I believe that over-supply is a common problem with all it's accompanying sx. very fat baby, unsettled, irritable, gassy, green stools, mom full or over full most of the time. I think it stems from 1. our belief in rules (nurse each side each time, nurse x minutes, nurse q. 2 hours). We don't pay enough attention to what the baby wants ! 2. Well nourished state of most moms in US today. My clinical observations are that most babies are very content to nurse one side at a time in early days, beginning to look for 2nd side as 1st week ends, they wake up more, appetite and milk increase etc. And we (the hosp staff) are standing there saying "baby needs to nurse each breast each time or you won't have enough milk". Or "his sugar will drop" or "he doesn't have enough wet diapers" - setting mom up to doubt. Very few moms are secure at this point. But the opposite observation is that I truly believe that unrelieved engorgement early on leads to poor supply later. (and I agree with Heather that we are seeing less of horrible engorgement as BF management gets better) My solution, keep mother and baby together, nurse ad lib at baby's direction. Use comfort measures if mom gets a little over full. Reassure and encourage. Don't mutter "rules." One of the biggest problems in the hospital is inflexibility. All moms and babies must do this or that. We don't appreciate them for the individuals they are. They have to fit our expectations of normal or fit into hospital rules and policies. And people aren't made this way!!!! And I find this applies to many areas of life. well off the soapbox - I'd better go get ready for work where I can appreciate differences :-) Sincerely, Pat *********************************************** 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