Linda's not on lactnet right now, but said I could forward this:
Hi Diane,
I've published this in the JHL, it was written up in Leaven, it's in Coach's
Notebook in the expanded version, and we sell the Game Kit with a detailed
script and video. But here it is again in the short version, copyright Linda
J. Smith:
Eating Patterns (Golfball) Game(c)
GOAL: Fully appreciate infant nutritional needs & need for frequent feedings
BEST AUDIENCE: Groups of over at least 10 people, parents or professionals.
TIME REQUIRED: 10-20 minutes.
HOW TO PLAY: Everyone needs paper and pencil. Think about a day that you
had reasonably free access to food (today if this is an evening class).
Write down what TIME it was whenever you ate or drank anything. Even water
counts. Count drinking fountains, brushing your teeth, coffee breaks,
snacks, and meals. Put a star by the meals, and write down the length of
time the meals took. Average the time between eating or drinking episodes.
Now draw a diagram of the size of a newborn infant's stomach. (50 cc, or
golf-ball size) Now somewhere on your paper figure out what your weight
would be, doubled. And name a prize you would dearly love to win. (The more
extravagant the better.) Then write down several words that describe how
you FEEL when you are truly hungry or thirsty and you DO NOT have access to
food or drink.
Ask: -How often did you eat? (Answers will average 1-3 hours).
-How long did the meals take? (average 20-30 minutes).
-Why would you ever want to take longer than this to eat a meal?
(conversation, social time, relaxing, etc.)
-How do you feel if you are truly hungry or thirsty and can't get food or
water? Does skipping a meal teach you to go longer without food, or make
you more desperate for food?
-Are you trying to gain weight? (laughter, of course)
-To earn your prize, all you have to do is double your weight in 5 months.
What will you do differently from what you are now doing?
Answers offered will be easy to correlate to infant needs: eat more
often/constantly/at night; higher calorie food (hindmilk), don't postpone
meals, no water instead of calories, take your time at meals, avoid
exercise, etc. Display or toss someone a golf ball to make the point about
the size of a baby's stomach. Remind them that there are no calories in a
pacifier. Comment that there is NEVER an advantage to keeping a baby hungry
when he/she needs to eat, and only the BABY can determine her own hunger and
appetite.
This can be expanded to "what utensil did you use to eat? What if you had
to use your non-dominant hand, and a different utensil (chopsticks)?" This
leads into a discussion of the consequences of nipple confusion from using
artificial teats and other sucking objects.
NOTE: THIS GAME ALWAYS WORKS. I've had tremendous success with it in every
kind of group, from teenagers to physicians. I love the responses to "how
do you feel when you're hungry."
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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