There has been a thread of posts about hospital feeding practices of the
premature infant.  The posts that have made me sit up and take notice describe
babies who are 35-36 weeks gestation and weigh four to five pounds.  If these
babies are not in need of special care, if they are not sick, why are they
being denied breastfeeding??  A small baby, born too soon but *not sick*
deserves all the breastfeeding that his mother wishes to give him, IMHO!
  There is nothing that steams me more than the idea that a health care
practitioner "allows" or "does not allow" a mother to breastfeed her baby.
Premature but healthy infants need more breastfeeding, not less.
  My 35 week, 5 lb baby (born when I was diagnosed with HELLP) needed no
special care and had Apgars of 9/9.  I can only imagine what devastating
impact forced supplementation would have had on our breastfeeding
relationship...   As it was, the bottles of glucose water given in the nursery
when I was still hooked up to monitors set us back (who knows how much?) and
set my baby up for lack-of-breastfeeding jaundice.

Lisa Jones, LLLL in Wellington FL