Dear all:

A while back Nikki Lee sent me that study.  The problem with this study is that it 
swapped one general recommendation for another.  In neither case were mothers taught 
to follow their babies cues.

The approach merely was to keep the baby on one breast as long as possible versus 
switching at 10 minutes.  As near as I can tell there was no education whatsoever in 
teaching mothers about swallows, breast compressions, deeper hugs, and offering burps.  
I don't know if they told mothers to feel their breasts rather than watch the baby for 
switching.  Also, this was a group that often did mixed feeding.

So, in my experience, when mothers carefully watch babies, they often do need to switch 
breasts and the baby is usually a better guide than the breast.  

I think what happened is with arbitrary RULES as opposed to watching individual babies, 
and in a society that 1) often supplements with formula, 2) still seems to favor schedules 
--- switching breasts actually probably has more success in that population than leaving a 
baby on without watching the cues.

Does that mean I think it is good advice?  Not at all.  I think mothers need to be trained 
to watch the baby's cues and respond accordingly.  There was no real control group that 
watched the baby's cues in this study.  It was all mother driven.

Best, Susan

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