> I hope it did not appear I was saying "every 5 hours" is okay.....but, rather
> that waiting 5 hours to feed a baby because he is sleeping is not always
> okay.  If they waited for baby to wake...and some babies do not...then in the
> early weeks it would be impossible to get 8-12 feedings in a 24 hour time
> period.

Sharon, I even keep it on rather 4 than 5 hours in newborns. I teach parents to
feed at request (not ''demand'' as that sounds negative in Dutch) with a minimum
of 8-10/24 hours, perhaps 1 longer stretch at night, but in the early weeks
preferably not more than 4 hours apart. I think getting a good milksupply
established needs this frequents feeds in the early weeks and I'm also afraid
that because human milk digests so quickly baby's bloodsugar will be going down
too much, which will make the baby sleepy, thus will ask fewer feeds, thus will
start a negative spiral.

Gonneke van Veldhuizen, IBCLC, living in Maaseik, Belgium
http://www.users.skynet.be/eurolac
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