I know of mothers who breastfed for up to six weeks who swear that their
babies became "new babies" -- less crying and fussing, less digestive
problems -- once they were bottlefed. Actually, this *seemed* true in the
one case that I was around to witness. Back then I didn't know enough to
offer any advice to salvage breastfeeding. The mother had severe OALD and
the baby had a really tough time coping with it and came to hate feedings.
After awhile, the mom was pumping and feeding her solely with pumped milk.
Still, the baby was very unhappy, spit up a lot, seemed to be in a great
deal of digestive discomfort. Things did seem to change overnight when the
mother gave up and switched to soy formula.

In retrospect, I suspect that the baby was having a reaction to cow's milk
in mom's diet (mom consumes a LOT of cow's milk products), and that a
foremilk-hindmilk imbalance was at play as well.

My point, though, is that *in that mom's eyes* (not mine!), the *baby* was
much happier once she was not breastfeeding.

In cases like this, it's really hard to convince the parents after the fact
that the baby was better off breastfeeding. Everything they saw and
experienced belies that assertion. Unfortunately, these are usually the
parents who tell their story to about 400 people. :-/

Janice Berry
Westerville, OH

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