Lisa J wrote:
<<
Please forgive me for asking, but *physiologically* how does scheduling
feedings for any baby (triplets, twins, or singletons) lead to sleeping
longer at night?  (snip) Ezzo talks about hunger metabolism, that
the baby's system has some kind of "memory" which primes him to be hungry at
regular intervals when the parent-directed feeding plan is followed.  How
does sleep tie into this?

And how does one "hold off" a baby who is hungry before the scheduled
feeding
time?
>>

In most cases I have seen with moms/doctors who use this very nice sounding
phrase (i.e. "hold off the baby") it means just don't nurse, plain and
simple.  Do whatever else --rock, sing, take baby for a ride in the car,
etc. etc. ad nauseum.  It's a proscription *against*, after all.  Bottom
line, if that means some crying, well....(actual quote follows, from doctor
who advocates BW in my area--insert sneering tone near the end) "babies do
cry, you know.  It's not as if the baby is going to be irreparably
psychologically harmed or traumatized from crying."  Didn't have a clue what
I was talking about when I mentioned cortisol and its depreciating effects
on the immune system and emotional health.

Lisa, I believe that the baby starts sleeping through because it is left to
cry (just, of course, to "hold it off" until the "proper" feeding time) and
learns fairly quickly that no one will come when it does.  Incessant crying
HAS been found to be traumatic to the very young child (for whom
object-permanence has not set in) when it has been __abandoned__ for all
intents and purposes.  Deep sleep tends to follow traumatic experiences, as
we have all seen with the baby boys "sleeping so peacefully" after
unmedicated circumcision, and there is a reason it is called "sleep
training"...it works.  Probably, in the long view, silence and deep sleep
are better survival mechanisms than continuing to cry if caretaking adults
are nowhere around.

The truth of the situation--what is going on in the child's brain/body
(biochemically), and in the child's developing sense of trust vs. mistrust,
and to the parental-child bond-- is not of much concern to most.  A little
scientific/psychological mumbo-jumbo for the eggheads and bleeding hearts.
Meanwhile in the real world the trains have to keep running on time, whether
babies are crying or not.

Venting after 284 Ezzo posts that have just made me sadder and sadder,

joy

mailto: [log in to unmask]
Joy Berry-Parks
"Never doubt that a small group of dedicated, committed people can change
the world. In fact, it is the only thing which ever has." ---Margaret Mead

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