An evolutionary bodywork approach helps women and their babies fit together in pain-free, enjoyable breastfeeding
You are the expert on your own baby
The Before Birth and Possums Breastfeeding & Lactation programs, and more, are available at possums.org.
The gestalt method is built on the belief that you are the expert on your own baby, your body, and your breastfeeding experience - and also that there are some things you have the right to know, because they give you the best chance of success as you experiment your way through. These things become particularly important if breastfeeding challenges come up.
The gestalt approach to helping with fit and hold in breastfeeding is a genuinely holistic form of bodywork, referred to in the Possums programs as evolutionary bodywork. You've probably heard the terms 'latch and positioning' or 'attachment and positioning'. I find 'fit and hold' an easier, friendlier phrase for the same thing.
Normal mother and baby anatomies are highly diverse. The gestalt method of fit and hold in breastfeeding considers the many different factors which interact together to result in either enjoyable, pain-free breastfeeding - or breastfeeding problems.
The gestalt method of fit and hold repairs breastfeeding problems
The gestalt method of fit and hold empowers you to:
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Switch on your baby's inbuilt breastfeeding reflexes
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Experiment with the fit between your own and your baby's unique anatomies, to find what works
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Create ease and comfort for your own body
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Manage the incredibly powerful effect of breastfeeding problems on both the baby's and your own psychological states.
In the video below, Renee Keogh RN IBCLC NDC Educator gives you an overview of the gestalt method.
What are the four main steps of the gestalt method?
Possums Breastfeeding & Lactation deals with the following four steps, and the main breastfeeding problems that arise when fit and hold is disrupted, in detail elsewhere. The key steps to achieving easy effective pain-free breastfeeding are
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Understanding the biomechanics of effective milk transfer
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Preparing your body and mind for relaxed and comfortable breastfeeding
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Switching on your baby's breastfeeding reflexes
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Applying the power of micromovements.
WARNING: If your baby has health problems or weight gain problems, or if you have health problems that are affecting lactation, it is important that you seek the help of an appropriately qualified health professional. This program does not replace the care of your health professional.
Recommended resources
How babies breastfeed the biomechanics of infant suck (short animation)
How babies breastfeed: the biomechanics of infant suck (video and animation)
About experimentation and workability in breastfeeding
What's useful to notice in the mirror before you bring baby on to your breast?
Micromovements in breastfeeding: helping you find where it feels just right
The three views of a stable fit and hold (in photos)
Talking through the basic principles of the gestalt method using a knitted breast
Selected references
Douglas PS, Keogh R. Gestalt breastfeeding: helping mothers and infants optimise positional stability and intra-oral breast tissue volume for effective, pain-free milk transfer. Journal of Human Lactation. 2017;33(3):509–518.
Douglas PS, Geddes DB. Practice-based interpretation of ultrasound studies leads the way to less pharmaceutical and surgical intervention for breastfeeding babies and more effective clinical support. Midwifery. 2018;58:145–155.
Douglas PS, Perrella SL, Geddes DT. A brief gestalt intervention changes ultrasound measures of tongue movement during breastfeeding: case series. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. 2022;22(1):94. DOI: 10.1186/s12884-12021-04363-12887.