Coach Smith here, reading the comments about swaddling.

Harvey says << mother's stress level rises, her confidence falls and her
milk supply is reduced because of fatigue and anxiety.>>

No, that's not how human lactation works. The rate of milk synthesis is very
tightly regulated by milk removal (amount and frequency). Mothers' stress
level has very little to do with total milk volume produced per day. Of far
more importance is the baby's ability to actually remove milk adequately.
(See Hartmann and colleagues' recent research published in the JHL and
elsewhere.)

I see a LOT of babies with "iffy" sucks who don't get enough to eat at
breast, therefore they are fussy around the clock because they're HUNGRY
most of the time. They ineffectively remove milk, therefore milk gets left
in the breast, reducing the rate of milk synthesis (autocrine mechanism) and
soon triggering mammary involution. Most are full-term, otherwise normal
healthy babies. Virtually all have been exposed to obstetric medication,
forceps and/or vacuum extractor, or Cesarean births. Many of them are also
in actual pain from leftover birth injuries or trauma.

Case in point: a 7-week old who needed to nurse almost constantly around the
clock, very fussy, couldn't be put down, mom's milk supply dropping. The mom
is very knowledgeable and experienced; birth was by C/S because baby was
transverse. After careful examination, we discovered the baby had a very
disorganized suck plus other subtle CNS problems caused by pre-birth
position. Therapy by a skilled practitioner was needed to fix the soft
tissue restrictions and relieve pressure on the membranes surrounding
several of the baby's cranial nerves.

Before we try to "quiet" babies who are unhappy, we should be carefully
investigating WHY this baby is unhappy, and set about to fix the problem(s).
Swaddling, jiggling, etc can cause a baby to "shut down" and shut up, but
does not fix the underlying problem(s).

Linda J. Smith, BSE, FACCE, IBCLC
Bright Future Lactation Resource Centre www.bflrc.com
6540 Cedarview Ct., Dayton, OH 45459-1214 USA
(937) 438-9458 email [log in to unmask]

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