In a message dated 9/17/00 6:50:44 PM Pacific Daylight Time, [log in to unmask]
writes:

<< Laurie said "Also realize that not all moms want to or know to put their
 babies to breast for every "peep" they make..."

 I think this is one of the things that I have heard from many moms.  They
 say that they must not have "enough" milk, since their baby wants to nurse
 "all the time".  Some moms truly want to breastfeed, but not if they have to
 do it constantly or every 15 minutes. >>

If it were viewed as more 'normal' and acceptable and this normalcy was
stressed by lc's and hcp's then perhaps it wouldn't be such a big deal.  I've
had friends who've had both kinds of babies, the kind that nurse multiple
times per hour, and the kind who feed at lengthly intervals.  They've felt
that it was easier to care for the baby who nursed very frequently because
they knew it wasn't going to mean sitting down and dropping everything for 20
or 45 minutes.  They knew that baby would nurse for a few minutes then stop.

<<Lori wrote: Also realize that not all moms want to or know to put their
 babies to breast for every "peep" they make.>>

True.  And I think this is in large part because they think that it's wrong,
unhealthy, wierd, whatever.  If those mom's don't want to, then
fine....that's okay, as long as they know that there may be ramifications (
or may not - everything could be fine).

But the bottom line is that general speaking mom's are being told that babies
don't need to nurse more often than every 2-3 hours, and that babies only
nurse 8-12x per day.  When that turns out not to be the case and mom gets
worried and starts supplementing, or her supply drops b/c of lack of
stimulation and then needs to supplement.  That's all I'm saying....that we
should be stressing that it's okay, normal and maybe even good and explain
why.  Then if mom chooses not to do it, c'est la vie.

katherine in atl

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