I do not understand why we have to put labels on positions for breastfeeding 
or promote or "certify" one position over another.  Both in preparing for 
breastfeeding in my prenatal courses and in visiting new mums in the 
hospital or at home, I start with "Are you sitting comfortably?"
So often I find mothers perched on a chair that is too high or sunk onto a 
deep sofa with legs dangling in the air, trying to balance their babies 
somewhere near the breast, with shoulders hunched and elbows unsupported.
Taking into account the available facilities, comfortable chairs, pillows 
etc or lack of them, and allowing for the mother`s tender spots, episiotomy, 
hemorrhoids, Cesarean scar, the first priority is to help the mother get 
suficiently comfortable that she can relax and breastfeed without chronic 
tension in the shoulders and backache caused by holding the baby 
unsupported.
Only after that, and it does after all only take a minute or so to arrange 
pillows or footstools, then we have to consider the best latching on 
position for the baby.  If the mother has large heavy breasts, maybe the 
baby will feed better in the dare-I-name-it football hold.
If he endured a vacuum birth his head might be more sensitive on one side so 
will feed happily on one breast but cry from discomfort when lying on the 
other side, in which case just slide him over to football hold.  If the baby 
is feeding frequently through the night and mum is exhausted, she may get 
relief lying down. There is no one way to find comfortable positions for 
mother and baby and most of the time I spend on these visits is suggesting 
options and helping the mother adjust her positioning.  When I see the 
mother smiling while baby is feeding calmly then I know that for now we have 
found the solution.  But of course that can all change in a few days or a 
few weeks according to the baby`s growth and sucking patterns and as the 
mother recovers physically from the birth.  So we start all over again.....

The aim is to give the mother confidence and to help her heal during those 
first weeks after the birth.  It is amazing what positions one sees when 
experienced mothers of older babies stop to breastfeed in the shopping mall. 
One day in Office Depot I saw a woman squatting unsupported on the floor 
with only the wall-shelves to support her back.  I offered to find her a 
chair but she was quite happy where she was.

Wendy Blumfield
NCT Trained Tutor Prenatal Teacher/Breastfeeding Counsellor
former President/Founder Israel Childbirth Education Centre 

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