The Perfect Position
I once had a mother come in with her week-old baby for latching difficulties, and concerns that her baby hated the breast.
I had mom show me how she would feed her baby at home, and mom did the “correct” way of doing a cross-cradle hold and latching. The baby was fussy and frantic the entire time, pushing away and crying. After a few minutes, the mother said at this point she would give up and offer a bottle.
As we were talking some more, I asked her to hold her baby in the same position she would as if she were about to give a bottle. Mom seemed much more relaxed once she was holding her baby in her preferred way.
As she held her baby in that position, I observed the baby starting to root. Without any positioning modifications, I asked mom to offer the baby the breast and — the baby latched! The baby’s body was turned away, so his head was turned a little over his shoulder which is not “correct”, but he was on! And once the baby was there I had mom turn his body belly-to-belly with hers to straighten him out and bring him in a little closer. He maintained his latch through this. A weighted feed showed he took in almost an ounce.
So... the purpose of this short, anecdotal post. The Perfect position for a dyad isn’t always by the books – it is what is Perfect for them.
