There is so much to rant about with regard to this series.  However, as I don’t have much time now as my bed beckons, the thing I want to rant about the most tonight is the continuum concept mum with the ‘colicky’ baby who only calmed on being at the b reast and seemed to want to feed continuously.  This baby was not colicky, he was not attaching well at the b reast!  Lots of babies feed frequently in the early weeks.  It’s physiologically normal because babies often don’t feel ‘right’ (cold/lonely/tummy ache/hungry/frightented) and breastfeeding ‘cures’ most of those problems.  However, if you have a baby that is feeding frequently and his mother is finding breastfeeding painful then it is very, very likely that he isn’t latching on well enough and is having to feed more frequently in order to get enough milk over 24 hours. 

That mother was wincing as she leant into her baby to feed him - it hurt her.  If breastfeeding hurts, then baby isn’t latching on well enough no matter what it looks like.  If I had a pound for every mother who’s told me ‘it hurts, but I know he’s latched on ok because the midwife/health visitor say so’ I’d be a rich woman.  It doesn’t matter what it looks like.  It matters what it feels like.  If a baby is latched on well, no matter how often the baby feeds, or for how long, it won’t hurt.  I can’t re-iterate it enough because this is not just an issue of mothers’ n ipples.  Mothers sometimes say to me ‘I’ll just perservere through the pain’, which is very noble but ill-advised.  Babies who aren’t latching on well are not just damaging their mothers’ n ipples but are likely to not be removing the milk effectively which means they may not be getting enough, that they are not stimulating their mothers’ milk supplies enough and that they may not be draining their mothers’ b reasts enough which can cause problems like blocked ducts and mastitis. 

So the continuum concept mum who had a ‘colicky’ baby probably would have solved all her crying baby’s problems by getting some good breastfeeding help (ie. not the continuum concept mentor who appears to know very little about breastfeeding support) and getting her baby latched on well.  In addition, by not doing so, she risks her baby not getting enough milk; her n ipples never being comfortable while breastfeeding; problems with blocked ducts and mastitis; and her milk supply dropping over the next few weeks.  Please, anyone who is breastfeeding or knows someone breastfeeding, who is reading this:  Don’t put up with sore n ipples or any other signs that a baby isn’t latching on well!  Get help, and get good help asap!  Please!  That’s all.