The three views of a stable fit and hold (in photos)

Dr Pamela Douglas14th of Jul 202425th of Dec 2024

Photo 1: side view

In the photo above, the baby has a lovely symmetrical and deep face-breast bury, from the side view.

You'll also see that I have my hands on the mother's forearm, with her consent, as we work together using the gestalt method with micromovements to eliminate the nipple and breast tissue drag which was causing her pain. She relaxed the weight of her forearm into my hands, and gave me feedback whenever her baby suckled about the effects of the micromovements that we were experimenting with, so that together we were able to find where her pain was zero out of ten on the painscale.

Photo 2: front view

The baby below had a pattern of fussiness with breastfeeding, and was more stable when we brought him into the gestalt position. He still has a slight twist to his little spine - you'll notice that his head is rotated towards his left. If he was fussing at all, the mother would change the position of his pelvis and body slighty so that he didn't have any spinal twist at all.

Photo 3: view from above looking down

This baby below has a lovely deep face-breast bury, seen from above, which is the mother's view. Not all women how their baby comes on to the breast though, and just do it by feel.

It's important to remember though that what we can see visually is just one leg of the three-legged stool of positional stability. You can find out about the other two legs here.

Next up in what is the gestalt method of fit and hold?

Dr Pam talks you through the basic principles of the gestalt method using a knitted breast

The gestalt method of fit and hold helps empower you so that you can enjoy pain-free and effective breastfeeding. In this five minute video, I run through an overview of the gestalt method using a knitted breast.

steps of gestalt breastfeeding intervention

Resources

You can find a video and animation of how babies suck at the breast here (short) and here (longer).
You can find an NDC accredited practitioner who is trained in helping breastfeeding mothers with the gestalt method here.
You can find a research study here which shows, using ultrasound imaging, how the gestalt method changes what happens inside a baby's mouth during breastfeeding. The mothers and babies in this small case series had a long history of breastfeeding problems and multiple prior consultations with lactation consultants, which...