> In a cross-cradle hold, the mom has nothing behind the baby's head.
Indeed,
> she *can't* have anything behind the baby's head, unless she outright
holds
> it in her hand.  In a cradle hold, she *may or may not* have the baby's
head
> free.  There's a tendency to want to use the forearm near the elbow to
> stabilize the head (which tucks the chin - the mental image I just had).
>

But what I see all the time is mothers who DO have the baby's head held in
their hands in the cross-cradle hold. When the baby opens his mouth, they
then use that hand to push the baby's head towards the breast. This is how
they are taught in our local hospital. The result, of course, is that the
baby goes to the breast forehead & nose first, his chin pulled away from the
breast, and if he gets on at all the mother ends up with very sore nipples.

Teresa Pitman
Guelph, Ontario, Canada

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