Dear Katherine,
Great point about adding that many babies may nurse more frequently than the
8-12 times, I think this is a necessary adddition.
In a message dated 9/16/00 3:11:28 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:
<< This advice that most newborns will nurse 8-12 times per hour when fed on
cue, is, ime not very accurate if feeding is occuring upon baby giving early
cues. >>
This statement I have some questions about (i'm sure you meant 8-12x per
day), I do think that MOST newborns will nurse within this range, SOME may ,
especially in that last day or two before the milk "becomes more abundant"
try to increase the total volume taken by increasing the frequency. This most
often, I think, is short lived once the much larger boluses of milk are
available with each fd.
>>in my experience babies actually
nurse much more frequently if mom isn't obsessed with watching the clock and
is truly feeding on cue<<
In my experience, stating that BABIES nurse much more frequently than
8-12xday as above is inaccurate. I find that you have a whole continuum of
feeding normalcy in terms of frequency. While some babies nurse 6-7x day, are
happy, sleep, gain & grow appropriately, the other end may do the same on
hourly fds. While "babies" MAY be biologically predetermined towards one side
or the other of the continuum (and I think that cases could be made for
each), I don't think that the cause of bringing moms and babies together to
nurse is furthered by emphasizing q1/2hr fds. as biologically "normal" and
the other then as "abnormal". In my experience in the NE US, most Moms would
not choose to breast feed if they believed that required feeding>12x day.
You mentioned that Moms will call inquiring about the high freq. of fds and I
get those calls too. Most are looking for direction/ideas on how to decrease
the freq of fds. because this doesn't fit with their lifestyle and/or their
baby isn't happy or growing well without some longer periods of sleep etc.
Because of this I spend a lot of time during consults focussing on measures
to increase fdng. effectiveness, this is what the majority of Moms want.
Lynn Shea Rn,Bsn,Ibclc
franklin, massachusetts- can't get my kids to bed at night because of
"olympic fever"-to all you Aussies- your country is beautiful!!
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