Clinical Lactation

Breastfeeding is a physical function for mothers and infants. The societal relevance ought to be undoubted en as a medical discipline it should belng among the highest ranked, for its population (all newborn children!) is huge. In daily practice the knowledge of human lactation and the counseling of breastfeeding dyads amongst medical and nursing health professionals is on average rather low. Many advices and treatments are not based on scientific evidence, but on tradition, hear-say and the influences of pharmaceutical and infant formula industries. And this is not so for a lack of available  scientific knowledge. Most medical and nursing professional journals do publish about breastfeeding research and even more knowledge surrounding human lactation and breastfeeding counseling is published in specialized peer reviewed lactation journals. Today I would like to highlight some articles from the Fall, 2010 issue of Clinical Lactation. Genna, Walker and Kendall-Tackett are great names in lactation science. They write about breastfeeding as the norm in feeding and caring for infants and young children. Kendall-Tackett addresses sense and non-sense in her article about safe-sleep campaigns, and stresses that it is not sharing a bed with a parent that raises SIDS risks, but other factors, mostly a combination of factors. Walker discusses the special needs late-premature infants have and the special care breastfeeding them is needed for breastfeeding counseling. Genna addresses the importance of maternal and infant positions in order to facilitate the baby to use his hands in finding the breast and latching on.
Kathleen Kendall–Tackett, Zhen Cong, Thomas W. Hale: Mother–Infant Sleep Locations and Nighttime Feeding Behavior; U.S. Data from the Survey of Mothers’ Sleep and Fatigue. Clinical Lactation Vol. 1, Fall 2010
Marsha Walker: Breastfeeding Management for the Late Preterm Infant; Practical Interventions for “Little Imposters”. Clinical Lactation Vol. 1, Fall 2010
Catherine Watson Genna, Diklah Barak: Facilitating Autonomous Infant Hand Use During Breastfeeding. Clinical Lactation Vol. 1, Fall 2010.