Last Tuesday night I had the great pleasure of hearing Diane Wiessinger's presentation on latch in Kitchener, Ontario. The talk was subtitled "Breast Sandwiches and Water Balloons" and was VERY interesting and informative. Diane talked about how her understanding of latch had changed over time, and gave us some new techniques to try - with plenty of illustrations and videos to help us. I have been using an asymmetrical latch for a long time, but Diane helped me see a new (to me, anyway) way to help babies achieve it - I don't have my notes here to give credit to the right person but it involves not supporting the breast, using a finger or two to tip the nipple up and point it at or over the baby's nose, then using the underside of the breast to rub the baby's lips until he opens wide, when you fold (unfold?) the nipple into the baby's mouth. This is not very clear, I know. Diane explained it much better. Anyway, last night a mother with a 37-week non-latching baby called, I went out this morning armed with this technique, and it worked!! The baby (ten days old) latched for the first time. Unfortunately, he did not nurse especially well even once he was latched - would suck, doze off, suck again. When the mother used breast compression he would just lie there and swallow and still not really suck, although he was getting mouthfuls of milk (she has a good milk supply). She then fed him EBM with a bottle and he did the same thing - suck, long pauses, another few sucks, etc. I have seen this before with these "just barely full-term babies" and tried to encourage her that he will improve as he grows. I enjoyed Diane's talk SO much and I am delighted to have something new to use with mothers and babies. Teresa Pitman Guelph, Ontario *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html