My post on first latch does concern letting baby come to the breast right
away, but the main point I was trying to make, was that we should just LEAVE
THEM TO IT in their own sweet (and oh, how sweet it is!) time.

The token amounts of colostrum ingested if the baby is immediately pushed to
the breast, are (in my opinion, based on my observations in practice) likely
much less, and less enjoyably taken, than the copious amounts taken if baby
and mother are left undisturbed until they have  regarded, caressed,
snuggled with, smelled, tasted and gotten SO excited about each other that
latch is just the natural conclusion of a unique and wonderful period of
joyous mutual discovery.  This often takes over an hour, if anyone is
watching the clock and cares to note.  That someone should not be the
mother.

Not easy to accomplish in a hospital, because we can't seem to get it:
privacy, protection, patience, no disturbances, and hang the clock!

If someone hasn't had the chance to do this at the first latch, then we can
help them by setting things up so they can do it at the first opportunity,
up to weeks later.  But the sooner after birth, the better, apropos the baby
in Lanell's post, nurse 'looming in the background' and baffled by what she
sees.  Where are the calm and privacy in that situation?  Probably waiting
in the woman's home.

I don't know of any other examples where putting bureaucracy over physiology
is an advantage, and I don't think the first latch after birth is an
exception, far from it.

So yes, get them there right away, but then: HANDS OFF.
Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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