Breastfeeding Videos

Dr Jack Newman's Breastfeeding Videos

Dr. Jack Newman graduated from the University of Toronto medical school in 1970, interning at the Vancouver General Hospital. He did his training in pædiatrics in Quebec City and then at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto from 1977-1981 to become a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada in 1981 as well as Board Certified by the AAP in 1981. He has worked as a physician in Central America, New Zealand and South Africa. He founded the first hospital based breastfeeding clinic in Canada in 1984. He has been a consultant for UNICEF for the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative, evaluating the first candidate hospitals in Gabon, the Ivory Coast and Canada./p>

Dr. Newman was a staff paediatrician at the Hospital for Sick Children emergency department from 1983 to 1992, and was, for a period of time, the acting chief of the emergency services. However, once the breastfeeding clinic started functioning, it took more and more of his time and he eventually worked full time helping mothers and babies succeed with breastfeeding. He now works at the Newman Breastfeeding Clinic and Institute based at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto./p>

Dr. Newman has several publications on breastfeeding, and in 2000 published, along with Teresa Pitman, a help guide for professionals and mothers on breastfeeding, called, Dr. Jack Newman's Guide to Breastfeeding, as it's known in Canada (revised editions, January 2003 and January 2005), and The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers, as it's known in the US (revised edition, November 2006). In 2006, Dr. Newman, along with Teresa Pitman, published The Latch and Other Keys to Breastfeeding Success (Hale Publishing). In addition, Dr. Jack Newman’s Guide to Breastfeeding and the DVD, Dr. Jack Newman’s Visual Guide to Breastfeeding have now been translated into French as “L’allaitement : comprendre et réussir” (same title for both the book and the DVD). The book is now being translated into Spanish.

Baby 28 hrs old, baby-led-mother guide latching
The baby starts searching for the breast. The mother guides him towards the nipple. The baby opens up fairly wide, but the mother does not bring the baby on as well as she could and the baby has a shallow latch. He should have more of the breast in his mouth.

The baby is mostly nibbling at first though there is an occasional pause in the movement of the chin (see other videos showing good drinking).

The mother starts compressing around 1 minute and 10 seconds, and the baby responds by starting to have pausing-types of sucks that indicate he is getting milk well.

Baby 28hrs old, assisted latching
Shows latching on. Not perfect, but good enough. The mother had no pain. It did take two tries to get the baby to latch on, but that’s okay; there’s no point in trying to force a baby who does not take the breast to stay on the breast. It won’t work. Note the baby has an “asymmetric” latch, with the chin touching the breast, the nose not touching the breast, and he covers more of the areola with his lower lip than the upper.

Compression helps the baby get more milk.

2 Day Old
The baby in this video is only 40 hours old. Baby has a pretty good latch. Notice his chin is in the breast, his nose is away from the breast and he covers more of the areola with his lower lip than the upper lip. 

During the first part of the video, the baby has an occasional pause in the chin, but is mostly “nibbling” without drinking.

Mother is using compressions, but not always as we recommend. She should compress while the baby sucks, but does not drink and not while he’s not sucking at all.

Compressions at this age (before milk “comes in”), often work only after several series of compressions, unlike later, when the milk supply is greater, when compression usually works immediately.

Around 1 minute into the video, the baby starts pulling a little at the breast, becoming impatient with the slow flow.

Then, about 1 minute and 14 seconds, the baby starts to drink vigorously, and you can see several pausing type sucks in a row.

The mother maintains compression until baby no longer drinks, then releases (at 1 minute 30 seconds).

The baby starts sucking again at about 1 minute 37 seconds. Babies who are latched on and hungry will start sucking on their own. No need to tickle their feet or put cold cloths on their foreheads.

Babies do not fall asleep at breast because they are tired, but rather because the flow is slow. How to maintain the flow?
1. A good latch
2. Compressions when the baby is sucking but not drinking

Notice around two minute mark, the compression once again works well.

Good Drinking
Note the position of the baby at the breast. Chin in the breast, nose not touching, baby’s lower lip covering more of the areola with the lower lip than the upper. An asymmetric latch. 

