Wanted to let you know again about the "good" baby I saw who was gaining poorly. Baby was nearly 4 mos, gaining just below the low end of normal, very happy, and eating infrequently. After some responses here, I got some more history from mom and found baby was regularly going 4 hours between feedings. And although mom reported responding to baby's cues to eat quickly, I watched her jiggle, rock, pat, and offer pacifier to this baby for 20 minutes in my office while baby was giving obvious hunger signs. Despite being repeatedly reassured that she could nurse the baby (either while talking to me or I would be happy to wait until she was done if she was not comfortable) she kept saying "Oh, no, we'll be home soon." My partner saw the baby again today. Mom eventually took the advice of family and started supplementing with formula. Baby is still mostly breastfed and is gaining better. However, I remain convinced she would have done better to just nurse more often and on cue! My question involves co-sleeping. Do any of you worry about condoning, or as I frequently do, recommending co-sleeping? I am thinking of the news stories I see talking about the dangers, and even the articles in major peer-reviewed journals. I frequently take care of families with seriously disturbed sleep, though, where it's obvious co-sleeping would make everyone happier. And of course breastfeeding is so much easier, and night feedings encouraged better in the family bed. I admit to worrying more since a young baby in our practice died in bed with the parents not long ago. However, this was not at all the type of situation I am usually recommending the family bed for. Baby was an ex-preemie, exclusively formula fed, both parents smokers, baby sleeping on belly, and both parents and infant sleeping together in a twin bed at a relative's house. All of my own babies co-slept, and I've never thought the data on the "dangers" of co-sleeping was very well gathered. I have had a lot of patients ask me about those studies, though. I am just wondering how the rest of you feel about making recommendations like co-sleeping, that go against the current mainstream. Jennifer Tieman, MD Family Physician Mom to 3, and new baby #4 expected 5/31/03 *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] 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