[blparent] Getting baby latched on without help

[Tammy]

Hi,

Do you have a nursing pillow?  If not, you might want to try using one, to give you a little more support and to free up a whole hand.  I have one that straps on to my tummy so I have one hand to hold the baby and the other hand can be used to tell where the baby is relative to my breast.  I tried the football hold and found it difficult to latch on until the baby was able to latch on himself.  I mostly used the cradle hold.  I would put him on the pillow with his feet wrapped around to my right if I was feeding on my left side.  I put my right hand under his head so that my index finger could feel when his mouth was open, and the position of my elbow was under his butt.  Then I used my left hand to support my breast, I usually expressed some milk so that my nipple was hard enough  that the baby could latch on easier, and I made sure to line up the baby’s nose to my nipple.  If you find that the baby isn’t opening his mouth, just tickle his cheek a little with your finger to get him to open up.  You might find your breast is too close to the baby’s nose when he’s latched on, just use your right elbow to pull his bumb in closer to your body and this will effectively give him a little more room.  Also, make sure his bottom lip is not curled up because this could make him not suck as well.  Make sure to pull it out when he gets a good latch.  The biggest piece of advice I can give you is to relax, and keep trying.  #3 weeks is not a long time to establish breast feeding, with my first I think I needed sighted asistance for a month before I consistently got it right on my own.  Just like the baby’s learning, so are you, so be patient with yourself, and remember that we were all where you are once.  

I hope at least some of this helps,

Tammy

From: Ronit Ovadia Mazzoni 
Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2011 9:33 PM
To: 'NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List' 
Subject: [blparent] Getting baby latched on without help

Hello everyone,
Just a quick question for those of you who breastfed your babies. I am three
weeks in to it and still having a lot of trouble latching the baby on by
myself. This is getting very frustrating that I need someone sighted to help
me do this. I use one finger to feel when his mouth is open and some of the
time I can do it successfully, but a lot of times we both get frustrated and
I need my husband to help me. Any other tips for getting babies to latch on
more easily without sight? Also, I'm wondering if there are any certain
positions that you've found work better for this. I've been using the
football hold but I found it hard to get him in to position and out of it
when it's time to burp because he's so far to my side. Any tips would be
appreciated. I really want to be able to do this independently and I only
have one week left before my husband goes back to work.
Thanks so much.
Ronit

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