Rachelle asks,
<<  I
 am working with a mom of 5mo twins who is feeding them 6x/day, she wants to
 know if that is OK (they are on target growth wise).  She follows a certain
 very strict parenting book.  >>

tell her she better be weaning them down quickly.  By 25 weeks they are to be
on 3 meals a day plus one more nursing for a total of four breastfeeds a day.
 So she only has a month to get them to the appropriate level.  (According to
said strict parenting book).

I feel sorry for this mother.  She obviously is having difficulty moving from
the formal level of parenting (rules for everything) to the personal level.
But that's one of the problems with following this particular strict
parenting book.  It keeps the parents as novices, always needing the rules to
go by.

In point of fact, if the twins are happy with the number of feedings, if she
is enjoying them, and they are not crying and they are gaining weight -- if
they are not indicating a need to be fed more often, then she is fine.  There
is no information on how often 5 month olds need to be fed because by that
time we would hope that the mother sees breastfeeding as more than food, but
views it as nursing too, and isn't as focused in on the numbers of feeds/24
hours.  We would hope that sometimes they'd nurse 6 times, sometimes 8,
sometimes 5, whatever.  But for someone who is focused in on controlling
every aspect of their children's lives, and who sees feeding off schedule as
manipulation, this won't happen.  And it is sad.

Jan B -- in Wheaton.

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