In Israel, you reply "A baby should be allowed to nurse as often as he desires.  Even if he
nurses all day long, it will not harm him" (Tosefta Sotah 4:1) (This is from the Talmud, for those
not in the Holy Land), and "a Jew should be involved in Torah study every hour of the day,
just as a baby nurses every hour of the day" (Jerusalem Talmud, Brachot 68a).  (Quotes taken
from "Straight from the Heart").  Sorry don't have author's name.

Furthermore, as I remember that the whole medical establishment in Israel worshipped what
was done in the US (OYIA was the best degree to have--One Year in America), you can let
them know that scheduled feedings have generally been discarded in the US (even if it is not
universally true).

And finally, you can tell them that babies cry when they are hungry, and fortunately, they
were not born with wristwatches.

And you can ask them where the data is that babies should be fed on some sort of schedule.
Let them do the hunting.  Why should we prove something that is patently absurd, since
women all over the world have nursed without the "benefit" of watches for who knows how
many years?

Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC