Interesting question -- when was the "football hold" was first 
named/discussed?  (I'm told it's a "rugby hold" in countries where 
football is what the US calls soccer).  Having so much else I should be 
doing, it of course became urgent to poke through some old books!

The 1963 /Womanly Art/ of BF doesn't say much about positioning 
altogether (except a real plug for side-lying!) and, in the few 
illustrations, a football hold only shows up in nursing twins. 
(Surprising also that this early book discusses antenatal 
hand-expression). /Lactation: Physiology, Nutrition and Breast-Feeding/, 
edited by Neville and Niefert, in 1983 (when it was also already "well 
documented" that feeding in "the immediate puerperium enhances 
subsequent lactational success) uses "football hold" in connection with 
c-sections.  The term also appears, without quotes, at least once in the 
wonderfully positive /"You Can Breastfeed Your Baby....Even in Special 
Situations,/ by Brewster which came out in 1979.

In modern times, in discussing positioning in a prenatal class, someone 
pointed out that we focus more on gravity-aided, baby-led approaches. 
But I'll also mention a football hold.  To point out that the breast is 
a circle, and so the baby can approach it from any angle, as long as 
they are chest in and chin up, with room to move the jaw.   So the 
football hold can be a  possible newborn position, which tends to need a 
supporting pillow.  It can sometimes be helpful with a large 
breast/small or early baby, and sometimes provides a clearer view if 
someone needs to exaggerate a real "sandwich" latch.  And that the 
football or clutch used to be recommended automatically after a 
c-section birth, but that c-sections in olden days entailed a long, 
vertical incision, and that now, with the more common lower incision, 
many mothers seem comfortable enough with the baby across their body.

  And that nursing parents should feel very free to experiment -- that 
everyone is saying "oh, that's better, and oh, that's worse." And that 
the baby is just a person, and people always have to feel that 
everything is their very own idea!  We assume puppies and piglets know 
what they are doing, and babies are smart mammals. So even if someone is 
experimenting with a football hold,  to still helps to get the mother's 
body comfortable and stable first, with the baby chest to chest -- the 
"reading the menu" spot, secured by gravity.  And to wait for the baby 
to organize for feeding and start the search.  (And if the baby is 
fussy, not to just keep pushing the baby's head toward the breast, which 
can make them frantic,  but to bring them back up to center, to 
reorganize and start again).  And to keep the baby's chin and body  in 
reassuring contact while helping them search down your body.  And that 
applies even if the parent is easing the baby's body around to the outside.

And a final pep talk reassuring them that in the early weeks, most new 
parents are fussing around, seeking the "right" positions.  But as you 
both gain experience (and the baby has the strength to create their own 
stability)  you'll feed in all sorts of positions, including walking 
around, making dinner or checking email while the baby takes care of the 
meal.

Margaret Wills, IBCLC Maryland, USA


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