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Subject:
From:
"Elisheva S. Urbas" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 10 Sep 1998 14:15:30 EDT
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Heather writes about the complexity of deciding when to give bottles to babies
whose mothers must, or will, be separated from them at some point, and says
that the only rule is "the later the better."

I don't altogether agree with this, because although the 12 week old who
furiously refuses anything but her mother's breast is showing much good sense,
she is also giving her mother even more grief than she probably would anyway
feel at going back to work.

Clearly it is true that "top-ups" too early are destructive; but later isn't
always better.

The rule of thumb that an LC told me when I was an anxious first-time mom was:
as soon as bf has been really well established, wait one week to be on the
safe side and then start a "snack" by bottle every day or two -- not ad lib,
because the point is not for the baby to decline a breast later on since mom
is still around at that point; but enough, and often enough, that the bottle
is a recurring item in the baby's mental universe.

This start time seemed to work out between 3 and 6 weeks for most people,
later for some.  I like it because it's a flexible rule of thumb that reminds
people that they need to use their heads and their own good sense, and that if
their goal is to reduce the stress on mom and babe then protecting bf is part
of the point.

Elisheva Urbas
NYC

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