A few days ago I was blessed to give birth to my 1st son. This is on the tales of 4 beautiful daughters. It was a long and hard labour but I was blessed when he was born in the birthing pool safely at home. I was adamant to have him latch himself even though my midwife felt he should be breastfeeding right away. After all, a baby is designed to not need very much in the first 24hr’s. The least I felt I could do was giving him an hour or so to try this on his own.
I placed him on my chest just under my breasts and sure enough, he crawled and worked his way up in a short 20min. It was so beautiful. I held his sides and just provided support so he didn’t fall off of me. It was a perfect latch and a perfect experience for both of us. One I didn’t experience with my last birth. I was educated in lactation when I was pregnant with our 4th child. When she was born, I was so anxious to get her on my breast that I just put her on without giving her the opportunity to do what was hard wired in her. This time around, I was adamant to let it happen naturally. He has been a champion ever since.
I feel that this was such an amazing event for me for a couple of reasons. One, I was triumphant over my desire to control the situation and allow nature to take its course. Also, I was able to experience what I tell all my prenatal moms about. I can use my own experiences (both good and bad) over my 5 different labour, delivery and initial breastfeeding adventures to educate, inspire and help.
Everybody must do what works best for them. I try to avoid ‘preaching’ and stick with educating moms about their options. However, using stories, facts and statistics together is a great way to open up a mom’s mind to all her options.
For more information on baby led latch, please click here, or here for the breast crawl.
Tara Carey CLC and Mom
