Breastfeeding initiation

Watch Video: Breastfeeding initiation by Cynthia Epps, MS, IBCLC, ...
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Breastfeeding initiation

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Many women in the United States end up not breastfeeding due to the misinformation that they're given at the time of the birth. The birthing tradition is to separate the baby and the mother at birth, put the baby in a nursery and to feed formula. This was established in the 1950's when we loss breastfeeding en masse in this country in one generation. Now we've discovered through the World Health Organization Baby-Friendly Initiative that if we put the mother and child together right after birth, and you put the baby right on the mother's abdomen, it takes 90 minutes to 2 hours for them to shimmy and crawl straight up her chest, find the breast, and latch on. There's a whole sequence of instinctual steps that the human infant brings to this moment that establishes the first latch. So it isn't a question of the mother succeeding at the how-tos of breastfeeding; it's more a question of the culture shifting the paradigm to favor the new mother and the new baby being undisturbed and unrushed right after delivery so the new baby can establish the future success of the breastfeeding.

Watch Video: Breastfeeding initiation by Cynthia Epps, MS, IBCLC, ...

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Cynthia Epps, MS, IBCLC

Infant Feeding Specialist

Cynthia Epps, MS, IBCLC holds a master’s degree in nutritional biochemistry and is a board certified lactation consultant in private practice in Los Angeles, California. She specializes in home and internet consults for new mother/infant couples from birth through two years of age. She covers early breastfeeding questions such as learning to trust the breast, establishing a good milk supply, sore nipples, colic and reflux; as well as “back to work” protocols for the working mother and “transitioning to solids” at six months per the American Academy of Pediatrics and World Health Organization guidelines, plus food wars and gentle weaning guidelines for the older infant. In addition, she has written for LA Family Magazine and Mothering Magazine, and leads infant feeding workshops throughout the community. With the wisdom of motherhood still largely negated or ignored, she specializes in combining ancient matriarchal traditions with modern science to help the new mother transition into the time-honored role of nurturing her baby with body and breast. She continues to pursue the goal of redefining the human infant feeding norm as breastfeeding or breastmilk for all children.

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