Shows latching on.  Not perfect, but good enough.  The mother had no pain.  It did take two tries to get the baby to latch on, but that’s okay; there’s no point in trying to force a baby who does not take the breast to stay on the breast.  It won’t work.  Note the baby has an “asymmetric” latch, with the chin touching the breast, the nose not touching the breast, and he covers more of the areola with his lower lip than the upper.

Compressions help the baby get more milk.

For mothers who are experiencing engorgement. In this video clip this mother is really not very engorged at all, so the benefits of the technique are seen as drastically.

This technique is best used a minute or so before baby takes the breast. Pressure is applied to the areola around the base of the nipple. It would have been better to arrange the fingers like the petals of a flower so no space comes in between. The objective is to push back the interstitial fluid so it goes back into the breast and softens the nipple-areolar complex of ligaments, thus allowing fro baby to latch on.

The baby in this video is only 40 hours old. Baby has a pretty good latch. Notice his chin is in the breast, his nose is away from the breast and he covers more of the areola with his lower lip than the upper lip.  MORE

Note the position of the baby at the breast. Chin in the breast, nose not touching, baby’s lower lip covering more of the areola with the lower lip than the upper. An asymmetric latch. MORE

Finger feeding is to be used primarily to prepare a baby who does not latch on to take the breast. MORE

The baby just had a tongue tie release.

The mother is doing compressions appropriately. She waits to see if the baby is drinking or not (pause in the chin). If the baby is not drinking, she compresses, holds the compression until the baby stops sucking or stops drinking and then releases. She waits for the baby to start sucking and if the baby starts sucking but does not drink, she repeats the process.

An older baby whose mother’s supply has decreased.

He is jiggling and unsettled at the breast because the flow of milk is slow. Note that he hardly drinks at the breast, though his chin is a little bit difficult to see.

This sort of behaviour is often said to be due to an over rapid milk flow but by watching the chin one can see that this behaviour in this case is due to too slow milk flow.

(Please excuse that the video is turned sideways at first)

This technique is one of a number of approaches used for the baby who does not yet take the breast, or who has been actively refusing, helps get baby in the appropriate state ready to take the breast. Here, by keeping baby naked skin to skin, the Baby indicates when he is ready to start searching for the breast, and then, when starting to search the Mother helps to guide him by providing good support to his back, and she is careful not to hold his head. Baby’s need their necks supported, not their heads.

This technique for the baby who does not yet take the breast, or who has been actively refusing, helps get baby in the appropriate state ready to take the breast. Baby indicates when he is ready to start searching for the breast, and then, when starting to search mother helps to guide him by providing good support to his back, and she is careful not to hold his head. Baby’s need their necks supported, not their heads.

Same mother/baby, on the other breast now.

Baby is doing almost no drinking. A baby who breastfeeds only with this type of sucking could stay on the breast for hours and still not get enough milk. Something needs to be done here and if achieving a better latch, using compression doesn’t help, the baby almost certainly needs to be supplemented.

This mother’s nipples turn white after baby has finished feeding. They turn white for some time and then eventually turn pink again. This change in colour is sometimes accompanied by throbbing and burning in the nipples. This is often due to poor latching and/or a yeast infection.

This baby drinks very well. The pauses are very long.

This baby could spend a very short period of time on the breast and still be getting plenty of milk.

A good alternative to the bottle. Particularly useful for the baby who is refusing the breast.

Note that the baby laps the milk up with his tongue. One does not pour the milk down his throat.

When the baby latches on to the nipple only, he gets very little milk.

When the baby latches on where he should, the milk flows rapidly.