I have permission to post from the mother of a 7 month old boy who I have permission to post from the mother of a 7 month old boy who has had a cleft palate repaired on Sept. 14. The cleft was not seen at birth but was recognized when the mother sought help because he wasn¢t growing. He has been fed expressed breast milk since then. Until about 4 months, she attempted some feeding time at the breast. Now she would very much like to get him back to the breast. She has Dr. Smillie¢s CD and I¢ve forwarded (with permission) one of her posts. The mom describes him as feeding well again but not yet quite a comfortably as he did before the operation. She carries him in a sling and does frequent skin to skin but the baby cries if she attempts to bring him to the breast. Mom is getting doubtful and wondering how long it or if it will ever happen. She thinks about giving up but is concerned that she would regret it later as she had intended to nurse him until he was three or so. She talked about trying a different nipple but immediately said he probably wouldn¢t like it and agreed that staying with the familiar and comfortable would help his psychological recovery from the trauma of the operation. Her question is whether there is some sort of training that might help him transition from the bottle he has been using. Seems as if she¢d like to do something proactive to make her breastfeeding dream come true. Does anyone have any suggestions for her? Or for me in supporting her? Alice Roddy, LLLL Nursing is the biological norm for mothers and babies. It is a relationship that provides stress reducing hormones to the mother as well as stimulation, connection, and protection from illness to the baby. It even feeds the baby. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel. http://travel.yahoo.com/ *********************************************** Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html Mail all commands to [log in to unmask] To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or [log in to unmask]) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet or ([log in to unmask]) To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]