In the first few days of life ...

In the first few days of life ...

I have been visiting a mother and her baby - her first child - daily since the birth on Wednesday afternoon. "What's news-worthy about that?" you may ask. That's what midwives do.

This young woman and her little one are making good progress in all the developments and transitions that are normal and necessary for the continued wellbeing of each, and of the two of them as a little team.

This young woman, and her husband, felt exhausted after a sleepless night in early labour. They are still exhausted after three more nights in which the little chap has worked strongly at his mummy's breast to get the wonderful colostrum into his stomach. They tell me they haven't had much sleep. But they look wonderful! Less than 3 days after giving birth, this young woman and her infant have pretty well mastered the complex art of breastfeeding. Baby is taking his fill of milk, settling down to sleep, and waking up a couple of hours later to do it all again. Baby is strong, and that's good!

Breastfeeding is a huge challenge for a new mother-baby pair. Nurture, nourishment, bonding, wellbeing and contentment are all inextricably linked to that basic mother-skill of putting a baby to the breast, and that basic baby-skill of drawing milk from the breast.

This little one spent the first hour or so of life skin to skin, resting on his mother's chest. He made brief attempts at breastfeeding during that period, but didn't achieve much active sucking. He was born at home, and after a few hours I left him in the care of his parents. I gave the mother the standard advice, that she should feed him when ever he was awake and interested.

The next day I visited in the morning, and was told that attempts at breastfeeding had not been very successful. The little one was eagerly sucking on his lower lip and tongue. The instinct to suck was strong - he just hadn't worked out what he was meant to be sucking. With a little assistance he took the breast and stayed there, sucking strongly and consistently.

Over the next two days both mother and baby learnt from each other. The powerful intuitive forces that exist in the minds of both baby and mother brought these two together, and they worked it out. My visits brought encouragement and reassurance, but I could see that the wonderful natural processes were working well.

This is one of the great moments in midwifery - to realise that they are doing it themselves, and doing it well.



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