Thank you, Virginia, for the visit into the past in your message with the subject: Infant-feeding history.  (I changed the Subject because I'm going in a totally different direction)

It was very interesting...especially as I, born in 1947, was the "beneficiary" of the "pick up and feed but don't cuddle" and "exercise the lungs" advice of the time.  When my mother saw me caring for  my infants "a la La Leche League" she remembered sitting next to my crib and crying - wishing to hold me but fearing this would cause me damage!
________________________________
I have another issue, though, to bring up to the group:  

 - A few years ago we reported to each other that we had never seen so many babies rejecting the breast until recently.
 - Then some brilliant women connected this with the "prescriptive positioning" that we had adopted.
 - Our "new" (really back to the "old"?) recommendations (biological nurturing, laid back breastfeeding, baby led breastfeeding) have reduced (at least in my practice) a lot of these problems and even allowed me to solve many of the problems caused by those still stuck in with those "rules".

...so now I bring to you a "new" problem/issue:

Babies who are "tight" - not tongue tied (although both can occur at the same time), but whose muscles, especially in the back, neck and jaw area are very tight and even with the new positionings tend not to open wide or lift heads in the way we normally see...

In discussing this with friends, IBCLCs and my husband (yes, Marty is my sounding block because he lived in a household of many breastfed babies whereas I was an only child...), I started remembering an infant-care practice that the previous generations from many different cultures had shared:  Massaging the infants.

As a child I saw that my great aunt, a midwife in Puerto Rico had families bring babies to her for massage when they were not eating well.

When I met Marty's grandma (from Slovakia), I watched her massage her newborn great-grandchildren.  

And one of our WIC staff members, my age and who lived in many areas of Asia, often finds she can help a baby latch with infant massage she learned observing women and babies there (she also gives great massages to the moms to help them relax).  

Labor and delivery has changed, and many believe that it has changed for the worse, because of all the interventions.  

However, based on the stories I heard,  childbirth was often as stressful to mothers and infants years ago as it is today.  Midwives trying to save babies and/or their mothers without the benefit of medications or equipment often had to perform some serious manipulations.  

At the time the ability to eat effectively from the breast was a requirement for survival - and massage seems to have developed as an effective intervention in many parts of the world.

Again, we seem to have lost this "Generational Knowledge Transfer" (by the way, Google that concept and see how this has become a problem in industry as well as sociology) as younger generations assume the "old ways" are not useful.

...so I ask those of you who ARE knowledgeable and skilled in this area to take a page from the book of the "new positioning" gurus - and provide research and then instruction to those of us who need it badly!

Lots of "tight babies" of the future will appreciate this!


Jeanette Panchula, BSW, RN, PHN, IBCLC
Vacaville, CA

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome