Tiktok what think you of Clare somebody or other who has a book out about a "revolutionary" way to latch babies on?

[hunkermonkee]

She was on the news in the week talking about her book and how to latch a baby on by reshaping the nipple so that it is flattened in the direction of a baby's mouth - ie if you're latching a baby on whose mouth is vertical on you, you hold your breast with thumb on one side and fingers on the other and slot it into the baby's mouth.

Is this good advice? She seemed to think so, as did woman who was trying it and keeping a video diary of her efforts. I was just a bit mystified at the "this is the way to latch, and any woman can bfeed like this" tone of the item.

(Have I explained this at all well?!)

think she also has a book and was on one of the breakfast tv shows around the same time.

Ohhhhhhhhh what have I started?! Ulp.

I think you could be right...

\link{http://www.babyworld.co.uk/information/baby/breastfeeding/teaching_tricks3.asp\hmm..don't like the sound of this much}

Especially the biting baby

It doesn't matter how you get the baby to the breast, and you can squidge and squash all you like as long as the fingers and thumbs don't interefere with the baby getting on....as long as the nipple enters in the top part of the mouth (not centrally) so it can get a long way in (centrally means it will come up against the tongue) and down the throat.

There is no one single way for this to happen, and left to themselves, babies often find a comfortable way to do it anyway, without all these strict rules about where to put your digits.

The only rule is that the baby needs a big mouth and the breast needs to be well in. Ramming a baby's head on is also a no no. Beyond that, do what keeps you comfortable!

dd3 sucks me in

doesnt hurt, there is no other way as my nurples are as big as her mouth poor lamb

i do try and squash areola up thogh so she gets a bit

and i sqhash my nork when she stops feeding and she starts again

eeemmmm, haven't read the whole thread but this is how we were taught to latch on over here (ireland) and how i always did it.... no hope of dd getting all of my humongous nipples in her mouth otherwise

lol mine are too (but girls)

sotty wrong thread
i give up bfeeding and mnetting its not working

what?

aren't babies designed to latch themselves on?

True, Twiglett.....all the rules and dos and don'ts can interfere with it all.

Obviously the baby has to be in a position where he can do it, and sometimes mothers do have to hold/aim//firm up their breasts, and to make sure their fingers are not getting in the way.

But babies have the instincts, and can do a lot of this themselves.

Pain relief medication from labour can affect this instinctive behaviour, however, and babies may need extra help to get it right.

lol, if i let dd try herself she invariably latched on to my boob next to my nipple and sucked so hard she bruised me while i frantically tried to unlatch her! poor darling just got too excited at the sight of lunch to concentrate on getting it right

I was also told to bring the baby to the breast and not shove the breast at teh baby, which is what she seems to be advocating?

And my v-shaped pillow was brilliant, thank you very much.

I hate the tone of the piece that I did a link to.

You MUST do it this way otherwise you will be a failure, and your baby will probably gnaw your tit off, but, heyho, if you don;t listen to the advice and have to give up, well, don;t feel TOO guilty about it.

Hunker - I don't know who this Clare is. What I can say is what she talks about (from what you describe) is what the 3 lactations consultants do at our clinics here. I have to agree with Tiktok but equally you do need techniques when nature isn't "good".... and that technique does work. Too many women have a latch problem and maybe we need to teach women to latch their babies on.... if we could get less pain (better latch/more food/thriving babies) for the early weeks we would have a better BF rate...

Only read the first few posts but I do know who you're on about!!

I had really sore and cracked scabby nipples with my first 2 babies (for 3 weeks each, oh the agony!), was certain I was latching them on correctly using the nose to nipple technique, midwives told me I was spot on but I was soooo sore.

When I had baby no3 last year, started with the nose to nip technique resigning myself to the fact that the first few weeks would be hell, that my skin was overly sensitive and needed to 'toughen up'. BUT then remembered this Clare Byam-Cook(?)'s method of stuffing as much nipple tissue into their tiny mouths as possible (ok, not the exact advice but somewhare along the lines) with thumb and longest finger and it worked!!!!!! No soreness whatsoever!! I was amazed, made those first few weeks absolutely blissful, I could have cried in relief, it was soooo helpful.

If I saw the woman today I would kiss her feet - honestly!! Or at least bathe them Jesus style :)

I tried squishing my boob and it worked a lot of the time. The nipple to nose thing I found quite difficult trying to lift dd to latch on. Esp. when trying to time it all to co-incide at the start of her opening her mouth! too complicated! So the boob squish just sort of flattened it so she could get more in her mouth. I found her video quite helpful.