Ok, well, here's my big gripe...in your previous post you suggest that
it does no harm for babies to sleep through the night and here you're
saying that babies need to take a bottle every day so they don't forget
how. Well, if you have a two week old nursing every three hours between
7 am and 9 pm you only have a baby nursing 4-5 times/day. Subtract from
that this bottle that you recommend these babies need to make sure they
don't forget how to take a bottle, and you've got a baby who's nursing
only 3-4 times/day! That is not frequent enough by a longshot.
I have. I've seen nipple confusion with older infants who have been
taking a bottle from early on. While a younger baby might be happy to
transition back and forth, older babies often grow impatient with the
breast. And again, I feel strongly that once a day or every other day
should in no way be referred to as "only."
It seems to me that these two practices, wrapping tightly in a blanket
and holding snugly in a sling or in arms, are very distinct. Whereas a
baby swaddled in a tightly wrapped blanket has no contact with another
body, a baby held in sling or in arms has both the benefits of being cozy
and cuddled AND has the benefit of using mom (or dad or sister or
brother) as his "regulator." As we know from Dr. McKenna, babies who
sleep in close contact with their mothers keeps their breathing in sync,
thus reducing the risk of SIDS. Sure, a swaddled baby may startle less
and be less likely to be put to sleep on his stomach, but he might also
be likely to be put into a crib far away from his parents because "he's
such a good sleeper." I find that to be worrisome.
> Of course, a mother always has the choice of nursing her baby
> through the
> night. In one well studied culture, the Kung San in Botswana, moms
> traditionally nurse their babies through the night (on average 4
> times an
> hour).
>
> It's a parent's choice. But, moms who are driving INTO stop signs
> instead
> of just halting at them, or are just plain exhausted, should be
> given the
> tools to help them get more sleep.
>
I'm just flabbergasted by this statement. You say, of course a mother
always has the choice of nursing her baby through the night, but go on to
make it sound like she'll be so incredibly sleep deprived as to be a
menace to society? I hope that mothers you come in contact with don't
infer your clear disapproval of night nursing. In my experience in
helping mothers, I've *never* met a baby who nursed 4 times an hour
through the night. Yes, some babies nurse very frequently, but even
these seem to be the exception rather than the rule. Again, look at
McKenna's research. He discusses how the sleep cycles of mom-baby duos
are in sync during the night, thus minimizing any exhaustion on the part
of the mother. And to the contrary, moms who know that baby is well and
have the comfort of having him right next to her often report sleeping
far more restfully than those who keep "anticipating" the next time she's
going to have to get out of bed, walk down the hall, go fix a bottle (or
even BF for that matter), re-swaddle the baby (in your example), and
sneak him back to bed without waking him up. Not to mention getting
yourself back to sleep after becoming so awakened... Even if that
happened just once a night it would be far more disruptive to the sleep
pattern than simply anticipating a baby who is ready to nurse and rolling
over and offering the breast three or four times (or arguably more times)
during the night.
Gina Gerboth-LLLL
***********************************************
Dear Gina,
Here's MY big gripe. I'm dismayed by the way you have misquoted me and
distorted my positions. I have never said that it is "OK for 2 week olds to
sleep through the night" nor have I said I recommend nursing them every 3
hours.
In my practice, breastfed babies at 2 weeks of age are nursing approximately
every 2 hours during the hours of 6A to 10P and then once or twice during
the night. That equals 10 or 11 times in 24 hours (9 or 10 if the baby gets
a bottle every day).
That is certainly an adequate nursing frequency to maintain a good milk
supply.
Again, I have not seen cases of nipple confusion in babies who have
established their nursing pattern well and then received a bottle every 1-2
days. However, I have seen cases of intransigent bottle rejection in babies
over 1 month of age who were not offered a bottle earlier and in babies over
2-3 months of age after skipping bottles for more than about a week.
I would love to hear more from Lacnetters about their experiences with
nipple confusion under the circumstances I have discussed.
Regarding swaddling, I agree with you...a swaddled baby placed in a bed does
not receive nearly as rich an experience as a baby carried in a sling.
However, when the mom carrying the baby in the sling wants to put her down
and the baby is fussy...or the parent wants to help the baby sleep
longer...snug swaddling with the arms restrained is immensely helpful (you
can try it with the hands out, but babies under 2-3 months almost invariably
calm more easily and sleep better if their hand movements are restricted as
they were prenatally).
Additionally, you misrepresent my position on night nursing. I am not at
all against it. It is imperative for maintaining a mother's milk supply and
often times in the middle of the night those quiet feeds are a mother's most
treasured memories of her child's early infancy. However, the exact number
of night nursings required is an issue of some discussion. Even today's
staunchest advocates of breastfeeding have already backed away from the more
frequent nursing pattern of aboriginal societies (I gave the Kung as an
example...they nurse up to 100 times a day).
Finally, I too support co-sleeping (as you will read in my book and as you
can infer by the endorsement Dr.McKenna gave to my approach "The Happiest
Baby is a witty and masterful book bursting with wisdom from start to
finish. It contains some of the best and most original ideas about new
babies I have ever seen.”
Harvey Karp, MD
***********************************************
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