I have seen situations similar to this. Usually it is a case of breastfeeding being poorly managed from the start, and "catching up" with the mother and baby eventually. The babies I have worked with with this sitation were taking in an inappropriately large amount of solids too early, were depending on supplements, when it was perhaps possible to feed the baby directly from the breast at all feedings, had unusual breastfeeding patterns ("three minutes" at the breast is not a regular feeding for most babies at most feedings, most women find this not enough to continue supply) sleeping "through the night" and other things which always made me think, "It is a wonder we didn't see more problems earlier!" There was no mention in your post of exactly how many diapers, the state of the child's stool (although with all that cereal, it might not tell us much) and the baby's current weight with her weight hx. In situations like this I encourage the mother to nurse nurse nurse. Take the baby into her bed to encourage and facilitate night time nursings and I encorage reducing the huge amount of solids, which in most cases are interfering with milk intake, as well as nutritent absorpson, and keep good diaper and weighing records. I also encourage these mothers to attend La Leche League so they can "normalize" their breastfeeding experience. The way this baby is nursing NOW is what I would consider regular and normal for a baby this age! Breasts feeling "soft" has no correlation to milk supply, and the mother may want to count and qualify diapers per 24 period instead of guessing. Does she have a WAB or a connection to a LLL group? As this baby appears to be attempting to normalize her own breastfeeding and milk intake, the mother will need the support to allow this to happen. Of course keeping an eye on, but not getting to hung up on, weight gain will be helpful. I have worked with mothers in these cases who managed to eliminate or greatly reduce the solids,(gestationally speaking, this baby is only 16 weeks old, too young for solids at alll, according to many) work on normalized breastfeeding patterns, increase night time nursings, and all had supplies which were all the baby needed. The babies were happier, too. A referal to a good IBCLC would also help this mother overcome the rough start they have gotten off to. Mary Jozwiak IBCLC, RLC, LLLL, AAPL Private Practice *********************************************** 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(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html