Hi all, Josephine Journalist Snoop here alerted by a client to the following
article in
"American Baby Magazine" August 1995 issue. Below is a question and answer
from pages 63 and 64.  The question is answered by Charles E. Schaefer, PhD,
professor of psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ and
author of 35 books including "Raising Baby Right: A Guide for Avoiding the 20
most Common Mistakes New parents Make" (Prince, 1992).  The article in
American Baby is titled "How do you deal with a crying Baby?"

Question: "In this list of soothing methods, there's no mention of feeding.
 Yet with all 3 of my children, offering the breast was often the easiest way
to quiet them."

Answer (Dr. Schaefer) "When a baby cries because she's truly hungry, feeding
her is absolutely what you should do.  But it's a mistake to offer food to a
fussy baby who ate not long ago, because using food as a soothing strategy
interferes with the establishment of a normal feeding schedule.  I'm all in
favor of feeding on demand, but many parents misinterpret "demand feeding" to
mean "feed the baby every time she cries."  The baby winds up eating every
hour or even half hour, instead of at more-normal three-to-four hour
intervals.  He never gets used to having a fairly empty tummy--or a fairly
full one--so he learns to expect small, continuous feedings. This "snacking"
schedule is terribly inconvenient and can greatly delay the time it takes the
baby to begin to sleep through the night.  Feeding to sooth rather than to
ease hunger also reverses the natural order of "feel-hungry/cry-for food" and
changes it to "cry-from-boredom,fear,-or fatigue/get-food."  As the baby gets
older, she looks to the bottle or breast for comfort when she feels tired or
insecure.  Late in life she may habitually eat in response to stress instead
of hunger.  To avoid these problems, ask her doctor to recommend an
appropriate feeding schedule--typically no more frequently than every two to
three hours.  (my comment.... THIS  is what he considers demand
feeding??????????????????????????????)

Just in case this pushes anybody's buttons, the address of American Baby is:
The Cahners Publishing Company, 249 West 17th Street, New York, NY 10011.
 The editor is Judith Nolte.

AGHhhhhhhhhhhhh!!
Queen Irate Du Braah