Dear Marianne, Gonneke, Magda and all,

I once attended a presentation by Mike Woolridge, at an LLLGB  
conference I think, where he discussed 'frequency days', 'growth  
spurts' etc. His research showed that the mother did not in fact  
produce more milk at those times and the baby did not in fact grow  
faster then - what he thinks happens is:  the mother gets distracted,  
maybe feeds less often or hurries the baby through feedings for a few  
days, and the baby then insists on getting the milk supply back on  
track. Probably this is published somewhere, it was a few years ago. I  
wish I could remember references, sorry!

This reading of the situation would fit with the timing that these  
days often happen - when the mother has recovered from the birth and  
is getting more active, when more demands are made on her time, when  
the baby's behaviour changes because of developmental changes....?  
What do you think?

However, it still seems helpful sometimes to refer to them as 'growth  
spurts' because this explains the baby's needs to the mother without  
blaming her, makes her look at the baby closely and think about the  
baby again, and trust that her body can respond to the baby's  
requirements. Maybe we need to think of better language to explain  
what's going on?

Rachel O'Leary
Cambridge, UK

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