I think it may be helpful to differentiate between positioning and
latching/attachment. I (personally) tend to think of 'positioning' as the
posture of the mother, the attitude of the baby, the way she holds him, the
relation between the baby's body and the mother's body as she prepares to
feed - whereas latching/attachment is the wide mouth, good 'mouthful' of
breast, flanged lips etc etc. Positioning can be any which way - and, of
course, varies tremendously. Sugggestions about positioning may help
mothers attain a good latch - but it's the inate quality of the latch that
matters - not how a mother gets to it. Mothers (in the west at least) get
very anxious about 'doing positioning right' - it sometimes helps to focus
on the latch and together work out the best way in which each mother
and baby can achieve it.
Hannah
(midwife and National Childbirth Trust breastfeeding counsellor, UK)
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