The last Breastfeeding Abstracts had an abstract about lactational amenorrhea in a traditional Toba village in Argentina. Their babies breastfeed 3-5 times an hour round the clock, for about 2 minutes at a time, for 18 months. This means they nurse *100 times a day*. Note I say "the babies breastfeed" not "the mothers breastfeed". Though it doesn't say so, I'm betting the babies are carried or worn all the time and that nursing the baby at a particular moment is not a conscious decision the mother has to make. I told my last prenatal breastfeeding class this, to try and get them away from the idea that nursing 10-12 times a day was carved in stone, or excessive, or whatever. I said the baby is probably born expecting that Toba pattern, and has to make a pretty big adjustment when s/he gets American parents! I drew a 24 hour clock face with 5 precisely scheduled half-hour feedings on it to depict the ca 1930-1960 European/American middle-class feeding schedule. (For a great example, check out Enid Bagnold's novel The Squire). Then I drew another circle with 5 brief randomly spaced feedings on it and said that that was a single *hour* in the breastfeeding life of these South American babies. It was fun. Elise (one of two Elises!) LLLL, IBCLC New Hampshire, USA *********************************************** 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