Anyone who ever has read _Your Amazing Newborn_ and/or watched the video
_The Amazing Talents of the Newborn_ (and that should include everyone on
this list!) would never ever ever ever again cover a newborn's hands... or
bathe a newborn who hasn't established a good latch at the breast!  The
newborn needs to be able to suck on his hands to taste the familiar
amniotic fluid that he has been tasting for months... and then relate that
to the smell and taste of his mother's breast as it is flavored by
secretions from the Montgomery glands so the breast tastes very similar to
the amniotic fluid.

Cee

On Tue, 27 Sep 2005, Leanne Jewell, Rnc, Lcce, Facce wrote:

> I may be a few days late in answering the posting regarding mitts on babies
> hands....one of my personal peeves. People think that babies are going to
> scratch themselves and cause scarring. How ridiculous!  Babies scratch
> themselves in utero also.  Their hands are the only thing they come with  that we
> really shouldn't cover up...they allow the baby to feel themselves and  their new
> world. I liken it to putting a blindfold on a new baby and suddenly  his world
> has changed dramatically and now we blindfold him, bundle him up and  put him
> in a plastic case away from his Mummy. How cruel this new world must be  in
> his preception, no wonder he feels stressed out.  So I tell them to have
> someone who will be visiting to bring the baby fingernail emery boards so if  they
> feel they MUST trim those nails they have a tool.  I tell them to let  the
> fingers fall free from the sleeves of the nightgown when not using skin to  skin
> and to hold these small jewels so they can hear their Mommy's heart and  feel
> her breathing and allow them to transition to their new world.   Sometimes we
> need to give them permission.  Some feel that by allowing the  fingers to be
> free the baby will suck them...Hey isn't that what they were put  there
> for...built in soothies when Mom isn't about?  No, they would rather  give a pacifier.
>  I remind them that if the ultrasound showed their hands  in front of their
> mouths they most likely were practicing sucking on their  fingers...not a
> pacifier. I also remind them that baby chooses his own source of
> contentment....fingers, Mom or a pacifier if its introduced but that they  shouldn't be so
> quick to give the pacifier but to use their own clean  fingers...skin feels so
> much more nicer to their mouths. I also remind Mom that  by looking at those
> beautiful fingers and playing with them they are  communicating to their babies by
> touch.  Babies who suck on fingers with  mittens are  eventually getting to
> suck on wet rags.
> Have just comeback from 10 days in California traveling with one  of
> breastfeeding granddaughters....no tears, just smiles and she is thinking  of naming
> her scrapbook "All the places I have breastfed in my  sling from Miami to
> Monterey to Big Sur to San Francisco to Napa and Sonoma  and Marian and Muir Woods
> and all points in between."
> Back to unpacking, answering mail and laundry.
> Fun day.
> Fondly,
> Leanne Jewell RNC, IBCLC, LCCE, FACCE
>
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