Just thought I'd share a success story (although I really had little to do
with it). First baby, born at home, mother had inverted nipples. When I saw
the baby at 24 hours after birth it had never latched on, and midwife was
concerned that the inverted nipples might make it impossible. Mother had not
been started on pumping or hand-expressing, so I showed her how to
hand-express and the baby came to the breast and licked off the drops. I
showed her some latching techniques, gave lots of encouragement and left her
with a copy of Dr. Jack's book and a plan to come back in the morning.

Overnight, after reading about it in the book, she had decided on her own to
try self-attachment. She lay in bed with the baby on her stomach, both
naked, and expressed a few drops of colostrum hoping the smell would attract
him. Within twenty minutes, she told me, he crawled up and latched on by
himself. Drank happily. She spent the rest of the night that way and he
nursed on and off much of the time. I've made a visit since to help her
figure out nursing while sitting up, but the baby is flourishing, gaining
well, and her nipples have become just flattened rather than inverted.

Amazing what babies can do, isn't it?

Teresa Pitman
Guelph, Ontario

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