Since we suspect that frequent feeds immediately postpartum are an important factor for long-term production capacity, we can also point out to mothers that the baby is just doing an excellent job at a vital task, securing her/his food supply.  It is amazing how the baby is transformed in mother's eyes from an inscrutable, insatiable monster from another planet to flesh-of-my-flesh future Nobel prize winner with just a few well-chosen words from an authoritative figure in white uniform at the right time.
A midwife from Australia, Ann Colhoun, who I met at the Oslo International Confederation of Midwives' Congress in 1996, presented there a picture book she wrote for new parents in which she replaced the word "unsettled" with "excited" in describing the baby's response when mother's milk really starts coming in.  I don't know if the book has been published, and I can't recall the title of it :( but it was a mistresspiece of humor and knowledge and confidence-building for the early postpartum days.  She felt that unsettled was a negative word, and "excited" was closer to the truth.  The volume of milk taken increases literally from feed to feed, and the more they nurse, the faster the increase.
I most often see this kind of nursing during the period when baby's weight curve is at the bottom of the V, or the smile if you will, and it is worthwhile to reassure mother that this behavior is not likely to be predictive for her life the next six months, or even the next six days.  People, especially female people, can get through almost anything when they know it's just a passing thing and it's normal.
I am assuming that the frequent feeds are EFFECTIVE and PAINLESS, of course!
Rachel Myr
[log in to unmask]
staying cheerfully positive as I clean my office in an attempt to find my PHONE.  Yes, it's true.  Relax, all you Martha Stewart devotees, it is a small cordless model and the battery must be dead as it doesn't answer when mama calls either.  Didn't think I could sink any lower than losing house keys but this takes the cake...

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