Pearl,

How can a newborn baby be born starving if no signs of placental failure
during pregnancy?  I'm afraid this is sloppy use of language, there is a need
to find another word.

A healthy newborn has been 'drip-fed' by the placenta all through pregnancy.
The baby has now been separated from the placenta and so the baby's body now
has to make massive changes in order to replace the placental function.  If it
cannot do this at the breast or by us grownups intervening and feeding other
substitutes, the healthy full term baby is able to generate ketone bodies from
the fatty acids released from adipose tissue as the blood glucose
concentration falls, which then serves as alternative fuel for the brain.

I guess then that we should explain to mum and staff why the baby has a need
to be fed in that window of opportunity after the birth and how baby still
needs to be fed as frequently as possible because that is what nature has been
doing since conception via the placenta and that the breasts are there, not
for adornment. but for this specific life-giving and all encompassing
nurturing purpose.

kind regards,
Helen Woodman, National Childbirth Trust Breastfeeding Counsellor, UK