Jan states>>I wonder if the current parenting program that is in a lot of
churches which relies on strict scheduling of feeds (parent controlled
feeding), playtime, nap time, & diaper changing (believe it or not), will
ultimately result in major problems down the line with food issues?  It
hasn't been around long enough to see anything but immediate results.  I
worry particularly about anorexia in teenage girls who were controlled
with/without food as babies/toddlers.<<

I'm a hospital-based LC, and I well remember a couple who delivered at our
hospital several years ago.  They were missionaries in Africa who had come
back to the States temporarily to deliver their first child.  He was a rather
high-energy infant, who quickly worked himself up into a screaming fit with
early attempts to nurse.  I spent a lot of time with them, calming the baby,
helping her to get him on the breast, and talking with them about the
importance of meeting a baby's needs, which I've always believed are
legitimate if the baby thinks they are. They were very pleasant and seemed
receptive.
     Six months later, the mother responded to my mail-out follow-up
survey--I'm sure it was her response, as the postmark was somewhere in
Africa.  She wrote that she thought our emphasis on demand feedings was
dreadful, that we were teaching babies to be self-centered and demanding, and
that, from the day she left the hospital, she fed her baby on a schedule, and
never, ever during the night. I think there is a certain amount of
self-centeredness in that family, but I don't think it's the baby's.  Poor,
hungry, lonely little boy. Certainly parents have a right to decide how
they'll raise their children, and I suppose that child will fit into his
family's structure, but at what price?

Judy Dunlap, RNC, IBCLC