I consult with many moms each week and I have to bite down on my lip, so that I don’t accidentally say out loud what I think of the shocking level of support and advice they have been given!
Often mom’s aren’t even aware of how ridiculous the advice they have been given is, until I explain things properly and they put it all together.
Now, I am not having a go at anyone because I know we are all doing our best with a heavy work load and little or no time to train up, but wouldn’t it just be better if professionals put their hands up and said “I would really love to help you, but this is not my area of expertise – let me find or refer you to someone who is specialized in this field” and then for that person to actually turn up.
We can’t all know everything about everything. I often joke that if a person went into labor standing next to me – I would panic and run a mile, as I simply wouldn’t know where to start to keep mom and baby safe.
Now I know how the impact of birth leads to cranial compression and how that impacts breastfeeding, but I wouldn’t pretend to know about the birth itself. That would just be dangerous – right?
So poor support is different to conflicting advice, but both shatter a new mom’s confidence and once confidence is lost in breastfeeding or the medical system, everything begins to fall apart.
I would like to get the basics taught to everyone as standard practice, basic things like
line your baby’s nose up with your nipple
support baby with the opposite arm to the breast you are feeding from
make sure baby’s body is in a straight line
make sure both cheeks are touching the breast throughout the feed
compress to create a manual let down
look for swallows – not at the clock – you know basic things!
If we can master this, many moms would enjoy successful and pain free feeds. Wouldn’t that be just great?
I have put the online programs together, so that moms can find all this advice in a heart beat. The collection is helping thousands of moms all over the world with mastitis, sore nipples, positioning and attachment etc. So if you are a pregnant mom reading this – start with the basics so that you know when people are giving your poor advice and can protect yourself!
Wishing you all success and happy feeding.
Geraldine
