Dear all:

I can think of one rare situation in which one would absolutely not want to do finger feeding.  Unfortunately, the case is question is hearsay and is unlikely to ever be reported in the journals.  It was a situation in which a father had herpes on his finger and the baby died of herpes.  The route of transmission was unclear.  The story was so horrific that I've been paranoid ever since. As with many rare but horrific events, the horror overrides the basics of how seldom such events occur.   Risk assessment is seldom based on logic alone.

I appreciated Nikki pointing out that there are many tools that can be used to feed an infant once an infant does need to be supplemented.  Fingers are super stimuli and smaller than a breast.  I have had my share of babies need to be coaxed back to the breast after being finger fed, cup fed, syringe fed, dropper fed, spoon fed and bottle fed.  It is the specific adaptive behavior that the baby adopts that should be assessed when coaxing a baby back to the breast.  What I'd like to add, which as often been said on Lactnet by others -- it is the MARKETING of the bottle for inappropriate use that counts, not its appropriate use.  

I also appreciated that Rachel Myr pointed out that we should be encouraging steps to prevent separation between a mother and her infant after surgical deliveries. I am alwways struck by the assumption that a mother cannot hold her baby after a surgical delivery. It never dawned on me that I wouldn't be able to hold my son after his head was jammed in sideways and he never descended - and he ended up being taken out surgically.  I held him, breastfed him and was unhappy about the several hour separation and never ever let him leave my room after that.  I don't know how I would have reacted had they not allowed me to breastfeed him.

 And then of course there is the overuse of surgical deliveries to begin with.

I have actually been trained to change the language by the childbirth education staff at the education center where i work.  C-section takes away the realization that it is surgery.  They use the term surgical delivery because it more appropriately conveys that it IS surgery.  I had a full reminder of the impact of anesthesia when they inserted a plate around my radius  The impact of the anesthesia lingered long after the pain of surgery.  It dawned on me in the hazy fog of getting into sync with a newborn, it is very difficult to distinguish the full impact of anesthesia and pain meds from adjusting to the new baby if you have never had a normal delivery as a oomparison.

Finally, is there a new DVD that Dr. Smillie has developed? I hate to admit that the one I purchased several years ago was disappointing in that mothers were sitting what looked like uncomfortable chairs with a lot of clinical interaction.  The discussions in the DVD seemed to meander quite a bit.  I would have preferred seeing women and their infants in a home situation and a lot more comfortable supports.  I would have also appreciated a little more editing in terms of focusing the observations.  One of the things that I liked about the Follow Me Mum DVD is that the key points were very clear.  Although, I have to admit that several years ago I noticed that the women in her DVD were NOT sitting with an "upright back and a flat lap" they WERE leaning back a bit.

Best, Susan Burger

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