Dear All: I have a friend who gave permission to post. Her son is 2 and a half years old. He has a tight frenulum (which I haven't looked closely at it since he was about 3 months old) that caused him to have a truly forked tongue, but he never had the least bit of difficulty nursing. Mom is a copious oversupplier. From the beginning he gulped at the breast. He now gulps down water frequently during the day. Parents are vegetarian and have him on what sounds like a relatively high carbohydrate diet. He nurses frequently at night (about 5-6x) and gulps at the breast. Also, mom is a lawyer and has very long hours and so nighttime becomes a time to be close with her children. Her daughter would often stay up until mom came home and then would be very sleepy for school. Her son is physically active. The pediatrician examined her son recently and he is 37 lb and at 80th centile for length - so basically off the charts for weight for age and weight for length. The pediatrician (whom we both like in all other areas than breastfeeding) suggested abrupt weaning. My problem with this is several-fold. Why is this baby such a gulper? and could this persist with other liquids. Will this baby just substitute other foods and continue to gain at the same rate while mom has lost a valuable nursing relationship. Is there something a little off about insulin resistence in this situation? I have suggested she contact our local breastfeeding medicine specialist who is skilled in over and undersupply issues and has some knowledge of insulin resistance from dealing with PCOS. I have also suggested that, rather than abrupt weaning, mom might let her son sleep with dad and perhaps the night nursing would diminish without abrupt weaning. Dad is very attentive and often does story time with their son. I also suggested that a skilled dietician who works with vegetarian diets and is knowledgeable about breastfeeding might be able to examine the diet in more depth to problem solve what foods might be contributing to the weight gain. I'm hoping to get a few referrals from some of the breastfeeding friendly pediatricians in the area. My expertise in nutrition is on a population level (and the dietary deficiencies common to developing countries) - not the individual level that an RD should have. Any thoughts on this toddler? Any and all suggestions appreciated. Susan E. Burger, MHS, PhD, IBCLC *********************************************** 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