[blparent] Breast-Feeding

[Judy Jones]

I can totally empathize with you.

Our first daughter latched on from the start, and we breezed through the 
learning process together.

Our second, another story, and although I thought I would not have any 
problems, the second baby proved quite a challenge.

I found that swaddling her with her arms and hands under the swaddling 
blanket helped her to latch, because she was a fist sucker, must have been 
in the womb, and would not close her mouth if her knuckles were anywhere 
near her mouth.

Have you tried just using one finger near the nipple as a guide finger to 
help you position for the latching?

Another thing that might work is, rather than positioning or aiming the 
breast to her, to position your body and hold so the nipple would come in 
more natural contact for the latching.

Also, Have you tried, for example, lying partly on your left side with Baby 
in your left arm, then turning to present the right breast?

Mine was also very picky and when I got her to latch on, would not stay 
latched for various reasons.  She was very picky when it came to 
positioning.  Believe it or not, after about a month, she was breastfeeding 
like a pro.

Also remember that just because a sighted mom would naturally use sight to 
help her, this is not necessary, and I believe your issues may be partly 
because of the flat nipples, plus having a baby like mine that had to learn 
to latch.  Some of them get it right out of the womb, where others do not.

Also I would recommend contacting your local La Leche League.  They should 
be listed in your local directory, and leaders are on call to help moms with 
just such advice as you are asking.  You are not the onlyone to face nursing 
challenges, but they can seem monumental when you are going through them.

Best wishes, and let us know how things go.


Judy
-----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

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