When I took my youngest daughter in for her 2-month well baby check 2 months
ago, the medical assistant doing the intake asked me how often I breastfed
her.  I replied, "Every day."  I just thought this was easier than
explaining that I didn't really know.  With a 5 yr old and a 3 yr old also
at home, who has time to keep track of that??  By the way, this woman
already knew that my baby had weighed in at 15 lb 2 oz, with a length of 24
1/4 inches.  So, I thought the feeding frequency question was irrelevant.
When pressed for an answer, I finally said something like 15 - 20 times/day
which is true.  I just feed my baby whenever she shows those initial hunger
signals and I did try to educate the medical assistant about what hunger
cues are and why I choose to respond to those by offering the breast instead
of a pacifier.  Sometimes she nurses for 2 minutes, sometimes for 45
minutes.

My pediatrician does not seem hung up on these numbers, BTW, I just think it
is part of the standard interview to ask about feeding frequency when babies
go in for these visits.

Sara Dodder Furr, MA, volunteer breastfeeding advocate
Lincoln, Nebraska

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html