Lori Peters posted on a baby with a latch problem in which part of the plan
to correct the baby's weight loss was using small amounts of formula
temporarily.
This elicited some skeptical responses from the list, from some of us who
feel formula may not have been warranted so early and with this degree of
weight loss, especially since what is planned as a temporary thing has a
sneaky way of becoming permanent, and then becoming the only thing.

Lori responds by stating, quite rightly, that she doesn't feel comfortable
not feeding a baby who has lost weight.

I think we are seeing a classic example of failed communication here.

I don't think any of us wondered why Lori was seeing to it that the baby got
fed; but what I, at least, was wondering was, why was the baby not being fed
whatever mother could express, and mother being encouraged to express
(manually, into a medicine cup, for example) frequently to stimulate
production further?  Such feedings, while time consuming for a few days, do
much to preserve a mother's confidence in the process, in the product, and
in herself.  And they can provide sufficient nutritional support for the
baby in the majority of cases, despite seeing almost nothing come out of the
breast.

While I am at it, I would like to commend everyone so far in this discussion
for the open, direct but polite tone of their posts, a tone which for me
characterizes the best of Lactnet, and is eminently conducive to learning.

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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