[blparent] Breast-Feeding

Sat Jan 23 04:32:54 UTC 2016

Congratulations on the birth of your baby girl, Allison and Darrell, and 
welcome to the wide world, Allyssa.

Before I give you any advice, Allison, let me tell you that you aren't 
alone.  Many women, blind and sighted, have trouble with nursing.  I 
provided my daughter with half of the sustenance she needed for her first 
year of life from my own milk, and supplemented the rest with formula.  I 
tried my best, and that was what I could do.  She's a healthy, smart, 
thriving seven-year-old today, so it must have been good enough.  Many of us 
who had C-sections also find breastfeeding more difficult to get started.

That being said, have you got a nursing pillow?  Boppie and My Breast Friend 
are two well-known brands.  Both have their perks and drawbacks, but having 
a nursing cushion solves the "I need three hands" quandary you find yourself 
in because you have a way to lay your baby down and keep her head and mouth 
where they need to be while you get your nipple into position.  The Boppie 
is a soft, C-shaped pillow that you slip around your body and lay the baby 
on.  It's nice because it's easy to get into position; it can be put on with 
one hand while you cradle the baby in the other, especially once your baby 
can hold her head up by herself.  The problem with the Boppie is that it's 
soft flexible shape lets your baby slip down between the pillow and your 
body if you aren't careful to prevent that from happening, thereby 
endangering the nursing position and the latch you worked so hard for, 
especially if you are on a couch or in your bed and not sitting straight up 
in a chair.  The My Breast Friend is a stiff, foam-filled cushion that 
straps around your body.  You put it on before you pick up your baby.  It's 
designed to be worn sitting up in a chair, and it even has pockets for 
nipple cream and nursing pads and things.  It gives you a firm surface on 
which to place the baby for nursing, but the down side is the baby can roll 
off if you aren't careful.  Still, you have two free hands to form the 
latch, and it's just a matter of which pillow works best for you.  I used 
both, and found I probably wouldn't have managed to nurse without them.

If you continue to have trouble, you might also consider pumping to keep 
your milk supply up while you and Allyssa practice your techniques.

Good luck, and keep your chin up.  Nursing was one of the biggest challenges 
I faced in my daughter's infancy.  Your perseverance will pay off.

Jo Elizabeth

"The Bright Side of Darkness"
is my newly published novel,
available in Kindle, audio, and paperback formats at Amazon.com.
-----Original Message----- 
From: Allison via BlParent
Sent: Friday, January 22, 2016 8:37 PM
To: 'Blind Parents Mailing List'
Cc: Allison
Subject: [blparent] Breast-Feeding

Hi Everyone,

I feel a little ridiculous writing this post because what about
breast-feeding could possibly be visual? Except that I'm having a ton of
breast-feeding issues right now and I want to cover all of my bases in
trying to figure out what more I can do.

My daughter, Allyssa, was born on Jan 9. She is beautiful and wonderful! I
had her via C-section after a long attempt at standard delivery. She was 7lb
9oz and is healthy. We are having a terrible time getting her going with
breast-feeding however. I've tried nearly everything I can think of, and she
will not latch, or if she does, she will do so for only a few seconds at a
time. I've met with several lactation consultants both at the hospital and
since coming home. I feel like a lot of the latching techniques they try to
give require some sight to make work. If I explain to these folks why their
techniques may not work for us, the consultants seem puzzled and/or unsure
what to have me try next. Some of them are more open to alternatives than
others, but in the end, they simply don't know what to suggest because I'm
probably their first blind client.  And while I know a ton about blindness
and about alternative techniques, I know less about breast-feeding a
difficult latcher. This is my first child and this is Allyssa's first few
weeks in the world, so we're learning together.

I've tried the cradle hold most often, but also the football hold and a few
I just made up myself. Most of the breast-feeding consultants I talk with
expect me to hold the back of Allyssa's head with one hand and then grasp my
breast with the other. Then I'm supposed to use the latter hand to aim my
nipple towards her mouth. What I've found though is that if both my hands
are occupied on her head and on my breast, I can't easily aim anything. In
order to aim my breast, I feel like I need to locate Allyssa's mouth and
chin with the other hand. But since I don't have 3 hands, I can't then hold
my breast and baby's head at the same time. So I've tried abandoning the
breast-holding, but since my nipples are kind of flat, I'm not getting them
in the correct position to help Allyssa latch. Moreover, I've found that if
I use my one hand to place my nipple into Allyssa's mouth, I can get her to
latch, but a few of my fingers get in the way and accidentally cause Allyssa
to unlatch soon after. I've tried quickly moving my fingers away after
getting the nipple in her mouth, but that too is causing the latch to be
broken more times than not. I've tried having my husband help hold baby's
head so I have a hand freed up, but still my fingers that I use for aiming
seem to be interfering with Allyssa's ability to stay on my nipple.

I've also tried the laid back breast-feeding position numerous times, but
Allyssa has not figured out how to make that position work. It still seems
to require me to help her locate the nipple, and/or hold my breast at the
correct angle for her to get to it.

And given all of that, I'm running out of ideas. I realize that
breast-feeding may not be difficult for most blind women, but for me it has
been challenging. With my lack of experience, it's hard for me to know which
issues may be blindness specific, and which may not be at all. My guess is
that my issues may be caused by a combination of factors, with blindness
being one of them. That said, I've spent nearly two weeks assuming that
sight wasn't the issue, but perhaps there are some positioning tips I could
learn that might help us out.  I'm doing my research, putting in the needed
practice, and talking to various experts, and I'm still not quite getting
the hang of it. So I thought I'd write to this list and see what others
recommend.

Thanks,

Allison, Darrell, and 12-day-old Allyssa

_______________________________________________
BlParent mailing list
BlParent at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
BlParent:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/jopinto%40msn.com 