The more I work with mothers and babies learning to breastfeed, the more convinced I am that prevention is more valuable than intervention. We need to expend more energy on helping things go right than fixing things that go wrong and the critical area I see is at the very beginning. Babies need generous amounts of time at the breast in order to learn how to breastfeed. Breastfeeding is not an event it is a process. Babies need to use all of their senses to become acquainted with and learn to be nourished and nurtured from the breast. They need to have generous amounts of unrestricted access to nuzzle, lick, taste, smell, feel, touch, sleep, slobber, mouth, cuddle, explore and bond with the breast. In order to help babies succeed at breastfeeding, we must maximize breast access. And we need to step back and give mothers and babies time and encouragement to figure things out for themselves. Cathy Lile