Getting back to the thread on what to feed babies who won't breastfeed and
need something in the early days.  As a postpartum nurse I face this dilemma
not infrequently, even though we don't do any routine supplementation and do a
lot of things "right" at our hospital.   I like Dr. Newman's idea about
expressing colostrum and mixing it with glucose water.  I'll have to try that
next time.  I feel very strongly about avoiding formula as long as possible,
but have some concerns about glucose water (or plain water) also, aside from
when the baby actually starts to need milk.  It seems to me that the water
makes babies spit up mucus and gag and choke.  Does anyone else remember the
days when we used to pc all breastfed babies with glucose water?  And they all
used to gag on mucus and turn blue.  And there was this ludicrous idea that we
had to give them the GW in part to "help them bring up the mucus", as if that
was somehow preferable to letting it pass through in the normal way!    When
hospitals stopped the pc GW,  in my experience it became rare to have a baby
choke on mucus, or at least much less common.  I also find that sometimes when
glucose water is started in the hospital, if the rationale is not clearly
explained, you find parents still feeding it days later, even when mom's milk
is in, because they got the idea it was needed!
Miriam