Here's my 30 ml worth.  I have as my mantra 'if it ain't broke, don't fix
it' and reserve bossy advice for those who are having trouble.  IME the
cross cradle hold is a huge help for women who have nipple trauma resulting
from the shallow latch you get when you hold a baby's head in the crook of
your arm and stuff your breast in its mouth with your other hand.  It really
brings home to mothers that baby has to be in front of their breast, not
around the corner from it.  Until I saw Sally Inch's film 'Breastfeeding
Essentials' I had never seen anyone just continuing to feed with their hands
occupied in that way, and that part looked odd and cumbersome to me.  The
fabulous sequences showing how babies latch on, though, were SO satisfying
to watch, after seeing so many films and still pictures with less clear
images of babies getting on the breast, or where the camera cuts away just
as the crucial move is shown, or the latch looks terrible but is
painstakingly well filmed.  I have no financial interest in this film.

I present the cross cradle hold as just another way to get a baby on the
breast while sitting up, especially useful if mother and baby have been
fumbling and stumbling for a while, and when I show it to mothers, I show
them how they can switch arms, freeing up the hand that supported baby
during the actual latching on, once they are satisfied that baby is well on
their breast.  I'm like Esther Grunis; I don't think the chicken wing look
does much for the aesthetics of breastfeeding.  But using cross cradle just
for latching is like sleight of hand - abracadabra, and all of a sudden the
baby is lying in the cradle hold after all.  

Breastfeeding is so NOT a static activity, nor an inflexible, unadaptable
one.  Once baby and mother are used to how it works, most of them can feed
in all kinds of positions.  Most babies are far better breastfeeding
teachers than any of us will ever be.  We do people a disservice if we
communicate that breastfeeding must be performed with microscopic precision
and uniformity, with one right way and a lot of wrong ways to do it.  What
hogwash!  It's like any other bodily function.  Your body size, shape and
features will determine the limits and the possibilities for you and there
can be rich diversity of cultural influence in where, when and how we do it.
It's in sharp contrast to driving a car, which may seem like a bodily
function at times, but in fact is not, and it really is essential that
everyone on the road follow the same set of very specific rules.  

Rachel Myr
Thinking this is more like 60 ml worth, on re-reading it, in
Kristiansand, Norway

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