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Date: | Tue, 20 May 1997 15:49:56 +0100 |
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Ah, the C hold. I think babies approach a breast just the way we approach
a Big Mac. We would never turn the Big Mac on edge to try to bite into it.
We keep the sandwich's long axis parallel to a line drawn corner to corner
thru our own mouth.
A C hold involves holding the breast the way we hold a Big Mac - with the
long axis running side to side. Fine. *But for most of us, the baby is
sideways in our arms.* A line drawn thru the corners of his mouth runs
floor to ceiling, not side to side. I always make sure that the baby's
"sandwich" in that case also runs floor to ceiling - a U hold, not a C
hold. The C hold makes perfect sense for a baby in a football hold, but
not for a baby whose head is sideways.
I think the reason mothers so commonly go for a scissor hold is that it's a
convenient way to make a U shape when the baby is cradled madonna-style.
It's really awkward to shape a U any other way unless the baby is in a
transverse hold.
Some babies, cradled madonna-style, nonetheless have their heads angled
almost upright, so that the line thru the corners of the mouth runs side to
side, not floor to ceiling. For those babies, a c hold makes sense. But
for the truly sideways baby with a truly sideways head, I can't see a
c-hold as anything but counter-productive. Babies may be able to latch *in
spite* of it; I don't think they latch *because* of it.
Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, LLLL Ithaca, NY
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