Just watched a segment on the TODAY show where Katie Couric talks about when to expect children to reach normal "milestones" in developement.  Today they covered sleeping through the night, weaning from the breast and bottle and pottie training.  Heard them mention this segment upcoming and was dreading what they would come up with.  Was thrilled when she introduced Dr. Niefert as the guest expert.  Her answers on weaning from the breast were pretty good, emphasizing the AAP guidelines, especially the part about continuing as long as mom and baby desire, even after Katie suggested that child should wean when old enough to begin asking for the breast.  However, the sleeping part was ....... let's say, less that hoped for, much less, in fact.  Can't even remember the exact numbers given, but the gist was that babies should be sleeping for fairly long stretches by 8-12 weeks of age and sleeping through the night by 6 months at the most.  They discussed not letting babies fall asleep while in arms and going in to check on them or pat them if they wake, but not pick them up or feed them.  Dr. Niefert did mention that breastfed babies may not sleep through the night in that time frame and that it was good for them to be eating during the night - but it was kind of as an afterthought.  Only saw the beginning of the pottie training part, as the phone rang, but she was beginning to talk about looking for cues that baby is physically and emotionally ready to begin training.

At least the weaning part was good, although when she talked about the guidelines of "6 months exclusive breastfeeding" she did throw in the inevitable "if the mother can" or something to that effect, the usual caveat so that nobody feels guilty.  The last I heard, Dr. Lawrence was also not big on the family bed, so getting support for these kind of things on these types of shows is going to continue to be difficult.  People like "Dr. Mom" are the ones that get asked to be the "expert for the day."  I am very happy that she was quite direct on the weaning segment and mentioned that women may nurse until their children are 2 yrs. or even older - may not seem very revolutionary to most of us who have nursed way beyond that, but it is a hard concept for many in the viewing audience to grasp.  She didn't back down when Ms. Couric challenged her to give a final endpoint and I was really happy that she stood her ground on that.

Still snowing in western New York..........Should have pulled the horse's shoes.



Warmly,
Sharon Knorr, BSMT, ASCP, IBCLC
Newark, NY (near Rochester on Lake Ontario)
mailto:[log in to unmask]

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