Biological nurturing - too late at 6 weeks?

[MoonUnitAlpha]

I've seen biological nurturing mentioned a few times and find the idea interesting - but as it's an instinctive thing for the baby is it too late to try it for the the first time with a 6 week old? Will he just be too used to latching on the "traditional" way?

I did it with DD at 5 weeks so I don't think so. Best thing to do is just get into bed, skin to skin with the baby on your chest.

How do they breathe if they're lying on top of you? Won't his nose be squished into the breast?

i don't know anything about biological nurturing but recall hearing that babies noses are designed so they can breath up against the boob. That's why they are that distinctive baby shape. In politics of bf she says there have been no recorded cases of babies being smothered by a breast so it must work, though it does seem like it could be possible doesn't it. Nature is clever.

Not too late at all, MoonUnit....I have seen many babies at all ages respond well to this. You can see pictures of it at the bioogical nurturing website. They can breathe just fine, usually :) Some women with v. soft, floppy, large breasts might need to give a bit of a hand keeping breast tissue away from nose, but this is really exceptional, honestly. Try it :)

No, that's why their little noses are turned up :). Also while their front neck muscles aren't very strong their back muscles are which is why they try and hold their head up.

You don't have to lay flat, more reclined with lots of cushions. I think it is best not to try and manoeuvre them yourself though you may want to use your arm to guide them, and make sure they don't slide off.

There are you tube videos if you google for breast crawl, this is where the baby crawls completely from the abdomen up to the breast, it's amazing.

'In politics of bf she says there have been no recorded cases of babies being smothered by a breast so it must work' not when you are doing it naturally no, but we ended up taking DD to A&E at 3 days old as she was turning blue when feeding. The doctors ummed and ahhhed, suggested reflux and proscribed gaviscon, but in hindsight I was suffocating her with my mammoth breasts! That's from doing in the regimented way that has traditionally been taught. However I have done an NCT class recently, and in the 3 years since having DD biological nurturing is now what is being recommended, also suggested by the bfing counsellor from my old group recently.

You don't have to bf like this all the time, but certainly in the early stages it is really good to get bfing established and get the baby latching on well.

Gave it a go and it seemed to work - he turned his head slightly to one side so his nose wasn't covered. I really wish someone had shown me how to do this six weeks ago in the hospital, instead we had a series of midwives and HCAs grabbing the back of his neck and pushing his head onto my boob, which was really distressing for both of us.

How much help should I be giving him to find the nipple? I laid him with his cheek resting on my breast and he seemed very frustrated not to immediately have a nipple in his mouth.

He should be able to find it himself, that's why your areola darken in pregnancy. Plus he'll probably head bob a little bit while trying to find it. IIRC DD was a little frustrated to, but it was worth he for her to latch on perfectly for the first time!

Well done though, glad it worked :)

bump! So maybe no recorded cases but who knows how many near misses!

Moonface - glad it worked :) On the subject of not breathing, no one expects mothers to place their babies in a biological nurturing position and just leave them to manage breathing themselves, or not to help the attachment by firming up the breast a little by stabilising it - if you think your baby would be helped by moving your breast tissue out the way of his airways, then of course you would do it. It's the same as making sure he's not too hot on a summer's day with too many blankets, or too cold on a winter's day with too few, or that blankets don't cover his head....it's just part of supporting him and caring for him, really :)

Head grabbing and shoving in hospital should be banned :( :(

Sounds like a good effort from the little lad. For info, they are only able to do this because of primitie reflexes they are born with, that fade with time, so an older baby may not be as good as a newborn at sniffing out a nipple and crawling to it, but it is always worth a go and there is no reason not to help if he struggles with parts of the process.

DS often feeds lying on my chest at night, because I don't like feeding him lying down on DP's side in case I fall asleep and he rolls. It's so sweet how when he is done he unlatches, lifts his head up, then flops down to sleep using my boob as a pillow sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs144.ash2/40524_10150248109705287_603450286_14275702_6998939_n.jpg