Thanks for the responses. Maybe I'm one of the ones who get "3 hrs." in mothers minds. But what I tell them is not to feed any less often than ev. 3 hours so I don't hear "He's so good he slept 4.5 hours today". I definitely don't believe any baby, at any age, should be held to a 3 hr. schedule in spite of cues that signal hunger. He may be in a growth spurt or didn't feed well last time, or there may be insufficient milk supply or any number of reasons.
Moms, often in the beginning, can't tell the difference between hunger cries, tired cries and "I want to be held" cries. Often about half an hour after feeding, babies get tired and want to go to sleep. They cry and suck their fists as if hungry. Mom puts a "ravenous" baby to breast, a couple sucks later he's asleep and she's confused. When moms put babies to breast every time he cries he often, over time, gets over fed and gassy. Mom complains that he wants to nurse all the time and says she must not have enough milk, often supplements him "just in case" and she gets worn out. If babies nurse on one side and half the other side and burp between and are stimulated to stay awake during feedings, and can make it to the next feeding, their moms can pretty much tell they are getting enough to eat. Especially if he is pooping and peeing enough. they can often slip into a three schedule which seems to work better for moms who want to nurse but have busy lives. Obviously preemies need to nurse as often as they strength to do so.
My question "do babies need no more than about 4 ounces even when they are 6 months old because of changing composition of breastmilk" was more in reference to (and I think I didn't make it clear) how much they can expect to give a full term baby when they're pumping and bottle-feeding breastmilk. Some think one goes by the "2.5 times the body wt, etc." even when baby's older.
And by the way, maybe this will start a thread about whether schedules are right or not but I sure have found that busy mothers need some sort of schedule in order to feel confident about their milk supply and get some time to eat, run to the store, etc. and it usually changes some as they go along, but it's a base for them. And when they know he gets a good feeding about every 3 hours they then know that he's crying for another reason and they have faith in their bodies and understand baby better. I also tell moms babies often have one long stretch of sleeping and it's better if that takes place at night time, for obvious reasons. So I tell them to wake baby up every 3 hrs. if he is sleeping so he won't do the long stretch during the day. Also when moms leave babies with babysitters who aren't familiar with babies cues they need to be able to leave them a certain amt. of pumped breast milk to be fed every so many hrs. so as not to waste the milk by over feeding every time he cries instead of trying other things such as swaddling, wearing baby, etc. I don't think schedules are such demons.
Vicky York, IBCLC, CPD
Postpartum Care Services
Portland, Oregon
http://mypeoplepc.com/members/vmyork/
www.ikarma.com/user/vmyork
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