Gloria Buoncristiano-Thai wrote:
Subject: Dancer Hand Position

I have had some moms use this positioning.  I also had to use it myself for
my third child for about a week.  Did you want specifics?

Gloria, although the actual term 'dancer's hand" position dates from the 1980s and is the description I believe was devised by Sarah Danner (correct me if I'm wrong), the technique was round before that.  I was shown it as a young Mum in 1965 here in Queensland, and one of the older Mums I interviewed for my research on postwar infant feeding advice was shown a technique which appears to be similar in the early 1940s.
    As with most techniques, it has a place where its use is indicated, i.e. where it can help a baby to stay on the breast, who might otherwise slip off.  It is not, of course, a cure-all for other situations, and there may be just a temporary need for it with some babies..  I think the name for it is a brilliant imaginative stroke, and helps it to be remembered after it have been taught.  In the context in which I was shown how to do it earlier, it didn't appear to have a name.
    Cheers,
         Virginia
          back in Brisbane after Acapulco
     

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