>
>I am with Heather in believing that it is HIGHLY abnormal for a three month
>old baby even to stop gaining, even more abnormal for them to lose weight.  I
>have not encountered this phenomenon,


Nor have I - babies who *lose* half a pound to a pound at three
months I would assume needed medical attention PDQ.

>but I am familiar with mothers who call
>around 3 months post partum because their breasts are softer and the babies
>are spending less time eating.  Some are increasing number of feeds which
>mother interprets as 'decline in supply'.  Some may even be gaining less
>quickly than in the first surge of growth after birth, and some may be
>arousing the concern of health care providers.


And some may be only spending a few minutes on the breast at some
feeds, and objecting loudly and miserably when the mother tries to
put them back on. This is then interpreted as 'I can't have any milk
and the baby is rejecting me.' In a healthy, thriving baby, short
feeds can be normal - I explain it to mothers by saying that beyond
the newborn period, your baby is learning so much about the world, he
doesn't need to be on your breast as much, but looking around and
chatting to you. It's also the case that both mother and baby are
experts at getting milk from the breasts into the baby in a short
time.  These babies may still feed luxuriously and indulgently in the
evenings (typically), and they are continuing to thrive. But because
they can't say politely 'thank you mummy, I have had enough milk in
my four minutes, please may I leave the table?' they yell when mummy
tries to put them back on!

>   But I have not seen babies
>lose weight, certainly not to this degree, if they were well and getting fed
>when they signaled interest.

Me neither.....literally, I have never seen it.  I am aware that
mothers do have supply problems, and these can emerge after the
newborn period, possibly as the baby not continuing to gain weight.
But it's the *loss* of weight that would worry me.

>I still would want to ask very
>specifically about BF practice: frequency, who determines duration of feed
>(child or mother), growth pattern before the 3 month crisis, etc.  And I would
>want the mother to have an endocrinology work-up if everything else checks
>out.  Things that argue against endocrine problems: apparent disappearance of
>problem in pregnancy and early postpartum.


Agreed.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK

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

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(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html