Thanks for your feedback! However, I was answering the specific question. I was not the one looking for feedback. 🙂

Ginger Chun
Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 9, 2015, at 7:15 PM, Virginia Thorley <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Nikki, I endorse your very perceptive comments. When I first started - mildly - questioning the very doctrinaire teaching of this awkward "hold" as essential for "positioning", I know some folks thought this meant I was ignorant. However, I believe it always makes sense to question something promoted as *the* one correct technique, and in this case especially when one can see that it is awkward for Mums who aren't well-coordinated and overrides a baby's search for the breast.
> As I said, there are circumstances where that may be one of the mother-baby positions that work for a particular dyad, or in a particular circumstance - just as long as the mother is comfortable with alternative positions, too, so that she and her baby can be flexible.
> Virginia
> In Ipswich, Queensland, Aust (just west of Brisbane)
> 
>> On Thu, Dec 10, 2015 at 10:49 AM, Nikki Lee <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> Dear Virginia and Ginger:
>> 
>> I am getting enough consultations now where the mom is referred to me for CST; with the last mom I was able to correctly predict that she was using cross cradle hold  and RAMing the baby onto the breast before I saw them. The dyad didn't need CST; mom had pain free feeds when baby was given the freedom to attach in its own way, and mom was in a position of comfort that she chose. 
>> 
>> This mother said, once she tried  (and had immediate comfortable success) with side-lying, that the cross-cradle hold had kept her "off balance." 
>> 
>> Cross cradle twists mom's shoulders and back out of alignment; she can't do anything else if one hand is holding her breast and the other is holding the baby. I've never seen cross cradle in paintings or sculpture; it's a modern position. Babies don't seem to be able to attach easily either, as mom is controlling the breast, often pulling it into a more central position and also her baby's head.
>> 
>> That's why I asked for some positive comments about it. I am growing to dislike it because of the dyads I have seen where finding a more comfortable position has brought success.
>> 
>> warmly,
>> 
>>> On Wed, Dec 9, 2015 at 6:45 PM, Virginia Thorley <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>> Hi Nikki and Ginger:
>>> While most "holds" will work for some babies when the situation suits, I am always concerned when a mother is taught this one (sometimes antenatally) as "the one correct positioning". There is no "one correct way". This position was very popular in Australia with hospital staff from about 1988 and - to my mind - the essential element was "control" (by an adult). I suspect I was considered a bit of a heretic in some circles for questioning it and offering other ways, when appropriate. This idea of one "correct" way has changed and the value of a variety of positions or holds is now recognised, particularly since Dr Suzanne Colston work on "laid-back" positions.
>>> 
>>> I found the cross-cradle hold very awkward to demonstrate to mothers (as one of a variety of "holds") and I was in fact unable to master it till I was in my 50s. So it is just as well no one tried to teach me that position when I was a new Mum. My first baby self-attached on the delivery table in a side-lying position. Later, after I relactated after an early iatrogenic setback, she fed in a laid-back position across me as I sat with my feet and legs up in a traditional Australian "squatter's chair". (A "squatter" was a land holder, usually implying affluence, and these chairs were designed for relaxing on wide verandas.)
>>> 
>>> While cross cradle has its uses in specific circumstances or if the mother prefers it, it doesn't really support infant self-attachment and following the infant's innate behaviours. One of those circumstances can be if the baby cannot self attach, perhaps because of never having been given the chance as a newborn, or because of developmental delays or mother difficulties. If a mother is using this position exclusively, I try to give her some options on positions so that she and her baby can try what works for them without being limited.
>>> 
>>> My 2 cents worth.
>>> 
>>> Virginia
>>> 
>>> Dr Virginia Thorley, OAM, PhD, IBCLC, FILCA
>>> Private practice lactation consultant
>>> (continuously certified since 1985)
>>> Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Nikki Lee RN, BSN, Mother of 2, MS, IBCLC, CCE, CIMI, ANLC, CKC
>> Author: Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Breastfeeding Therapy
>> www.nikkileehealth.com
>> https://www.facebook.com/nikkileehealth
>> Get my FREE webinar series
> 

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