How to use a rolled-up facecloth to expose the landing pad of a woman's breast (and a word about the 'breastfeeding buddy', too)

The video above shows how to choose and then tightly roll a facecloth, to use as a tool for better exposing the landing pad of a woman's breast (2 mins 15 secs).

Photo 1: not enough exposure of the landing pad

The photo below shows the fall of this woman's left breast. She has her bra rolled tightly inwards and tucked up high where her breast meets her rib-cage, which partly lifts and exposes the landing pad.

However, you can see that there is likely to be a problem bringing the baby to the breast for a deep face-breast bury, because of the way the landing pad of her breast is resting very close to her abdomen. Her baby don't just need a deep face-breast bury - baby's shoulders need to sit in a plane that is straight on (not curved away over her tummy), so that the baby doesn't need to rotate his head and neck to feed.

When this lady's baby is snuggled in closely, there is a rotation or twist of baby's little spine and neck, because there isn't enough room to fit in the whole of her body and shoulders in close to her mother's body without twisting (or rotating) baby's neck, spine or pelvis. A similar biomechanical challenge can occur with diverse breast shapes and sizes, including petite breasts, and relates to breast-tummy contour.

The result for this mother is nipple and breast tissue drag, accompanied by persistent nipple pain and damage. The case of this woman and her baby, and our consultation together, are found here.

Photo 2: using a rolled up face washer to better expose the landing pad

Because this breastfeeding woman already uses her bra in daily life to help expose the landing pad, as above, we found that the smaller facecloth (white) tucked in tightly on top of the bra, helped to better expose the landing pad.

The larger (grey) rolled up facecloth (Photo 3) was too big, and slipped out when we experimented with that. We don't want a rolled up facecloth to either fall out or impinge upon the landing pad! Perhaps when she is not wearing a bra, the larger (grey) rolled up facecloth will be best. This mother will experiment, now that I've described to her what we're trying to achieve.

Photo 2 shows the lift to the landing pad that was achieved with the smaller (white) rolled up facecloth.

Photo 3: how to tightly roll up a facecloth to better expose the landing pad

The photo below shows you how tightly the facewasher, folded in half, is being rolled. The cloth

• Needs to be rolled up very tightly, and

• Shouldn't protrude much beyond the width of the breast, or it might get in the way and make it harder for baby to snuggle in very close to your body and find a stable position.

Othr tips for successful use of the rolled up facecloth

• Wrapping the rolled up facecloth in cling wrap can help the roll stay where it needed to be, up high under the breast where the breast meets their ribcage and out of the way of the landing pad. Although a cling wrap cover usually isn't necessary for women with generous breasts, it might be very helpful for a woman with a more petite breast who needs to better expose her breast's landing pad.

• You might place two elastic bands around the rolled up facecloth, one towards each end, to keep it securely rolled up. This makes it easy to use when you're ready to breastfeed, and easy to put in your nappy bag when you leave the house.

The image below illustrates how a 15 cm long roll, 5 cm wide, exposes the landing pad of a knitted breast without encroaching upon the landing pad. This works.

The image below illustrates how a 13.5 cm long roll, 4 cm wide, exposes the landing pad of a knitted breast BUT encroaches upon the landing pad. This doesn't work.

The image below illustrates a 13.5 cm long roll, 4 cm wide, which is adequately exposing the landing pad of a knitted breast. This works.

Cloth width	Maximum width or diameter of roll
27 x 27 cm (blue face cloth in these photos); length when folded in half 13.5 cm	4 cm
30 x 30 cm (green cloth in these photos); length when folded in half 15 cm	5 cm
Blue and green cloths placed on each other, folded in half, rolled	6 cm
Green and green cloths placed on each other, folded in half, rolled	7 cm

Are commercial silicone rolls (sold as the 'Breastfeeding Buddy') better than a facecloth for exposing the landing pad?

Those who sell the silicone rolls will claim that their product works better than a rolled up cloth! But a choice of three sizes of silicone roll, for instance, limits flexibility to fit your own unique breast. Here are four problems I've identified clinically with these silicone rolls (and indeed rolled up cloths too if they are not properly tailored to your own unique body).

Problems to watch out for with both silicone rolls and facecloth rolls

1. The roll gets in the way of (or encroaches upon) the landing pad.

2. The roll slips out from under your breast when you're breastfeeding (that is, it gets in the way of the landing pad as it slips).

3. The roll protrudes too far from the side of your breast towards the midline, interfering with your baby's capacity to fit snugly and comfortably against you in a rib-cage wrap.

4. The roll doesn't adequately expose the whole of the landing pad.

Problems unique to commercial silicone rolls ('Breastfeeding Buddy')

In my clinical experience, the silicone rolls aren't performing better than the rolled up facecloths on these indicators, listed above, and have certain downsides.

• A facecloth roll compresses according to the weigh placed upon it. A facecloth roll can act to expose the landing pad well, but also compresses comfortably when the baby's chest presses in upon it. The silicone roll isn't soft and doesn't compress. In my experience, it appears to irritate the baby or cause discomfort if the baby is pressed in nice and close, as he needs to be, if the silicone roll is at all protruding from under the breast towards the midline.

• Similarly, if the silicone roll protrudes out from under the breast towards the mother's arm, it gets in baby's way too, this time interfering with baby's capacity to have her lower hand and arm resting around the mother's side - something that is often essential for a good face-breast bury.

• It is also possible that a silicone roll predisposes to mastitis, since it is firmer than a facecloth roll, and more likely to compress the milk ducts. I believe I have seen this happen in patients using the Breastfeeding Buddy.

I'm finding in the clinic that the rolled up facecloths are more flexible and work better than the purchased silicone rolls.