To make a statement based on personal knowledge; to bear witness

In the words of Deliah White

A FAR AS I'M CONCERNED, breastfeeding is a natural thing. You take out the breast, you put it in the baby’s mouth, and the baby sucks. Well, for me it was totally different.

I was in the hospital [in America]. I had a “breastfeeding consultant.” I’m from Jamaica, right, in the rural area. I never heard of breastfeeding consultants in our area, maybe more in Kingston, in the city. I’m from Comfort Castle, up in the country.

So I had a breastfeeding consultant and she was teaching me how to put my breast in my child’s mouth. When first I had the child, I started breastfeeding. It wasn’t successful, according to them. His lips or…umm…[the nipple] wasn’t going under his tongue, something, he wasn’t sucking, whatever. So they were teaching me how to do it. It was very unsuccessful!

You know, a girlfriend of mine was saying to me, “But Deliah, in your country, do they usually have a lot of breastfeeding consultants? Don’t you just put the breast in the child’s mouth and it sucks? So what’s the big deal now?”

Anyway, being a nurse, I thought I knew everything. And the simple, natural thing…I couldn’t breastfeed my child! The breast should be over the tongue…or the tongue over the breast…whatever the “technique,” it was so difficult! He wasn’t getting a lot.

I remember this lady, she came to my house. When she came, she put Jordan on my breast and he started sucking. And then, it hurt so much, so I screamed! And she said “No no no no no! He will associate pain with breastfeeding!” And I said “But it hurts.” Then she wrote in her notes that I’m not assertive in breastfeeding. So I gave him bottles and I tried the pump.

I think what happened is that for me to endure the pain or the patience for the milk to actually come down, and flow, you have to be consistent. And then once it starts flowing, then breastfeeding is successful. But I never actually got over that hump. I breastfed for maybe two weeks.”

From Edith Kernerman
Clinical Director, Newman Breastfeeding Clinic and Institute

BREASTFEEDING IS NATURAL -- but it is a learned behaviour. And that learning needs to happen for both mother and baby. However, and quite ironically, if we leave mother and baby alone they usually figure it out just fine, and maybe with a bit of encouragement from grandma and auntie things go smoothly too! And in Jamaica this is what tends to happen and most women do fine and breastfeed their babies happily and there is no need for any consultants. And in fact, this is what tends to happen in most countries where mothers are in charge of their own births and babies and where consultants do not exist. But here, where we are so technologically involved (and I don’t believe for a second that that is a good thing) our interference in the natural birthing process often leads to unnecessary interventions and interference in the breastfeeding. 

We remove babies from their natural habitat (skin to skin on mother) we wrap them up and swaddle them (a practice now found to be potentially unsafe and certainly one that interferes with breastfeeding) and we put babies in bassinettes away from mother’s smell, away from mother’s sounds, mother’s warmth, and mother’s instincts. This whole concept of needing to wake a baby derives from the situation where babies tend to sleep longer and more deeply (but not more safely) and don’t even “know” to wake up because they have nothing that triggers their wake signals. So, baby doesn’t smell mommy, baby makes no sounds, baby doesn’t wake up, mother doesn’t hear baby’s sounds, mother doesn’t make milk, etc, etc.

Then we get the scenario that mother is told, “You have to wake this baby to feed”. But who wants to be woken from a deep sleep? I don’t. So, now we have a tired baby who is not ready to eat being forced to take the breast that didn’t even know it was supposed to start making milk. Now this makes baby really angry!! And when baby is angry and the milk is not flowing the baby may not suck properly and bear down harder on the nipple to get it to flow more. And this hurts! Furthermore, babies are oftenpushed to the breast by “helpful” practitioners.

This is what I think that feels like:

Try pushing on the back of your head, your head will push down bringing your chin right near your chest. Now try opening you mouth really wide -- can’t do it, can you? Now try swallowing…not easy, is it? This is kind of what happens when a baby is pushed to latch onto the breast -- no wonder the tongue is all over the place and the latch hurts! The fact that a mother can survive two weeks of this let alone two days is a testament to her wonderful commitment and dedication to her baby.

So, how might things have been done differently? Firstly, when baby is born, that baby should be dried and allowed to crawl up mother’s chest. Then whatever the bay does is right. If baby goes to latch, fine. If not, baby will soon. A blanket may be put around mother and baby and then the two left alone to discover each other, with a partner or family member nearby to help out and keep an eye.

As for latching, when baby is ready, baby will start to get in to the right position and mom need only support baby’s back and let baby do the leading with mom’s gently guidance. As baby reaches for the breast (and that reaching is key because it will allow baby to bring the chin up and have the head tilt back) baby will come on the breast asymmetrically so the nipple goes to the upper back of baby’s mouth near the roof -- not centered in the mouth. Centering may cause the mother pain and will decrease the amount of milk that comes out. The latching should not hurt at all. Once mother and baby have been allowed to learn this a bit, mother needs to be shown the difference between sucking and drinking. Sucking occurs when baby moves the chin in a quick rhythmic pattern. Drinking occurs when baby’s mouth fills up with milk and the chin drops down and pauses to accommodate the increase in volume. Baby then swallows and the chin comes right back up, if baby just sucks and doesn’t drink, then mother can take a handful of her own breast and give it a good long squeeze while baby is sucking to turns those sucks into drinks. A baby who is sucking on the breast and not drinking is not eating -- no matter how long s/he sucks on that breast. So, timing of the feeding is irrelevant. A baby who comes off the breast from drinking well is a baby who has fed well. A baby who comes off the breast from just sucking may be quite bored and will probably start getting pretty upset a few minutes later when laid down to sleep. Such a baby will appear to want to eat constantly and maybe for long periods because really, s/he is not actually eating, just going through the motions.

The moral of the story is, if it hurts, it is not right. If it feels like something is wrong then something probably is. Mother is always right and mother knows best. Truly. So, the next time an “expert” tells you that you are not assertive enough, be assertive and tell her to leave!! Trust yourself, Mom, you know your baby better than any of us ever will!