Lying down nursing: 100 newborn observations in 100 days

image from kelowna-lactation-consultant.com

I've been sick for almost two weeks and had to let go of the daily blog idea ... Even not being sick, I realized that daily blogging is a major commitment! But I'll get back on the horse, and see if we can't manage at least a phrase or two each day leading up to the International Montessori Birth to 2 course in Rome, as I had set out to do...

March 2, 2019
I go into a room at the hospital one morning to observe and a mom and a dad are working together to try to get their newborn son to latch on to the breast. She is lying down on the hospital bed with him next to her with his head cocked up on her arm. It reminded me of how it feels to have my head on my husband's shoulder, when I'm cuddled up to him. A little awkward at best, mostly uncomfortable, like a pillow that is too high for my head and it is not in natural alignment with my spine.

Mom and dad are trying to get him to latch on, he is alert and awake, but fussing a bit. They are a bit nervous and agitated that he won't latch on. It's only the day after he was born so they have very little experience so far with him at the breast. They did not have him during the night as they hold all the newborns in the nursery at night. He had just been returned to them after a few hours in the nursery for the morning doctor's visit.

I suggest trying a different position, with mom sitting up perhaps. She tells me she can't sit comfortably just yet which is why she is trying the lying down position. I hear this a lot. Very few births at this hospital happen without tearing or an episiotomy. This is yet another topic, so I won't get into this now.

So I suggest we try the other side and that she turns herself, dad holds his baby boy while she does this and I go into the bathroom to wash my hands. I am very careful to wash my hand immediately before handling a woman's breasts when I am offering assistance with the latch.

I help position him and explain that if he is not in a comfortable position he might not want to latch on. I suggest that they consider first the comfort of the mom in how she is positioned, and after she has found a position she likes, she do the same for her baby, evaluating if some aspect of how he is being held or positioned might not be agreeable to him.

Like you see in the above picture, the baby's head is not on the mother's arm, tilted upwards, but flat on the bed. You might need a pillow or folded towel under the baby to raise him up to the level of the breast, or the mom might need to rotate more toward the baby, but the important thing is that the baby and mother are in a relaxed position and the alignment is correct for latching on.

We made a couple of attempts with his open and searching mouth and her nipple and after a minute or two the magic suction happened, the little mouth vacuum-sucked inward and the breast was pulled in. He had a good solid latch, and I watched the expression on the parents' faces melt into love and amazement.