>Also, this is a 5-month-old baby, who can more easily
>metabolize anything he gets, and unlike a newborn is probably not nursing
>8-12 times in 24 hours.

How often *does* a 5 month old nurse?
I suspect that this varies considerably from baby to baby and is influenced by the mother's perception of her
baby's needs. From the safety of the LLL mini-culture in which I was cocooned while my children were young, I
felt comfortable offering to nurse to combat pain, stress, anger, frustration and boredom as well as hunger.
Who knows why babies need to nurse? I never did learn to "read" my babies cries - there was no need!  The
mothers that tell me their 5-6m/o babies nurse only 4 or 5 times in 24hrs are often using "other mothering"
techniques like walking the halls, rocking and pacifiers, because they are afraid of overfeeding. "Token"
breastfeeding seems like much harder work than "organic" nursing and attachment parenting.


Norma Ritter, IBCLC, LLLL   "if not now, when? If not us, who""

E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Date: 10/30/95
Time: 11:05:39