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From:
Barb Strange <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 14 Aug 2003 06:57:11 -0600
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"I currently have her nursing on one breast per feed, offer breast no more
frequently than every 2 hours-still the same!"

I am concerned about this part of the advice, for several reasons.

We have plenty of evidence by now from Woolridge and others that babies can
and should regulate their own intake, that given free access to the breast
and a mom sensitive to feeding cues, in other words, "ecological" feeding,
they will fine tune mom's milk perfectly.  This may take longer in the the
case of oversupply, but the mechansimn is still present and works the same
way.

It was also Woolridge that found that the more frequent the feeds, the
*higher* the fat content; conversely, less frequent feeding means a *lower*
fat content.  So the advice that some pediatricians give to moms to space
out feedings so that the milk will "build up" and baby will supposedly get
more calories is plain wrong.  I know this is not the rational for your
recommendation of spacing feedings, but this particular misconception about
"storing up milk" also bears mentioning here.

The higher fat content of frequent feedings will presumably lead to a more
satiated baby.  The lower volume of more frequent feedings should also lead
to less distress and less reflux.  As Rebecca has noted today, "with my
daughter I found that she had the most trouble when it had been the longest
between feeds and did best with more frequent feeds."

My other concern about this recommendation is this: what is this mother
doing when her baby wants to nurse, for whatever reason, before the two
hours is up?  How is she putting him off?  Or is he content to wait?  I am
worried that moms given this advice will begin the all-too-common process of
desensitizing themselves to baby's feeding cues, a brick, or many bricks
perhaps, on the road to scheduling and its ills.  This type of advice is
easily misunderstood and when so misunderstood, is very unkind to babies.

I realize that *your* mom may have an accommodating baby and may be doing
fine with a recommendation to space out feedings, but I worry about leaving
such recommendations "hanging" out there in cyberspace.  We also need to be
clear about the difference between spacing feedings out several hours and
keeping baby on one breast for several hours in a row, during which time
baby might feed once or might feed ten times.  I am concerned that some
LACTNET readers (remember, the archives are going to be around a long time!)
might not distinguish between these two situations and might confuse or
conflate them, since we happen to be discussing both in the same thread.

What do others think?

Barb Strange

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