POPULAR IDEAS THAT ARE NOW WIDELY ACCEPTED AMONG BREASTFEEDING SPECIALISTS.
- Breastfeeding problems are challenges that can be solved rather than reasons to wean.
- The most effective latch is the “asymmetric” latch — where baby is covering more of the areola with her lower lip than with her upper lip and where her chin, but not her nose, is touching the breast.
- You can assess the latch by observing the change in baby’s sucking when she’s swallowing milk.
- Newman’s all-purpose nipple ointment, which can be mixed by a pharmacist from instructions at breastfeedingonline.com, combines an antibiotic ointment, an antifungal powder and a topical corticosteroid.
- Breast compression — gentle squeezing — can help babies get more milk and more high-fat milk.
- Raynaud’s syndrome, a painful but treatable blanching, usually of extremeties such as fingers and toes, can sometimes affect a nursing mother’s nipples.
- Milk oversupply can be decreased in some cases by nursing on one breast only, for several feeds.
- Domperidone (a drug for nausea and vomiting) and herbs, such as fenugreek and blessed thistle, can be used to increase milk production.
- Adoptive mothers who want to breastfeed can induce milk production more effectively using Newman’s protocol.
- Tube-feeding on the nipple or a finger is a good alternative to bottle-feeding for babies who won’t latch on, or who need supplementation, because it helps train them to take the breast.