to three hours a day. 
Listen when baby is feeding to hear swallowing. A good latch will also ensure 
that baby is getting adequate milk. Also how many dirty diapers does baby 
have per day will support the fact that baby is getting enough.
I found it encouraging to read that Heinig (2006) had an article about mothers 
who stop breastfeeding and the main reasons being very similar to my mom 
situation latch and milk production. It also encourages everyone to 
individualize their plan of care for each mother and if she does decide to 
discontinue breastfeeding find out what could have done differently and why 
for future cases. This was encouraging because I’m hoping that I will be able 
to individualize a plan that will work for the family.
Is there anything else I can offer this family to promote breastfeeding? Thanks

Lindsey  S.N.
University of North Dakota College of Nursing

Daly S., Hartmann P., (1995). Infant demand and milk supply. Part 1: Infant 
demand and milk production in lactating women. Journal of Human Lactation. 
11 (1), 21-26

Heinig M., (2006). The ones that got away: when breastfeeding mothers wean 
their infants despite our efforts. Journal of Human Lactation. 22 (4), 385.

Wiesigger D., (1998). A breastfeeding teaching tool using a sandwich analogy 
for latch-on. Journal of Human Lactation. 14 (1), 51-56.

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

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
Mail all commands to [log in to unmask]
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or [log in to unmask])
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet or ([log in to unmask])
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]