Supplements in the newborn period are such a difficult judgment call, 
and it would be great to get some consensus on recommended amounts.  I 
bring the topic up in my prenatal breastfeeding classes to point out 
that, even when necessary, it's not a casual decision.  And that, 
whendeemednecessary, mothers should view supplements, not as a 
confidence-buster, but  as a tool to stabilize the situation, so she can 
work on breastfeeding.

I also explain that newborns don't have any clue about bottles -- why 
should they?.  I've started using the belly-balls to illustrate that, as 
the system was designed, the baby's stomach expands in harmony with the 
expanding milk production across those early days, driven by *a lot* of 
sucking.  Babies come out (in the optimal scenario) as extremely 
motivated little suckers, designed to jump-start milk production, 
getting all that calming satisfaction on a nice soft breast and a thick, 
concentrated flow in small steady amounts while they learn about 
breathing and coordinating suck/swallow/breathe.  If we play a nasty 
trick on babies and provide a free-flowing bottle, they don't know how 
to not to keep chugging -- it's almost as if those brand-new babies 
aren't wired for "stop sucking when you're full" because under ordinary 
circumstances, they can't overfeed on colostrum, and the more sucking, 
the better..  Maybe learning to respond to satiety signals also develops 
with the increase in production.

I add that people who *aren't* breastfeeding need a class to understand 
their newborns, since they don't have the advantage of working with the 
system-as-designed.  How can they resist giving more than the 
recommended small amounts because they worry the baby is starving 
because it's sucking so avidly -- chugging down ounces as the misguided 
little thing tries to send a strong message to get milk production up.

Since sooo many babies get early supplements for jaundice, hypoglycemia 
or weight loss (and that's worth a lot of discussion), I try to arm 
mothers --  if their baby is getting any ongoing supplement in that 
newborn period to get pumping immediately to provide as much of the 
"free milk" as possible, and to work toward getting things back in 
balance,  since the baby is likely to take so much from a bottle, conk 
out, and thus really under-stimulate the incoming supply.  

Pregnant mothers need to know that even if they plan to eventually 
combine both breast and bottle to wait until after those initial 
establishing weeks, since even with good motives, the baby's sucking 
desire is going to make the formula/human milk equation increasingly 
lopsided.  Formula marketing is starting to stress this "both" option, 
since it seems so friendly and "best of both worlds for you," while it's 
often a one-way ticket to bottle-feeding  if started in the newborn period.

Margaret Sabo Wills, LLLL, IBCLC, Maryland

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

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
Mail all commands to [log in to unmask]
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or [log in to unmask])
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet or ([log in to unmask])
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]