I would say that at least 60% of babies in my breastfeeding room on any
given day will not latch or breastfeed, so I use tiny plastic spoons
from the kitchen to get colostrum into them.  I soak them in almost
boiling water to clean them, or run them through an electric sterilizer.

I explain that Nature has provided special milk for the first 3 days of
life when the baby's entire system is in recovery from birth and in
transition to extra-uterine life.  I show a model of the size of the
baby's stomach capacity, and explain that Nature did not intend that the
baby get too much milk at this time.  I explain that it cleans out the
digestive system and causes the baby to bring up excretions and release
meconium. It calms the nausea that babies seem to have in those first
few days.  It makes them feel good, which is why on day 2 they do not
seem to want to let go of the breast: it is the only place where they
feel good in those critical days.  
Hand expressing colostrum into a tiny spoon accomplishes many things: 
1.	it teaches hand expression to mothers from the beginning
2.	it shows them that they do have milk ( when they say that they
do not have milk, only colostrum, I say that colostrum IS milk, a
special milk for that special period in the baby's life)
3.	it feeds the baby and maintains the milk supply
 
I suggest about 5 small spoons, (not filled to overflowing), from each
breast about every 2 hours during the day.  If moms stick to that, I
find a totally different mom and baby the next day.   Non-compliance is
the only problem in this method.   I often find that babies have lost
too much weight because the mom gave only 2 spoons the whole day and the
baby has not gotten enough.  
 
Esther Grunis, IBCLC who often feels like a spoonfeeding consultant and
not a breastfeeding one.  

-- 
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.8.8 - Release Date: 14/02/2005
 

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html