Not Yet Latching, Finger Feed to Latch
Finger feeding is to be used primarily to prepare a baby who does not latch on to take the breast. 

Note that finger feeding is done only long enough to calm the baby and to get the baby sucking well. This rarely takes more than 60 seconds.

It should not be used as a method of supplementation when the baby does take the breast. In such a case supplementation, if necessary, should be given at the breast with a lactation aid.

We filmed this baby because he had already latched on after being finger fed.

Why did he not latch on to the right side in this video?

• Because he already had fed on the right side, the flow of milk from the breast was slower: babies like fast flow and even if the lactation aid would provide him with more flow, it wasn’t enough

Why did he latch on to the left side?

• Because he hadn’t yet fed on the left side, the breast was “fuller” and the flow was rapid: babies like fast flow

Note that we do not try to force a baby to stay at the breast. If the baby struggles, allows the breast into his mouth but doesn’t suck, or cries, then we let him come away from the breast and try again.

• If the baby latches on, there is no need to try to force him to stay, he’s latched on

• If the baby does not latch on, trying to force him to stay at the breast is futile and likely to make him angrier or “go limp”

4-day old after tongue-tie with compressions
The baby just had a tongue tie release.The mother is doing compressions appropriately. She waits to see if the baby is drinking or not (pause in the chin). If the baby is not drinking, she compresses, holds the compression until the baby stops sucking or stops drinking and then releases. She waits for the baby to start sucking and if the baby starts sucking but does not drink, she repeats the process

Jiggling and Pulling
An older baby whose mother’s supply has decreased.He is jiggling and unsettled at the breast because the flow of milk is slow. Note that he hardly drinks at the breast, though his chin is a little bit difficult to see. This sort of behaviour is often said to be due to an over rapid milk flow but by watching the chin one can see that this behaviour in this case is due to too slow milk flow.

Cup Feeding
A good alternative to the bottle. Particularly useful for the baby who is refusing the breast. Note that the baby laps the milk up with his tongue. One does not pour the milk down his throat.

Squeezing Nipple Demonstrating Difference Between Poor Latch
When the baby latches on to the nipple only, he gets very little milk.When the baby latches on where he should, the milk flows rapidly.

Nibbling
Baby is doing almost no drinking. A baby who breastfeeds only with this type of sucking could stay on the breast for hours and still not get enough milk. Something needs to be done here and if achieving a better latch, using compression doesn’t help, the baby almost certainly needs to be supplemented.

Really Good Drinking
This baby drinks very well. The pauses are very long. This baby could spend a very short period of time on the breast and still be getting plenty of milk.

Breastfeeding Shifting to get a Good Asymmetrical Latch
The mother shifts the baby around on her own, at about 30 seconds and 38 seconds into the clip, with the baby obviously starting to drink more once she is positioned more asymmetrically.

Latching with some Compression
Baby is mostly nibbling at the breast. Compression is being used to get the baby to drink more. Another "asymmetric" latch is shown. Note that after re-latching the baby drinks better than before, and compression is not necessary to get the baby to drink.

Asymmetric-1
This clip shows how, by pushing in the baby's bottom with her forearm (with help), the mother moves the baby around into a more "asymmetric" latch, gets the baby to drink more (more obvious "pauses" at the point of the chin). The mother's right hand should be palm up under the baby's face, rather than on the baby's shoulder.

Compression
The technique of compression is demonstrated, and it can be seen that the baby drinks more milk as the breast is compressed. The mother starts the compression as the baby sucks, but does not get milk. It is important to work with the baby and compress only when the baby is sucking (moving his/her mouth).

Lactation Aid
Shows how to use lactation aid. Note that when it is working, the baby shows he is getting more milk because the pause in the chin is more obvious. In the second attempt to use the lactation aid, though the tube seems to be well placed, it is not. The baby was not getting more milk, as there were no pauses in the chin. Fiddling with the tube gets the baby drinking again. The lactation aid does not work well if the baby is poorly latched on and/or the tube is poorly placed, but it can be made to work well with practice.